arle-valin-blog

[arle-valin-blog]

my top photos of 2016 // instagram | flickr | facebook   >>> buy prints here

[arle-valin-blog]

• Evening dress. Designer: Elsa Schiaparelli (Italian, 1890–1973) Manufacturer: House of Lesage (French, founded 1924) Date: fall 1939 Culture: French Medium: silk, leather, plastic, metal.

[arle-valin-blog]

Fashion Friday 

Ladies, are you ready for traveling season?  June is nearly upon us which means we must update our wardrobes with attire appropriate for traveling and spending more time outside. Good thing Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine devoted its June 1850 issue to promenade dresses, riding-habits, walking-dresses and “evening dresses for watering-places” (ahem, aka venues for liquid refreshments). If you’re unsure about how best to dress yourself for your upcoming vacations, or concerned you may not have the appropriate attire to take your next walk, please study the above illustrations.  We have tried to compile a more concise version of the most essential advise for you below but bear with us, dear viewer, as this post is a bit longer than usual—the advice was plentiful this issue and we dared not shirk our duties of preparing you properly.

A note on Evening dresses this season, please reference the full-color illustration:

Double and triple skirts are fashionable for spring dresses.  If you opt for a triple skirt, use a lighter fabric such as crepe lisse.

Monochromatic schemes are popular this June, so Godey’s advises that any piping, (whether straight lines or scalloped) be done in the same color but in a contrasting fabric that in your dress.  Likewise for any detailing, like flowers, used to pin up your over-skirt. Coordinate the chaining or piping done on your skirts with that on your tunic and berthé.

Hairstyles should be simple to show off accessories such as “a wreath of convolvulus and foliage.” Try to match your bouquet de corsage with the same flowers as your hair adornments.

The Grecian corsage is back in favor so don’t shy away from creating a corsage of grape leaves and vine leaves. Notice for example in our first illustration, how beautifully the purple and green colors of this style  contrast with a cheerful corn yellow dress.

Advice from the article “Chit-chat upon the fashions for June”:

The best material for traveling dresses is cashmere de baize, which is composed up silk and worsted.  This material resembles, but is preferable to, linen lustre as it won’t wrinkle or retain dust as much.

“No buttons that do not button anything are allowed”

Plain linen collars are still the most proper for traveling.

“A pocket should never be omitted in a traveling dress” (We plead that contemporary designers take heed of this advice on pockets. What lady has not desired more pockets?)

“It is a good plan to take only strong linen handkerchiefs, that may serve as dusters, if occasion demands, without being ruined.”

“There is no greater folly than to travel with a dress hat,” a coarse straw hat smartly rimmed with ribbon will service you better on your journey.

Riding dresses of rich olive green or brown are in vogue.

Parasols are considered more tasteful this season sans fringe or embroidery; dark green or blue are the most serviceable colors for traveling. “White or cream-colored parasols are unfit, except for an open carriage.”

We hope that our viewers now feel prepared to pack their travel trunks, confident in fashion selections that are both chic and practical! If you haven’t caught up on the advice from Godey’s Lady’s Book, you can do so by reading some of our previous posts, but please note that with the seasons’ fashions do change so we advise readers not to model their attire on the advice from previous months.  

Or, view our other Fashion Friday posts to ensure your style sense is well-rounded.

– Katie, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[arle-valin-blog]

[arle-valin-blog]

Very, very important information on how to properly combine proteins in a way to make them complete!

[arle-valin-blog]

[arle-valin-blog]

Jessie Arms Botke (1883 - 1971), White Peacocks, oil on masonite, 1, 2

[arle-valin-blog]

Leopold Stoll, Flowerpiece, 1837, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Victoria

[arle-valin-blog]

Emile Vernon x Flowers

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

[arle-valin-blog]

Hearts are trumps | John Everett Millais

[arle-valin-blog]

John Everett Millais - The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 -  1878

[arle-valin-blog]

Jules-Ferdinand Medard

Still Life with Peonies

1877

[arle-valin-blog]

Peonies Still Life (detail)  1932.  Alexander Koester

[arle-valin-blog]

Sergei Arsenevich Vinogradov - Apple Blossom 1927

[arle-valin-blog]

Andrew Nicholl

“Wildflowers Wth a View of Dublin Dunleary”

Watercolour on paper

[arle-valin-blog]

Sir John Everett Millais, A Disciple, 1895, oil paint on canvas, Tate