#material lives

[artschoolglasses]

Currently Reading: Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century, by Serena Dyer

Shocking everyone by reading some more fashion history. Though I suppose this is more fashion history adjacent? It focuses on things like Ann Frankland Lewis' Dress of the Year watercolour paintings (as seen in the LACMA collection) and Barbara Johnson's album of textile samples and fashion plates (V&A Museum). It's definitely been an interesting read so far, especially having known about some of these objects before hand.

(Left, Ann Frankland Lewis. Right, Barbara Johnson.)

[mimicofmodes]

Primarily authored by the pens of men, the rhetoric of frivolous feminine consumption has obscured the powerful material literacy possessed by women, and the ways in which it shaped their interactions with the material world. The multi-sensory materiality of browsing, and the presence of making within the shop, directly influenced and informed the making practices of consumers.

(Introduction to Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century, by Serena Dyer)