Out of the crate: Fashioning Fashion at LACMA

Timeline Installation photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

There are only a matter of weeks left to see The Fashioning Fashion exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This extraordinary display of garments and accessories spanning 1700 to 1915 is unparalleled in its importance to fashion history due to its breath, its quality and the excellent condition of the pieces. Included in the nearly 160 examples of fashionable dress, undergarments and accessories are a number of extremely rare pieces. And while the exhibition catalogue Fashioning Fashion illustrates each and every garment in the collection in lavish photographs, there is really nothing like being there to fully appreciate the workmanship in these garments and accessories.

Timeline Installation Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

This collection was purchased in its entirety from two dealers who had each separately amassed collections of historic textiles and dress for more than 25 years. They wanted their combined collection go to a single museum. Director Michael Govan said "After seeing these rare objects, it was clear that we should bring the collection to Los Angeles, as my first major collecting initiatives after arriving at LACMA. This acquisition has catapulted the museum's holdings of European costume to the highest category of quality."

Lady's chemise, panier and corset 1750-1780 LACMA
Photo by Ingrid Mida

The heavy gray box-like structures displaying the garments initially seemed to detract from the delicate beauty of the garments on exhibit. But then I recognized the allusion to the garments emerging from shipping crates. The "crates" are painted gray like the neutral backdrops that costumes are typically photographed against in a museum. Raised up on platforms, the crates elevate the displays to allow easy viewing by all. And on occasion, their layout allows a playful peak at what is yet to come. Close to the ceiling of the gallery, the red lettering of the FashioningFashion labels add a punch of colour to the cavernous space and seem to reference the red steel beams of the building directly across from the Resnick Pavilion. In the end, I concluded that the contrast of the modern installation with the historic fashion pieces was a very clever thing to do and oh so LA.

Tailoring installation, LACMA photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

The white mannequins and paper wigs create neutral forms which focus the viewer's attention on the clothes and not the carrier, although some of the garments are suspended by wires with invisible mannequin forms (another allusion to modernity perhaps?)

Men's Waistcoats 18th century France, LACMA Installation photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Normally it is easy for me to pick out a favourite garment from an exhibition but this time I fell in love with all of it. The extraordinary workmanship and beauty of the garments on display make it impossible to choose just one. So rare is it that a museum puts its entire collection on display that this is a once in a lifetime event.  I hope it stays burned into my memory.

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915
Closes March 27, 2011
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wiltshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA, 90036
323-857-6000

Marie Antoinette's Apple Green Bodice

Elisabeth at autempledesmodes.blogspot.com kindly provided me with this image of the apple-green bodice that I referred to in my earlier post. It is located at the Musee Galleria musee de la mode de la Ville de Paris.

The bodice does not appear to have any padding. I guess I was wrong. But I will make a point of going to the Museum of Fashion in May when I visit Paris to take a closer look (if it is on display at that time)!

Revisiting Marie Antoinette's Corset Rebellion

French iron corset, 1580-1600, collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute

When Marie Antoinette first arrived in the court of France, she was expected to wear the tightly laced grand corps. Not only was this corset very stiff and uncomfortable, it often "severely restricted its wearer's movements, especially around the arms" according to the Marquise de La Tour du Pin. Others reported side effects like "heart palpitations, asthma, vapors, and stinking breath".

With the oppressive heat of her first summer in France, Marie Antoinette abandoned her corset and went without. She was thin enough to do so but it caused outrage amongst the courtiers. This juicy gossip of MA's corset rebellion quickly circulated through the courts of Europe. It was said that: "Marie Antoinette's waist was growing misshapen, and her right shoulder out of kilter" (Comtesse de Noailles) and "one of the future queen's shoulder blades was more protruding than the other" (quote not attributed). (Source: "Queen of Fashion" by Caroline Weber, page 69).

I couldn't help but wonder whether Marie Antoinette may have had scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. With this condition, it is common for one shoulder to protrude or sit higher than the other. (I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 13 and it was my uneven shoulders that was the first hint of a problem. I had to wear a steel corset not nearly as beautiful as the iron one shown above. I'm pretty sure that is why I have an obsession with corsets in my artwork and writing).

I suppose there will never be a definitive answer to this question since so few MA garments survived the scourge of the French revolution. But there was an apple-green bodice belonging to Marie Antoinette that still exists somewhere.

"An English lord touring Marie Antoinette's apartments after she and her family had been sent to jail asked to examine a bodice of hers that revolutionary loots had left lying on the floor. He explained to his puzzled French companions that he had long ago heard tales of the young woman's misshapen right shoulder--attributable to her avoidance of the grand corps--and was curious to see whether her bodice was padded to disguise the deficiency". (Source: Queen of Fashion by Caroline Weber, page 69). Weber does not reveal whether or not her apple green bodice was padded or not.

I'll have to do more research to find out. If anyone knows where this bodice is, please let me know. The credit that accompanies the photo of this apple green bodice in Weber's book reports the photo is from the NY Public Library but obviously they don't own the garment itself.

Grande robe a la francaise

A little gift for all my new blogging friends...another fashion plate.

Fashion Plate #51 (partial image), copyright Ingrid Mida 2009 12x12, Mixed Media

In the second and third quarters of the 18th century, woman's court fashion was characterized by huge skirt with paniers and high coiffures. The robe a la francaise consisted of a tight fitting bodice with a stomacher, exaggerated skirt puffed out by paniers, and a sack back (two large double pleats which hung freely at the back from shoulders to hem).

While one often sees images of Marie Antoinette dressed in this manner, she, in fact disliked the discomfort of wearing a grand corps. The corsets of the French court were much stiffer than those worn in Austria and she decided to stage her own form of corset rebellion (please refer to my posting of October 13, 2008 if you'd like to read more on that).