Exhibition "Three Centuries of Fashion" from the Collection of Alexandre Vassiliev

4 September 2014 – 4 August 2019

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The King of France Louis XIV quipped that fashion was a “mirror of history”. This description of fashion as a unique social and artistic expression has not aged in over three centuries. Through his new exhibition spanning the period from the 1740s to 1960s, Alexandre Vassiliev attempts to answer the question, what drives men and women to constantly change their attire and accessories throughout history?


In the first half of the 19th century necessary ladies’ accessories were delicately bead or plant and fruit seed embroidered handbags. Low-heeled ladies shoes were at first pointy-toed – later they appeared more flat. In men’s fashion, a fascination in Antiquity was expressed in the choice of accessories and that in the early 19th-century sideburns became particularly popular, normally seen on ancient Roman sculptures.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the “great army” advanced on Polish and Lithuanian lands where they encountered an unusually cold climate that forced them to wear locally produced fur clothing. Ladies followed suit and took to wearing furs themselves. This was how Polish fur coats with long, narrow fur sleeves appeared in Paris.

The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 became a historical benchmark in fashion. Dresses that were somewhat shortened and widened downwards, revealing the foot came into fashion, as did dramatic colours such as black, red, blue, yellow and green. Italian corals, mosaics and cameos were particularly prized, French lace, Russian furs and Turkish turbans. In 1820–1830 dress bottoms and sleeves widened, reaching impressive sizes. Gradually waistlines dropped to where they were meant to be. In the mid-19th century ladies’ dress silhouettes were distinguished for their narrow, bound waists and puffed skirts, known as the “new Rococo” style. Men’s fashion experienced a “black period”. Dandies, not wanting to fall behind in the fashion which demanded a distinct waistline, were forced to wear corsets.

Paris became the world’s centre of fashion in 1850–1860 for establishing new fashion trends: black, “Spanish” Chantilly lace worn as a shawl became popular; red shirts and hats started being worn in Italy during the civil war.

On the eve of the First World War, Europe experienced a “golden age”. Dress waistlines gradually rose and the silhouette took on neoclassical proportions. French designer Paul Poiret was the first to exploit Eastern themes and was the first to liberate women from the corset, offering them wide pants and tunics instead. Short hairstyles became increasingly popular, as did knitting-needle knitted scarves and sweaters. The fashionable silhouette aimed at a low waist and a flat chest. Extravagant short dresses embodied unforgettable idioms such as the Charleston and jazz, Montparnasse, cool champagne and Rolls Royce; they were embroidered with beads and decorated with ostrich feathers and wild monkey furs.

A new style in women’s attire came about in 1930 and was associated with the image of Swedish actress Greta Garbo who presented a new benchmark in beauty: a blonde with defined cheekbones and a hypnotizing stare. In all of Europe, women’s silhouettes grew more feminine and attractive; clothing defined the bust, waist and hips.

At the end of the 1920s Victorian era fashions interchanged with the sporty style. The Second World War, starting in 1939, devastated humanity with its brutality and cynicism, and formed a new fashion style. The militarized silhouette of men’s and women’s clothing was highly decorated with military uniform details: metal buttons, pockets, belts and epaulettes.

In the year 1947 Paris celebrated the opening of a new fashion house Christian Dior. Dior led fashion out the austerity of wartime and stirred up the fashion world by introducing an extravagant silhouette, called The New Look. The new design embodied sexiness, femininity and gracefulness. The image of a woman now was similar to a beautiful, fragrant rose in full blossom.


 

Prepared by the LAM Publishing centre, based on the book by Alexandre Vassiliev “European fashion: three centuries”

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