I can sit around for hours and read books like these: Taschen’s The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute
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Fashion Bibles: The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute
Posted by Rebekah Roy on July 10th, 2008
→ 4 CommentsTags: Fashion History, Kyoto, Kyoto Costume Institute
The Height of Men and the Fendi Heel
Posted by Rebekah Roy on June 28th, 2008
We make fun of men who wear lifts in their shoes - I think in general life is difficult for the shorter man. King Louis XIV was only 5 foot 4 inches but some of his shoes were 6 inches high.
During the seventeenth century, high heels signified the wealth and privilege of men and women. King Louis XIV of France passed a law stipulating that only those who were granted access to his court were allowed to wear red coloured heels. Red heels still signify wealth & privilege - how many of us can really afford Christian Louboutin’s?
And why red heels? Red was a rare luxury as it was a precious commodity in 17th-century France; the dye was made from a small beetle, the cochineal found only on the Mexican cactus. (Synthetic dyes weren’t invented until the 1800’s).
Since the late 1700s, men’s shoes have had primarily low heels. There have been many boots for men that have a heel: there is the the cowboy boot and the Beatle boot. Also the Cuban heel has become somewhat acceptable for men and are not considered effeminate (but they’re not truly part of the main stream). At the end of last season we saw more fashion forward shoes for men: the Manolo Blahnik’s open toe - slingback.
So far I haven’t seen anyone wearing them but I hope some fabulous man does. I envision the wearer sitting at a posh cafe, everything white with canvas umbrellas and a perfect view of the ocean…Anyway this season Fendi has created a beautiful men’s shoes with very low wedge.
I don’t think the man who wears this shoe is interested in being taller or concerned about stature. It’s for a man who has attitude, a strong sense of personal style and perhaps a bit of humour.
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→ 2 CommentsTags: boots, Fashion History, Fendi, King Louis XIV, men's shoes, Shoes, umbrellas
1930s Futuristic Fashion Predictions
Posted by Rebekah Roy on May 31st, 2008
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Liberty of London: at the V&A with Anna Buruma
Posted by Rebekah Roy on January 19th, 2008
Liberty of London: Designs of Our Times
Anna Buruma is the archivist at Liberty of London and she spoke at the V&A’s Friday evening talk. (You can see her in the 3rd image, she’s wearing a black dress with a red necklace). I wanted to go to this lecture because Liberty has been such an important part of London’s fashion history for more then a century and I also love some of their handbags!
Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first shop with three employees on Regent Street in 1875, where he sold ornaments, fabrics, antiques and artifacts from Japan and the Far East. Liberty quickly expanded to include fashionable clothing and furniture as well as decorative items such as vases, clocks, jewellery, textiles, and wallpapers. In 1877-78 the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) purchased antique embroideries and rugs from Liberty.
Liberty catered for an eclectic mixture of popular styles while developing his own distinct style. Although many designers and artisans worked for Liberty, the store’s policy of maintaining the anonymity of its designers allowed the shop to create the Liberty Style. In 1890 Liberty opened a shop in Paris, and the shop became synonymous with Art Nouveau, so much so that in Italy the new style became known as Stile Liberty!
In 1884, Liberty asked architect-designer Edward William Godwin to set up the “Artistic Costume Studio” to showcase Liberty designs and fabrics. They made dresses for its elite clientele, including Isadora Duncan and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie. Proust bought his ties there, and Gilbert and Sullivan dressed their casts in his fabrics. The demand Liberty created for his fabrics was greater than the resources of his suppliers and he decided to import ready woven fabric and dye and print them in the UK. Liberty relied on the experts of two printing companies: Thomas Wardle of Leek, in Staffordshire and Edmund Littler of Merton Abbey in Surrey. By the 1890s Merton Abbey was sending its entire production to Liberty and in 1904 Liberty purchased the company.
Liberty had become famous for its prints and textiles and by the 20th century Liberty fabrics were used by great designers like Paul Poiret, Yves Saint Laurent, Cacharel and Jean Muir.
It’s important to understand how relevant and popular these prints still are today. Just take a look at Luella using Liberty prints for her Spring 2008 collection!
Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty - timeline:
Liberty of London, of course, continued on well after the death of Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty, expanding it’s operations even further:
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→ 3 CommentsTags: Fashion History, handbags, Japan, jewellery, Liberty of London, V&A Museum
Swinging London - 1960s fashion
Posted by Rebekah Roy on December 11th, 2007
This video is about Swinging London in the ’60s. What I love about the video is that it captures a fashionable side of London that still exists today and it’s what makes people like me want to live here!
I found it on a great site: www.retrotogo.com!
[source]
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