FASHION REBELS releases in stores today!

Happy Birthday FASHION REBELS!!! I loved researching, writing, and illustrating every fearless, fashion maverick. My biggest hope is that young girls will read this book and be inspired to always define beauty on their own terms. Read more at www.FashionRebelsBook.com 

Finding Sea Gold in Whale Vomit

Forget looking for seashells with the kids this summer. Instead hunt for ambergris.[1] In 2012, this piece was found by an 8-year old English boy. It was valued at 60k. Not bad for a beach treasure hunt. 

Ambergris is the waxy substance secreted in a sperm whale’s stomach that is used to coat indigestible objects. Once the sperm whale has coated a hard object (like a squid beak) with enough ambergris, it vomits its prize up - kind of like how a cat vomits up a hairball, except not on your favorite comforter.[2]

Charles II supposedly ate ambergris with his eggs. Yum. 

Although ambergris smells like feces when it first comes up, over time it hardens and smells quite pleasant….a bit like the original Chanel #5. Which is why it is so valuable. Ambergris was once used in Chanel #5 to make the scent last and is still used in high-end perfumes today. [3]

You can read more about how Coco Chanel invented her signature scent in my latest book:

Fashion Rebels: Style Icons Who Changed the World through Fashion

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[1] If you find it on a U.S. beach, don’t try selling it. It is illegal to sell ambergris in the U.S. due to the sperm whale’s endangered status.

[2] Some scientists think it more often comes out of the whale’s back end. 

[3] You won’t find it in Chanel #5 today. U.S. perfumes no longer use it. But it is fair game in many expensive French perfumes.

Becoming Marilyn…the real story

Lots of surprises researching Marilyn Monroe. I had not realized just how much movie executives transformed her face. There was the obvious platinum blonde hair, but also a nose job, chin implants, and electrolysis to reshape her hairline. (A widows peak was considered the height of fashion…wish that one would come back.) 

Norma Jean….before she became Marilyn Monroe. 

Sometimes, her dresses had horse padding sewn into the bodice, not to make her breasts appear larger, but to reshape them. According to designer William Travilla, Marilyn’s breasts were set far apart and low so he would sew a button into the bodice to make her nipples appear higher. (1) She was also rumored to give herself enemas to manage bloating - an extremely dangerous practice. And no, Marilyn was never fat. Her dimensions when she was the most fit:  36D-23-35. 

I have chosen to omit the plastic surgery and bathroom hijinx because it doesn’t quite fit with the theme of empowered women who changed the fashion world. (Especially for young girls.) There are many examples of how Marilyn refused to become a puppet to the movie executives. (Saving those bits for the book.) The plastic surgery was done when she was just a scared kid, had little money, and not much of a future. I would like to think that the more mature Marilyn would have refused. (2)

A sneak peak at some of the art for I Feel Pretty

Due to some health problems, the new release date for I Feel Pretty will be Fall 2016. Sign up for the Raucous Royals newsletter to keep updated on future book releases. 

(1) This could be problematic if you lost a button. 
(2) But I also believe that people with Chinese symbols tattooed on their body have secret regrets. 

THE dress….

“Isn’t this delicious?” (said in my best Marilyn voice.)

When designer William Travilla first created his infamous “white” dress, he called it “that silly little dress.” Little did he know that his design would become the most replicated dress in fashion history. 

Ironically, no one seems to get the copies right. According to Travilla, the dress was bone colored, not white. Dresses could not be shot in white because the production lights of the time made them look grey. The bow was tied to the left, not in the front like most replicas. And the fabric was a heavy acetate-crepe and not the cheap, thin fabric that you see on most Marilyn Monroe costumes. If you have ever had a Marilyn skirt blowing moment then you will understand what I mean….A heavy fabric billows. A light fabric blows straight up. (Just trust me on this one….I have had my share of Marilyn moments.)

Over time, the infamous dress from the Seven Year Itch darkened to an ecru color. The original was bone or ivory colored. 

Standing over a subway grate on Lexington Ave and 52nd street, 5000 spectators turned out to watch Marilyn giggle at her wardrobe malfunction. Unfortunately, her then husband at the time, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was not amused. When Marilyn got back to the hotel, Joe gave her an Italian sized beat down that put her out of work for a week. Marilyn filed for divorce shortly after. Despite the many dumb blonde clichés surrounding Marilyn, she was far from playing the fool in real life.

Marilyn's then husband, Joe Dimaggio was not a fan of the white dress.

 Debbi Reynolds purchased the original dress for $200. At auction, it sold for 5.52M (minus the 1 million commission) in June 2011. Not bad for a silly little dress.

The Fashionable Prostitute, Part III

How Prostitutes began the Fashion Magazine Industry

Today we have the glossy pages of Vogue and Glamour to find the most fashionable clothing, but during the Renaissance, courtesans were the super models of their day. The first costume books, called alba amicorum, contained detailed information on the fashion tastes of these leading ladies. As discussed in last week’s post, sumptuary laws proved useless in distinguishing a noble woman from a courtesan. Thus, the yellow pages of prostitutes, catalogs such as Il Catalogo di tutte le principale et piu honorate cortigiana di Venezia required courtesans to register with their name, addresses, procuress (sadly, usually dear mom) and fees. (Famed courtesan Veronica Franco charged six scudi for just a kiss. )

But by the 17th century, costume books began to merge with courtesan catalogs. One of the first examples of this early amalgamation of sex and fashion was Crispijn de Passe the elder’s Miroir. In the forward of the Miroir, Crispijn writes that the book is intended as a fashion guide for the typical stay at home mom. He apologizes for using courtesans as his subject matter, but they simply were quicker to adopt new fashions.  

Yet, we can clearly see from the plate that follows that this is not your Lady’s Home Journal guide to dressing. In this typical brothel scene, a wealthy patron selects his companion for the evening based on the portraits that are presented to him.

Other plates follow, many depicting the most risqué clothing of its day worn by courtesans cleverly disguised by pseudonyms. The woman above is showing a little too much chest hair even by 17th century standards.  The Miroir became a best seller and continued to be reprinted in the 18th century.

(switching to my pedantic old lady voice that all the kids love...)

If you were to look through a typical fashion magazine today, you could argue that the line between sex and fashion is still just as blurred.

You can find more of images from the Miroir over at The Rare Books Forum.

The Fashionable Prostitute: Part 2

Rated R for Raucous Content

On the evening of October 30th 1501, Johanna Burchard made his way through Rome’s windy streets and followed the smell of roasting pig flesh and warmed chestnuts wafting out of the Vatican Palace. As Master of the Ceremonies, he was expected to attend every fete hosted by Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare Borgia, but he had grown tired of the endless parties. Night after night, the Borgias celebrated the forthcoming marriage between the pope’s daughter, Lucrezia and her betrothed, Alfonso d’este.

As Burchard entered the dimly lit apartments, the low sounds of swishing velvet enveloped him as fifty beautiful courtesans beckoned him inside. Pearls, rubies and emeralds coiled around their necks and down their low cut gowns like overgrown vines strangling a tree. Rubbing his tired eyes, Burchard recognized the sumptuously dressed blonde, known as Fiammetta, strumming her lute above the banquet table. She was Cesare’s mistress and was rumored to be so rich that she had commissioned an entire fresco to be painted in the church of S. Agostino. Across the room a plump, golden haired beauty with reddened earlobes sang before her admiring crowd, demurely lowering her eyes to see who was watching. She was known as Imperia, the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on and the cherished muse of Raphael.  The rest of the women were nestled in corners flirting with Rome’s finest nobleman, only occasionally lifting their heads to let their silver bell laughter fill the room.

These women were not your typical meretrici (prostitutes), but members of a ruling class called cortigiana (courtesans) and they were not just beautiful ornaments, but educated in art, music, dance, poetry and most importantly, conversation. Yet, if we are to believe Burchard’s account, their greatest talents were in the art of making love. In the darker pages of his diary, Burchard writes:

 “After supper the lighted candelabra which had been on the table were placed on the floor, and chestnuts thrown among them which the prostitutes had to pick up as they crawled between the candles. The Pope, the Duke and Lucrezia, his sister, were present looking on. At the end they displayed prizes of silk mantles, boots, and other objects which were promised to whomsoever should have made love to these prostitutes the greatest number of times. The prizes were distributed to the winners according to the judgement of those present.”(1)

Understandably, the pope failed to make it to mass the next day.

Burchard (who was no friend of the Borgia) is the only person to relay such louche details so historians have long wondered if the famous “banquet of the chestnuts” is perhaps a little exaggerated. Still, we can imagine that your typical Borgia get-together probably did not have the pin the tail on the donkey type of party games.  We also can only guess at who attended this infamous orgy. Cesare, Lucrezia and Alexander were there, but we do not know if their famed mistresses attended. One thing is for certain. Any party thrown by the diabolical Cesare Borgia would have had the most desired women at his beck and call. 

The reign of the Borgias was the golden age for courtesans. Wealthy courtesans rode through the streets throwing gilded eggs filled with rose water or coyly sang from their windows down to their admirers below. Prostitution became so ubiquitous that Pietro Aretino’s  (best remembered for his contributions to the Book of the Prick) cantankerously observed that “Rome always has been and ever will be….the town of whores.” 

Aretino’s views may have been colored by his animosity toward the Romans after he was forced to flee Venice. Rome was certainly not the only city where prostitution was rampant.  Venice especially became celebrated for the classical beauty of their art, architecture and women. Estimates vary, but there were roughly 11,000 prostitutes servicing 300,000 inhabitants.

With so many prostitutes and courtesans, how could a typical traveler tell the difference between a puttana (whore) and respectable matrona (married woman)? Your lower class courtesans were usually easier to spot.  They dressed like men wearing braghesse (codpieces) and dresses cut so low that it revealed their breasts. Most fantastic of all were the shoes.  Venetian prostitutes wore shoes that would have intimidated even the most daring super models of today. Called pianelles, they were made of wood and elevated the wearer as much as a foot above the ground. You can see from the picture above that navigating a dirty street would be next to impossible without the help from a suitor or two.   

Your higher priced onesta cortegiana (honest courtesan) dressed so well that it would often be very difficult to tell them apart from the rest of patriarchal society. This was a problem not just in Venice and Rome, but throughout Italy. It was especially problematic when they attended mass. You have to remember that church was the fashion runway of the day and often the only chance most women got to show off their wares. So we can imagine that if you were a respectable noble woman and some hussy pranced by you wearing more glitter than a Christmas tree that it would start to unnerve you. Eventually, the class wars led to the upstanding socielities of Florence to put pressure on the Grand Duke to enact sumptuary laws for all courtesans. Prostitutes were not allowed to wear gold, silver, gemstones, or silk. That meant no fancy pearls. (This led to the practice of prostitutes flashing their necks to show that they were unadorned.) Florence’ prostitutes were also required to wear a yellow veil with a big, tacky yellow stripe on it known as “the whore’s mirror.”  If you wanted to find a prostitute in Florence, you just had to follow the yellow stripes like a road map.

Now dear reader, in these tough economic times, I hope you can relate to the sentiment that everyone has to make a living. Telling a courtesan that she can’t wear her pearls is kind of like telling a fire fighter he can’t use a hose.  Most courtesans simply ignored the sumptuary laws or were granted special dispensations to dress as they please. Such was the case with famed courtesan and prolific writer, Tullia d’ Aragona  who pulled a few “favors” from the Duke and was allowed to dress like a noblewoman.  As educated women and skillful conversationist, most courtesans sought to distance themselves from the common prostitutes. Lucieta Padovana was indignant regarding the sumptuary laws arguing, “non reptandose meretrice” but instead a “cortesana” (2). (Basically…I am not some common prostitute. I am a courtesan. Big difference. )

Still sumptuary laws persisted and often became difficult to keep track of. In Florence, prostitutes were required to wear gloves, wooden high heels, and a bell on her headpiece (assumingly so everyone could hear her siren jingle coming.) In Bergamo 1490, a saffron colored scarf was required. In Piedmonth, they had to decorate their headgear with horns.  In Milan, they were required to wear white in 1492, black in 1498, white again in 1541. You could see how all of this would get confusing for the common traveler. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, or at least it was for Crispijn de Passe the elder whose best seller, the Miroir (1603) became the defacto guide for seeking out fashionable courtesans.

to be continued in Part 3 of the Fashionable prostitute…

Notes:
(1) Bradford, p. 121
(2) Rosenthal, p. 72

Sources and Further Reading:

Bradford, Sarah. Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance, Penguin 2005
Rosenthal, Margaret. The Honest Courtesan, University of Chicago Press, 1993
Rosenthal, Margaret F. and Jones, Ann Rosalind. The Clothing of the Renaissance World, Thames and Hudson, 2008

The Fashionable Prostitute: Part 1

(lock the young ones in their rooms…this one is for the adults)

Said in my old lady, lecturing voice…

Today’s celebrities have it much easier than fashionistas of the past. One minute they can sashay on stage donning a slab of meat and the next minute slip into a velour tracksuit with some catchy double entendre/logo splashed across their derriere.  (I am so fashion ignorant that whenever I see the Juicy Couture logo across someone’s chest, I immediately wonder if they are lactating.) Liberated women (aka prostitutes) of the past were stuck wearing the same clothes day in and day out.  The following is a brief history of how to dress like a prostitute.  

The unVeiled Seductress

In Ancient Assyria, respectable women could not leave the house without wearing a veil, but prostitutes did not have to cover up. In fact, if a prostitute dared to wear a veil then they were punished with a 100 lashes.

The Tattooed Temptress

What are sometimes referred to as “tramp stamps” today, may have identified ancient Egyptian women as concubines. Several preserved mummies of dancers and concubines have been found with geometric designs tattooed on their bodies. The best example is Amunet Priestess of Hathor found inked up with parallel lines on her arms and thighs and elliptical patterns below her navel.

Clothing with a Message

If you wanted to flaunt your juicy booty in ancient Greece, you certainly didn’t write it on your buttocks. Way too obvious. Instead, you had the words “AKOLOTHI” (follow me) inscribed on the bottom of your sandals with small metal studs. These sandals left impressions in the unpaved earth and soon prostitutes became known as “chamaitype” or “earth beaters.” Other prostitutes wrote messages on their clothing. In one example, Asclepiades wrote of a streetwalker named Hermione who wore a girdle embroidered coyly with, "Love me always, but do not be jealous if others do as you do." (1)

Blonde-alicious

By the time Ancient Rome was in full swing (and roads were paved), prostitutes became so ubiquitous that authorities needed a way to distinguish women of the night from the more respectable matrona. Enter the blonde bombshells. Roman sumptuary laws required prostitutes to identify themselves by wearing a blonde wig. The theory went something like this; if only whores are blonde then aristocratic women would naturally want venerable dark hair. Unfortunately, most women were quick to figure out what Miss Clairol new all along – Blondes have more fun. Famed bad girl, Messalina certainly wasn’t going to stay cooped up inside brushing her dark locks. She was rumored to sneak out at night to Rome’s red light district hidden beneath an ash-blonde wig.  Sometimes she even staggered home without her yellow hair, only to have it disgracefully returned in the morning. Eventually, Messalina's party going ways left her blonde head a tad shorter when she seduced Roman Senator, Gaius Silius. Her husband, Emperor Claudius ordered Messalina's death and traded her in for a far less forgetful, Agrippina the Younger. 

Stay tuned for part two : The Fashionable Renaissance Prostitute.

Notes:
Vern, p. 38 


Sources and Further Reading

Bullough, Vern. Women and Prostitution: A Social History, Prometheus Books, 1887
Pitman, Joanna. On Blondes, Bloomsbury, 2003
Sherrow, Victoria. For Appearance' Sake: The Historical Encyclopedia of Good Looks, Beauty, and Grooming, Greenwood, 2001

Raucous Royal of the Month: Juliette Recamier

"a bewitching face, the easiest of figures; she affected the most elegant simplicity." 

When raven haired Jeanne Francoise Julie Adelaide Recamier entered a room she was like a scratching post covered with catnip. Wherever she went...the claws came out. In one Paris reception, reigning society queen, Mme. Talien, threw off her shawl in a huff  to show off her splendid figure and long arms. Mme. Recamier even came to the attention of Marie Antoinette who was so taken with her beauty that she compared her side by side to Madame Royale. (every teenage girl's nightmare)

By the turn of the 19th century, nothing was more coveted than an invitation to Mme. Recamier's literary salon. Known as "Juliette," fashionistas flocked to her soirees to admire her furniture and elegant dresses. Men fell at her feet to worship her "betwitching face" unadorned with face paint. Recamier soon attracted the attention of notorious rake, Lucien Bonaparte who wrote her passionate love letters exclaiming, "Oh Juliette, life without love is but a long sleep...Happy the mortal who shall become the friend of your heart!" Add to her list of admirers, Josephine Bonaparte's son, Eugene Beauharnais who took a ring from her and then begged, "be good enough, Madame, to soften the lot of him who is sincerely attached to you." 

Considering the scandal that surrounded her upbringing, it is surprising that Recamier was so admired as the beacon of virtue. Rumors abounded that her husband was actually her father. Many of her recent biographers have speculated that her father married her to name her his heir and protect her fortune from the upheaval of Revolutionary Paris. 

Oddly, Recamier remained a safe distance from most of her admirers with the exception of the Prince Auguste of Prussia who she fell passionately in love with and became the only man "who ever made her heart beat". The upheaval in France and her own marital ties kept her from being with her love. Recamier's husband did agree to a divorce so that she could marry Prince Auguste, but Juliette was so afraid of the scandal that would follow that she eventually distanced herself from Auguste. Still heartbroken, Recamier considered fixing herself an opium pill cocktail, but eventually relegated her Prince to her long list of male friends.

You're fired Jacques-Louis David
As the reigning beauty throughout Paris, she became one of the models for The Three Graces and commissioned her portrait to be painted by Jacques-Louis David. Unfortunately, when Madame Recamier saw her portrait she was not pleased and promptly fired David from the commission.

Biographers have long speculated on why David was fired. Some have said it was due to the inordinately long time he took to complete the commission. The most obvious answer is because David took some artistic liberties with how he represented her. He had done the unthinkable. He had messed with her hair. Instead of painting her legendary, dark siren locks cascading down her back, he painted a much lighter shade to contrast with his darker background and match his artistic vision of the neoclassical beauty. (The Greeks really loved their blondes). David never finished the painting, but it was still admired throughout Paris. The sofa that Madame Recamier reclines on is even called a recamier today.

It does look like the poor girl was shorn by the executioner before sitting for this painting. You have to wonder if David did this on purpose?

After firing David, Recamier hired his student Francois Gerard to paint her portrait with less artistic license. 

Which painting do you like better? 

I have to agree with Recamier. Gerard's painting is far more flattering to the sitter. Besides, even if you are Jacques-Louis David, you just don't mess with a woman's hair.

Mme. Recamier experienced financial hardship after Napoleon's policies bankrupted her husband. She later became featured in her benefactor, Madame de Stael's novel Corinne. Sadly, Juliette went blind in her final years and died at the age of 71 of cholera. 

I am really not doing Juliette justice with this cursory biography, (her life is full of raucous scandal!) but Lucy Moore covers Juliette Recamier in her fabulous book Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France.  You can even get this one at the bargain price over at amazon. See link below.

Sources and Further Reading:

Putnam's magazine: an illustrated monthly of literature, art and life, Volume 1

Austrian, Delia. The Life of Juliette Recamier, BiblioLife, 2010

Moore, Lucy.Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France, Harper Perennial, 2008.

Raucous Royal of the Month: Cesare Vecellio and the Renaissance Runway

History is indebted to Cesare Vecellio and his 16^th century best-selling book of costumes. Vecellio’s gossipy commentary not only catalogs the clothing customs from Italy, France, Germany, China, India, Africa, Middle East and New World, but also gives us a glimpse into marriage customs, architecture, morals and perceptions of beauty.

Cesare was born in Cadore, a northern town of Venice in 1521. He was most likely apprenticed to Titian’s brother, Francesco Vecellio and then later worked for Titian. (Titian was his cousin once removed) Cesare drew upon numerous sources including wall paintings in Padua, old frescoes and portraits in private houses, various Venetian painters, booksellers and his own travels.

In The Clothing of the Renaissance World by Margaret F. Rosenthal and Ann Rosalind Jones, Cesare’s commentary is translated and beautifully printed into one breathtaking, gigantic 560 page work of art. This book is crack for Renaissance lovers.  If you are a costume designer, Renaissance author, illustrator or just fascinated by the clothing of this period, I strongly recommend that you get this book. (Link below)

Here are some of my favorites:

Does this hat make my head look fat?

 Lady Gaga has nothing on the Balzo headdress. This Renaissance version of the beehive was composed of a willow or metal frame and then covered with hair, fabric, ribbons and jewels. tres glamorous!

Oh, no. My large intestine is on my head!

The Dogalina was worn by nobleman and was distinguished by its ridiculously wide sleeves. You have to imagine that these sleeves would often end up in your soup. Cesare fails to comment on the hat.

Don’t Laugh. You would overcompensate too if you were wearing these pants.

Freud would have had a field day with this Persian foot soldier. Vecellio described his costume as, “ practical and worn by people who have to fight in situations calling for agility and speed.” (1) But the phallic hat must have slowed him down.

Darn it.  Botticelli made this look so easy.  

If you think today’s beauty standards are hard, you should have seen what the Venetian lovelies had to go through. Going blonde in Renaissance Venice was de rigueur for every young lady, but those Botticelli locks didn’t come easy.  Women would sit on special rooftops designed just for dying their hair called a terrazzo. They would then wear a large brimmed hat with a hole in the center called a solona and soak their hair with sponges dipped in liquid (composed of quick lime and other noxious ingredients.) The process took all day and Cesare was not a fan of such vanities.

Girlfriend….Pants are so last century.

It may seem like this young Venetian lad is showing a bit too much buttocks, but his look was the epitome of virtue. How do we know this?  The circlet of gold he wears around his head was only worn by virgins.

Notes:

p. 506, Jones and Rosenthal

Sources and Further Reading: 

Rosenthal, Margaret F. and Jones, Ann Rosalind. The Clothing of the Renaissance World, Thames and Hudson, 2008

Cesare Vecellio Site

Why writing for children is so hard

Because discovering the relativity of space and time along with revolutionizing modern physics is really not that impressive.

At the very least, young Ann could have addressed poor Albert as "Dr. Einstein"

Image Source: Children's Science Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Parents...keep that toddler leashed!

I have heard them called many names. The... this won't hurt a bit "Snuggly Wuggly". The... it is just another safety device  "Toddler Harness" And my favorite and by far most accurate "Restraining Device." You might think that leashing your child like rabid dog is just morally wrong (unless you have a toddler trying to hurl themselves in front of moving cars like a rabid dog.) Whatever your feelings toward this strange parenting accessory, the toddler leash is not a modern invention.

In the above eighteenth century French fashion plait, this young lass is clearly not taking any chances with her pet garcon. Granted, the leash has less to do with losing her son in a crowded mall and more to do with keeping him from muddying his new sailor suit. The eighteenth century toddle leash was called leading strings and it was aimed at helping children learn to walk.  Much like the boys in dresses in last week's post, Rousseau was vehemently against using such a leash because he felt it prevented a child's motor development. But again, I doubt Rousseau had to keep a toddler trying to run under the wheels of a vicious stage coach.

Sources and Further Reading:
Blum, Stella. Eighteenth Century French Fashion in Full Color, New York: NY, Dover Publications, 1982.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Collected Writings of Rousseau, Dartmouth College Press, 1990

Boys in Drag

I recently found an old photo album of my husband as a young boy where in almost every picture he was dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy on his way to a tea party. (Really...I would love to show just one picture but he would KILL me.) We all have some pretty scary childhood pictures lurking in our dust filled closets. Some day, our ancestors just might stumble upon these treasures and wonder why 70s jump suits are uncomfortably wedged into our bottoms or debate the aesthetic value of elbow pads.  Wait….Here comes the history part.

Consider the above 17^th century painting showing Charles I's children. On the left is the Prince of Wales, (later King Charles II), on the right is his sister Princess Mary and the pretty girl in the middle is the Duke of York (later King James II).  Why were boys and girls dressed identically? First, imagine the odds of your child surviving as only 1 in 3. Now imagine having lost several children already to anything as simple as a bad flu. With such high mortality rates, you might start to think of your child as gender neutral….sort of like a fern, or a pet rock, or a chia pet that has yet to grow hair. Boys were typically not viewed as male until they were allowed to wear pants or “breached” at about the age of seven.

Boys in dresses also echoed medical beliefs of the time. During the eighteenth century, philosophers like Rousseau preached on the importance of children having free movement in their dress. Since under-ware had yet to be invented, dresses let young lads air out their bits and were therefore more salubrious to their development. (Rousseau actually might have been on to something since we now know that those tighty whities can lower sperm count.)

Dresses were also more functional. Those easy zippers and convenient snaps had not been invented yet.  If you have ever had to wrestle a toddler to the ground and change a dirty diaper, then you might start wishing your boy wore a dress too.

Another reason for the lack of gender distinction was based on the superstition that clothing a precious boy in a dress would trick the grim reaper into thinking he was a useless girl. I guess the devil was welcome to the girls.

Ever wonder why boys wear blue and girls pink? Stay tuned for the answer...

18th century Fan Flirting verses Chat Abbreviations... FYA (For your amusement)

You probably have heard about the latest phenomenon in online chatting - Chatroulette. Basically, it is speed dating on the internet where you click from one stranger to the next. All you need is a webcam and an internet connection. No age limits. No restrictions. Just type the usual cryptic chat abbreviations and move to the next person. Ugh. Where is the romance?

(switching to my patronizing old lady voice now...)
Teenagers today may think that they are the first generation to use a coded language to chat with their peers, but they don't have anything on 18th century fan flirting.

The following are the fan signals and their text messaging equivalents:

Hush...we might be overheard:

Text abbreviation: MOS (Mother over shoulder)
Fan abbreviation: Fan closed, place tip to lips

Keep our secret

Text abbreviation: BM&Y (Between me and you)

Fan abbreviation: Cover left ear with closed fan

If you mistrust the person:
Text abbreviation: TILIS (Tell it like it is)
Fan abbreviation: Fan closed, place tip to nose.

If someone’s conversation is not stimulating:
Text abbreviation: BOOMS (Bored out of my skull)
Fan abbreviation: Yawn behind a closed fan

If you want him to get lost:
Text abbreviation: BIH! (Burn in hell) or BOB (Back off buddy)
Fan abbreviation: Lower an open fan and point it at the ground

If you don't believe his compliments
Text abbreviation: GIAR (Give it a rest)
Fan abbreviation: Place your chin on the tip of the fan

To let him down gently:
Text abbreviation: NFM (Not for me)
Fan abbreviation: Open your fan and make a brushing movement like you are swatting an annoying fly

If you are interested:
Text abbreviation: BG (Big grin) or G (Giggle) or more to the point -  URH (You are hot)
Fan abbreviation: Open your fan and use it to coquettishly hide your eyes

If you are really interested
Text abbreviation: ILU, ILY (I love you)
Fan abbreviation: Place the tip of your fan to your heart

You are interested enough for a tryst
Text abbreviation: BTYCL? (Bootycall)
Fan abbreviation: Open fan slightly over heart and flutter it to indicate the time of your rendez-vous

Not only could a girl use her fan to communicate quick emotions, but have whole conversations in a sort of fan Morse code. Charles Francis Bandini's "fanology" taught the subtle art of fan flirting and much like today's text abbreviations, fanology promised to "Improve the Friendship and set forth a plan for ladies to chit chat and hold the tongue."

Below is the teaching device for "Fanology" or "The Ladies Conversation Fan."

Here is how it worked:
To chat with your buddies, you would place your fan in the correct letter position using a 2 combination number. Letters were first broken up into five different fan positions similiar to how the keys on some cell phones are grouped with 3 letters on one key (ok...I have a really old phone).

Position 1 was A-E.
Position 2 was F-K.
Position 3 was L- P.
Position 4 was Q-U.
Position 5 was V-Z
"J" was eliminated.

The second number would indicate the letter postion from within that group. So for example, if you wanted to spell L * O * V * E, you would put your fan in position 3 and 1 to indicate "L". Then you would put your fan in position 3 and postion 4 to sign "O". And so on. This would work wonders to flirt with your man across a crowded room....unless he was nearsighted, in which case all that incessant flapping would just cool your ardor.*

This fan language was not something to take lightly. If a girl didn’t know the correct fan signals then she could make some serious social blunders. Such was the case when Baroness Oberkirch leaned over to show Marie Antoinette her bracelet and accidentally opened her fan (gasp!...a fan was never to be opened in the presence of the queen in Versailles unless used as a tray.) But at least with fan flirting, there was not a Tiger Woods digital record of your social faux pas. FRT! (For Real Though)

Unfortunately, 18th century fan flirting was probably not as quixotic as the movies and bodice ripper novels portray it. Fans also allowed women to conceal their rotting teeth behind fluttering pictorials or at least keep a safe distance from her beau without knocking him out with her bad breath. Still, you have to love the delicate details in these fans. You can purchase this 18th century tortoise shell fan for $1,600. Isn't it beautiful? sigh. A girl can dream.

Now that video chatting has become so popular, maybe teens could at least skip the text abbreviations and get out their fans? No?? Feel free to share these fan flirting tips with an angst ridden teen. Don’t expect them to be impressed.

*By the 19th century, the Victorians had completely rewrote the fan language etiquette so you better have the most recent code book or you might tell the object of your desire to beat it when you really meant you make my heart beat.

Sources and Further Reading:
Wikipedia has more chat abbreviations here.
Images from V&A Collections
Picard, Liza. Dr. Johnson's London : coffee-houses and climbing boys, medicine, toothpaste, and gin, poverty and press-gangs, freakshows and female education, New York : St. Martin's Press, 2001.
Stabile, Susan. Memory's Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America, Cornell University Press, 2004

The Masked Lady

I found this great post over at Two Nerdy History Girls about 17th and 18th century masks. Below is a watercolor from Habits de France published in 1581.

In 16th century France, these full masks were worn to protect the woman's face from the wind and sun. Kind of Silence of the Lambs creepy huh? I doubt ladies could breath or even speak very easily under these masks. But maybe that was the point.

The Hangman's Muff

I was recently over at author Catherine Delors blog where she posted this beautiful Fragonard painting L'hiver (Winter). Most people would focus on the poor child who is obviously getting the snot beat out of her by old man winter, but empathy went right out the window for me. I just wanted her muff. I had one similar as a child and I want it back.

You might think of muffs as a very feminine fashion, but in the early 1700s men wore muffs just as much as women. They were usually cloth muffs decorated with tons and tons of ribbons until one savvy Parisian furrier came up with an ingenious plan to give his business a boost. He gave one of those inferior cloth muffs to the local hangman. In the 18th century, no one was allowed to wear what the hangman wore so by wearing his new gift, he made cloth muffs go the way of parachute pants. Undeterred, fashionistas flocked to their furriers to get nice, warm, fur muffs.

Flash forward over 200 years later to a little girl wearing her white muff to church every Sunday. I really miss that muff. Will someone please bring back the muff?

The worst cold weather fashion in history

Yesterday was Groundhog day and of course that chubby, little rodent saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter to follow. But shadow be damned...I think if someone gave poor, little Punxsutawney Phil a nice, woolly sweater and scarf set then he just might stick around. In New England, we have a saying - There isn't bad weather, just bad clothing choices. Lately, I don't leave the house without my cozy bomber hat. (mine is of course fake fur). Sure, I may look like I am about to drive an Alaskan dog sled to the grocery store, but at least I am warm. Phil is obviously poorly dressed for the task of weather predictions. Which brings me to the history bit...

Throughout history, most people have preferred heavy fabrics in the winter and light fabrics in the summer. But after the French Revolution, staying warm took a back seat to looking fashionable. Ancient Greek styles dominated aristocratic circles, and despite its impracticality, one of the more popular dresses was the diaphanous Chignon a la Grecque popularized by the leading Les Merveilleuses such as Madame Récamier (shown here). *

The dress featured flowing muslin fabrics cut in an empire waste and decolletage that was sure to leave the wearer bitterly longing for the warmer fashions of the pre-Revolutionary era. Some women were even rumored to wet their dresses down to get that extra clingy, weather-be-dammed, wet t-shirt look. In this fashion plate to the right, this lovely dame is clearly folding her arms because she left her cloak at home and now must endure a night of goosebumps.

Americans were always quick to keep up with French fashions, but the Chignon a la Grecque was far too scandalous for even the most daring Washington fashionistas. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Patterson (shown to the left) didn't let a little thing like partial-nudity dissuade her from trying the latest trends. Elizabeth had married Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother and was determined to make her entrance into Washington unforgettable. She certainly succeeded. Men crowded around Elizabeth to catch a glimpse of her half-naked body beneath the translucent fabrics. Her audacious attire almost got her shunned from polite society when hostesses insisted that she could not come calling unless she put some clothes on.

Before the Revolution claimed its first fashion victims, Marie Antoinette had attempted a simpler style of dress in her chemise a la reine. (shown to the left painted by Vigee-Lebrun) Unfortunately, this style met with as much condemnation as her more excessive styles. The public was so shocked to see their queen dressed-down like a country milkmaid that Lebrun was forced to withdraw her shocking painting from the Salon of the Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture. To make matters worse, this simpler English style threatened the French economy by relying on imported muslin. But really, could Marie Antoinette win? She was criticized for too much ostentation and then criticized for too little.

The light dresses of the Grecian goddess finally met its demise when Napoleon waged war against the fashionable ladies of Paris. Napoleon was known to have fireplaces sealed up so that ladies who came to soirees inappropriately dressed were forced to shiver in disgrace. But when has a little discomfort ever changed fashion trends?

If you are around the same age as me, you might have looked like just as much of a tramp (and just as cold) in those 80's short mini-skirts. My friends and I used to leave the house in layers. The first layer had our respectable mother-approved clothing and the last layer had what might be described as "street corner" attire. (something like what is shown here... I am embarrassed to admit that this picture is a Halloween costume.)

Napoleon eventually killed the Chignon a la Grecque fashion by banning the importation of Indian muslin. The ban forced women to rely on heavier domestic fabrics such as taffeta, velvet and brocade and probably kept many ladies from freezing for the sake of fashion.

*Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell trendy French ladies that the Greeks had achieved the sheer look by layering transparent fabrics over warm wool.

Sources and Further Reading:
Chazin-Bennahum, Judith. The Lure of Perfection: Fashion and Ballet, 1780-1830, New York, NY: Routledge, 2004.
The Queen's Hair: Marie-Antoinette, Politics, and DNA, Desmond Hosford, Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1, Hair (Fall, 2004), pp. 183-200