Anna Karenina & Alexei Vronsky in Anna Karenina. Vronsky story (tv mini-series, Russia, 2017)
#men undressing women: [drakeNO.jpg]#men assisting in dressing women: [drakeYES.jpg]#he’s really concentrating in getting those laces sitting right#what a good boy#anna karenina: vronsky’s story#gif harrietvane
On of the things that I learned in high school, which was just one of those facts that was just kind of like, “Yeah?” but is also one of those facts that you rarely see represented, that it does sort of startle into this idea of “wait, is that right.” Men absolutely helped their wives and lovers dress, especially in times when dress had become complicated enough that women could not get dressed alone (ties and buttons that had to fasten in the back for one reason or another, for example). If a woman didn’t have a servant to help her dress, and most women did not, it was the job of her husband once she was married.
This leads to the interesting trope of a husband discovering his wife’s lover’s handiwork, for example in this 1840 illustration from Paris le Soir. The caption reads: “That’s funny! This morning I made a knot in this lace, and tonight there’s a bow!“
