#history of costume

[princessfromthelandofporcelain]

Uchikake (outer robe) with peonies, plum blossoms, and butterfilies

Japanese, Edo Period, late 18th or early 19th century

silk damask embroidered with silk and metallic thread

Metropolitan Museum of Art

[uwmspeccoll]

Fashion Friday: Liturgical Looks

This lapsed Catholic realizes that not all the above looks from Munich publishers Braun & Schneider’s Zur Geschichte der Kostüme are liturgical, strictly speaking, but I couldn’t resist the allure of an alliterative title. Church chic doesn’t quite have the same ring to it! These plates originally appeared as illustrations for the biweekly single-leaf publication Münchener Bilderbogen, published in Munich by Braun & Schneider from 1848-1898. The publishing firm also produced fifty annual volumes collecting the previous year’s output. The publication covered a wide range of topics including comic drawings of animals, humorous stories, cautionary tales, and illustrated fairy tales. 

It is unclear when this volume of plates illustrating both historical and contemporary regional fashion trends was produced. The publishers started producing bound collections of their fashion plates as early as 1874, but it is likely this particular collection is from after 1898, as some of the plates are from the final annual Münchener Bilderbogen. The plates from Zur Geschichte der Kostüme were reproduced again in 1975 by Dover Publications under the title Historic Costume in Pictures, with Braun & Schneider credited as authors. As explained in a publisher’s note in that book, Dover decided to reproduce the plates in black and white because there is so much variation in color between the various remaining copies. This is confirmed by our own holdings: Special Collections has three copies of Zur Geschichte der Kostüme, all seemingly containing the same plates (though one is missing its index), and all lacking publication dates. Note the variations between the first plate in each volume:

While German painter Louis Braun is credited as the lead artist for the collection in our catalog record, it is unclear if he contributed to any of these images, though the Crusaders (images 4 & 5) bear only the name “Cehric,” who the Library of Congress identifies as an engraver. Also unclear is whether Louis Braun is related to Kaspar Braun, of Braun & Schneider. The artist of images 6 & 7 is identified as M. Adamo, likely Max Adamo, brother of frequent Münchener Bilderbogen contributor Albert Adamo. A. Müller, (the artist of images 1-3 & 8) refers to the Düsseldorf-based painter Andreas Müller. 

Check out our previous post on  Zur Geschichte der Kostüme here.

Find more Fashion Friday posts here. 

-Olivia, Special Collections graduate intern

[sherrysicle]

notes on mod, punk and grunge.

[frostedmagnolias]

Ballet costume worn by Anna Pavlova for “The Swan”, silk and sequined cotton

believed to be worn c. 1910s-1920s

credit: Museum of London

[beggars-opera]

As a fashion history and folklore nerd I am highkey obsessed with Anna Juhász Szép

[die-rosastrasse]

Ball gown, 1840-41

Maker: Unknown

From the collection of Wien Museum

[snailspng]

Wilhelm pantomime costume design (1890-1910) PNGs, part 5.

(from: vam)

[critterbitter]

Introducing! ELESA, the new kid on the block! She's a tiny bedraggled child from Sinnoh and not all that familiar with Galarian, the spoken language in Unova. (One day she'll be amazing. Right now though, she just wants to go play in the mud. And maybe get a better set of hearing aids.)

When not bitterly lonely, she’s scheming to run back to her old home. Or chasing the local patrat. Or watching nervously from the sidelines as other children play on the swings. Oh elesa. (loosely inspired by @/noxstrages' incredible comics about elesa's origins! Ty for the food.)

Masterpost to my submas comics!

[jeannepompadour]

Paul Poiret costumes, photographed by Henri Manuel, circa 1920

[lookingbackatfashionhistory]

• Costumed Set.

Designer/Maker: I.Miller & Son, G. Shindhelm, Eaves Costume Co.

Date: 1924

[la-belle-histoire]

Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth), John Singer Sargent. 1897.

[illustratus]

[sherrysicle]

[anatomicalmartyr]

John William Waterhouse + medieval and renaissance costumes

[beggars-opera]

Pop Culture Victorians:

Actual Victorians:

“If your eyes aren’t bleeding, it’s not historically accurate.”

- Abby Cox

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Frédéric Soulacroix (1858-1933) "The Cavalier's Kiss" Oil on canvas