7 juillet 2012

Robe à la française,  c.1735. France or Italy. Museum Purchase. Object Number: 2006.56.2. Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology ©2010 Fashion Institute of Technology A fashionable robe à la française might be made from yards of expensive silk brocade draped over wide hoops, trimmed with handmade lace, and elaborately accessorized. Often dismissed as wasteful, aristocratic luxury supported a host of artisans. According to the great French writer Baron de Montesquieu, there was... [Lire la suite]

Chest, detail (ivory, gold, rubies, sapphires; height 18 cm), Kotte, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), around 1543.  Residenz Treasury © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung The chest was made at the court of the king of Kotte in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and was taken as a gift to Portugal, which had conquered parts of the island earlier in the sixteenth century. The ivory carvings depict the Ceylonese legation, dancers, musicians, people riding on elephants and scenes of homage and prayer. Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria... [Lire la suite]

Gabrielle Chanel (1883 - 1971), Evening dress, c.1925. Pink crepe chiffon. Museum Purchase. Object Number: P83.39.8. Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology ©2010 Fashion Institute of Technology Chanel often used modest materials and subdued colors, but, as these scalloped flounces attest, her technique retained couture's impeccable craftsmanship. She championed simple clothes that reflected a modern lifestyle and attitude. In response to Poiret's charge that her style was "poverty de... [Lire la suite]

Ostrich egg cup (ostrich egg, silver-gilt, enamel; height 29 cm); probably French or South German, around 1400. Residenz Treasury © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung The body of the cup, which comes from the former Benedictine monastery of St Veit at Herrieden near Ansbach in Franconia, consists of an ostrich egg. Ostrich eggs were highly prized as exotic rarities both in the secular world of Kunstkammer and cabinets of curiosities and in ecclesiastical contexts. The Gothic mount of... [Lire la suite]

Callot Soeurs (1895 - 1937), Evening dress, c.1909. Black lace, white taffeta, sequins and rhinestones. Museum Purchase. Object Number: P90.2.3. Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology ©2010 Fashion Institute of Technology The sisters Callot - Marie Gerber, Marthe Bertrand, Régina Tennyson-Chantrell, and Joséphine Crimont - often used delicate materials in their very feminine creations. They were especially renowned for their exquisite lacework, such as the black, imbricated leaf... [Lire la suite]

Pendulum clock (silver, parcel-gilt and partly enamelled, precious stones; height 57 cm); Paris, 1690-92. Residenz Treasury © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung The monogram of Elector Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria appears on the base of the clock. The gold relief below the clock-face depicts the crossing of the river Sava in 1688, during the Turkish wars, in which the elector was a victorious participant. He acquired the clock in Paris in 1698.

Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949), Evening dress, c.1928-1934. Silk velvet, silk and glass beads. Gift of Ann Schneider. Object Number: 91.218.1. Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology ©2010 Fashion Institute of Technology Fortuny's interest in historical art and design is evident in this dress that references the early Italian Renaissance. While the silhouette is a vague interpretation of a 14th-century gown, the fabric's paired griffins and palmette motifs are specific to textiles produced in... [Lire la suite]

The "Sapphire cup" (gold, enamel, sapphires; height 48.6 cm, weight 5.5 kg); Hans Reimer, Munich, 1563. Residenz Treasury © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung The cup, made for Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria, is covered in white enamel inlaid with delicate gold leaf-and-tendril ornament, studded with thirty-six large sapphires and also decorated in gold and coloured enamels. The warrior in Classical armour on the lid holds aloft a ring carved from sapphires. The cup belonged to the initial... [Lire la suite]

Charles James (1906-1978), Pagoda Suit, 1955. Red silk with gold metallic threads. Gift of Jill Anson Szarkowski. Object Number: 92.145.1. Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology ©2010 Fashion Institute of Technology The Pagoda Suit of 1955 exemplifies James' sculptural vision, which simultaneously abstracts and flatters the female form. James' color sensibility is equally sophisticated. In this case, red silk brocade with a gold floral pattern evokes what the artist Jean Cocteau called... [Lire la suite]

Ornamental jug (mother-of-pearl spiral shells, mount silver-gilt, partly enamelled; height 32.5 cm); Wenzel Jamnitzer, Nuremberg, around 1570. Residenz Treasury © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung The charm of such typically Mannerist vessels lies in the contrast between the soft glow of mother-of-pearl and the gleam of shining gold, between a natural object and the results of human skill. The realism of this piece is characteristic of Wenzel Jamnitzer, who often cast objects directly from nature, as with... [Lire la suite]