On account of a coveted invitation to my friend tea party this weekend, I've that genteel social occasion on my thoughts. And because I often have costume on my mind also wholesale hats, it only organic that I really should want to dissect a portrait of a young woman enjoying the identical activity that I shortly will.
"The Cup of Tea" by Mary Cassatt, 1879
Mary Cassatt Cup of Tea is a portrait of Cassatt sister, Lydia Simpson, wearing a pink gown, circa 1879 (among other date indicators, Lydia flat-lying skirt suggests horsehair crinolines underneath, which produced a brief return to style among 1876 and 1882 before getting replaced from the bulkier bustle). "Tea gowns," vital garments in the late 19th and early 20th century wardrobes and invented by the tea obsessed English, are frilly, decorative, and also comfy, typically achieved by a looser fit uncommon in other dresses on the 19th century. Although Lydia dress appears rather fitted you could obviously see the outline of her corset at her tiny waist and gently bulging belly it feasible that her arm is blocking our view of a looser fitting back, allowing her to recline a lot more comfortably. The profile of a stiffer seated topic was famously made use of to portray an older cheap hats, darker, more somber portrait: that of "Whistler Mother," officially entitled the additional clinical "Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist Mother" (1871), and I doubt it a coincidence that Whistler mum was painted just a handful of years earlier than Cassatt sis.
A compact enough volume of lace is present in the Lydia cuffs to ensure that it conceivable that handmade lace a precious luxury item was employed. Even so, the appearance of an excellent Exhibition in Paris just a year before this portrait assisted popularized machine-made lace, making it extra accessible and far more cost-effective, so it really is reasonable to think that Lydia wears some. The wealthy silk-satin fabric advertises Lydia wealth, and though it is possible that Lydia dress was sewn with all the support of your sewing machine (a significant asset to the fashion sector due to the fact the 1840s), the upper class nonetheless preferred the personally developed, tailored and one of a kind looks produced from the haute couture market.
Charles Frederick Worth (1827-1893) was an Englishman who pioneered the haute couture experience with his Residence of Worth situated in Paris. Founded 1858, his success corresponded with France Second Empire which devoted considerable power to rebuilding the luxury textile / fashion trades Paris had been known for prior to the French Revolution (1789 - 99), throughout which all issues seen as bourgeois had been attacked, very a lot like higher fashion. Worth not simply capitalized upon the climbing demand for sumptuous clothes, he definitely revolutionized the dress purchasing encounter, turning it into a social occasion for the privileged. Rather of getting visited by a doting tailor, as in the past, a 19th century woman in need to have of a brand new dress would go to her fashion home (other folks opened just after Worth though his remains essentially the most acclaimed to this day). There she will be received inside a decadent parlor filled with other wealthy society ladies, as well as a style display would parade before them, to select the designs they desired. Consultations on fabrics and trimmings would adhere to (these finishing touches would distinguish the same dress style bought by distinctive girls), measurements taken, the final product being a exclusive function of wearable art. The elegant simplicity of Lydia gown tends to make it a possible item with the House of Worth itself. http://www.caps-shoes.com/