The Ornamented Being

As I am entering into my final project as a student I thought it would be a good idea to record my thoughts on my project and share my work with you. Our final costume is meant to be a representation of who we are as makers and as creators.  I have had a life-long love affair with ballet and with the 18^th century so I saw no better way to express myself than to combine the two. My hopes are to re-create a historical ballet costume that could be found in a modern production. I have chosen an 18th century design by Jean-Baptiste Martin entitled Paysanne Galante (1722) used in the Ballet de la Provencale and other dances. The second portrait is one of my favourites because in my mind she represent Payanne as a real costume. It’s one thing to have a drawing of an idea but it’s another to find a living woman wearing something similar. 

More information on this project can be found on The Mended Soul 

My mother pointed out last night that this design I am bringing to life is the epitome of an Ornamented Being. I can’t explain the reason but that thought warms my heart.

Portuguese Court Gown, LACMA, c. 1845

I’ve seen this gown in Paris, it’s stunning! 

(Source: lacma.wordpress.com)

Italian Court Ensemble

c. 1857-60

(Source: )

Biog: m 1884 Baron George Alexandrovitch de Graevenitz

Date: 25 May 1900.

Occasion: The Court (the Diplomatic Circle), 25 May 1900.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond St., London.

Costume: Russian Court Dress:

“The Russian court dress was exceedingly picturesque and was donned for all bigger occasions. It consisted of amply cut velvet robes over a tablier of white satin; the shape, with its train, and wide, long-hanging sleeves, had something mediæval about it. These robes were heavily embroidered in silver or gold and were of every colour of the rainbow; the richest of all were of cloth of gold or silver.

A halo-shaped cocoshnic with a veil hanging from beneath it inevitably accompanied this costume, so that every woman appeared to have been crowned. This unity of attire made all Russian court gatherings uniquely picturesque, saturating them with colour and brilliance unlike anything else; veritable pictures out of the “Thousand and One Nights,” Byzantine in splendour, with all the mysterious gorgeousness of the East. In those days the processional entry of the Russian Imperial family into festive hall or saint-haunted church was a picture once seen never to be forgotten.” Marie, Queen of Roumania, The Story of My Life, London, 1934, Vol I, p 95

(Source: lafayette.org.uk)

 Part of court dress 1926

Here

Debutant dress 1928

Here

Ceremonial Court Dress 
Russia. Late 19th - early 20th century
Satin, tulle and brocade; embroidered with silk and metall threads. 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad. 1941

Ceremonial Court Dress of a Maid of Honour to Imperial Court 
Olga Bulbenkova’s Workshop (?), St Petersburg 
Russia. Late 19th - early 20th century
Velvet, satin, gilded metal thread; embroidered. L.: bodice 33, skirt 140, train 270 cm 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad. 1941

The State Hermitage Museum 

(Source: hermitagemuseum.org)

“The Russian court dress was exceedingly picturesque and was donned for all bigger occasions. It consisted of amply cut velvet robes over a tablier of white satin; the shape, with its train, and wide, long-hanging sleeves, had something medival about it. These robes were heavily embroidered in silver or gold and were of every colour of the rainbow; the richest of all were of cloth of gold or silver. A halo-shaped cocoshnic (AN: kokoshnik) with a veil hanging from beneath it inevitably accompanied this costume, so that every woman appeared to have been crowned. This unity of attire made all Russian court gatherings uniquely picturesque, saturating them with colour and brilliance unlike anything else; veritable pictures out of the “Thousand and One Nights,” Byzantine in splendour, with all the mysterious gorgeousness of the East. In those days the processional entry of the Russian Imperial family into festive hall or saint-haunted church was a picture once seen never to be forgotten.” - Marie, Queen of Roumania, from the book “The Story of My Life”.

V&A: This is a magnificent example of English court dress of the mid-18th century. It would have been worn by a woman of aristocratic birth for court events involving the royal family. The style of this mantua was perfectly suited for maximum display of wealth and art; this example contains almost 10lb weight of silver thread worked in an elaborate ‘Tree of Life’ Design. The train is signed ‘Rec’d of Mdme Leconte by me Magd. Giles’. The name Leconte has been associated with Huguenot embroideresses working in London between 1710 and 1746. The Huguenots were French Protestants who, following the repressive measures against them that the Catholic monarch Louis XIV of France restarted in 1685, emigrated to Britain and elsewhere.

c. 1740-45

(Source: collections.vam.ac.uk)

I would NOT want to be stuck walking behind her!

House of Worth, Court Presentation Train, 1892.

The Art Institute of Chicago

Edit: The CHM has the following text listed as their Basic ID and since I’m not one to contradict a museum I’m using their information-

Court presentation dress, 1892. Silk satin, velvet, rhinestone, gold cloth, glass beads, net. Worth, Paris. Gift to The Art Institute of Chicago by Mrs. Potter Palmer II. L.1974.14

(Source: digitalcollection.chicagohistory.org)

Imperial Russian court dress, c 1888 (silk lamé moiré, silk velvet, glass crystals, silver sequins, silver foil, silver strips), Worth, Charles Frederick (1825-95) / Indianapolis Museum of Art, USA / Gift of the Alliance of the Indianapolis Museum of Art / The Bridgeman Art Library

(Source: bridgemanart.com)

c. 1923-34

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Court presentation dress

Boué Soeurs  (French)

(Source: metmuseum.org)

Date: 13 May 1898.

Occasion: The Drawing Room, 13 May 1898: presented in the Diplomatic Circle by Mme. de Bille, wife of the Danish Minister.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond Street, London, W.

Descr: FL standing.

Costume: Court dress: “…an undergown of white chiffon over white satin, with lace insertions and frills of chiffon, edged bébé satin ribbons, and long sash ends of chiffon; train of white satin duchesse with white chiffon and lilies of the valley.” (see: The Gentlewoman, 21 May 1898, p 722b).

(Source: lafayette.org.uk)

Biog: m 1884 Baron George Alexandrovitch de Graevenitz

Date: 25 May 1900.

Occasion: The Court (the Diplomatic Circle), 25 May 1900.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond St., London.

Costume: Russian Court Dress:

“The Russian court dress was exceedingly picturesque and was donned for all bigger occasions. It consisted of amply cut velvet robes over a tablier of white satin; the shape, with its train, and wide, long-hanging sleeves, had something mediæval about it. These robes were heavily embroidered in silver or gold and were of every colour of the rainbow; the richest of all were of cloth of gold or silver.

A halo-shaped cocoshnic with a veil hanging from beneath it inevitably accompanied this costume, so that every woman appeared to have been crowned. This unity of attire made all Russian court gatherings uniquely picturesque, saturating them with colour and brilliance unlike anything else; veritable pictures out of the “Thousand and One Nights,” Byzantine in splendour, with all the mysterious gorgeousness of the East. In those days the processional entry of the Russian Imperial family into festive hall or saint-haunted church was a picture once seen never to be forgotten.” Marie, Queen of Roumania, The Story of My Life, London, 1934, Vol I, p 95

(Source: lafayette.org.uk)

A new theme for a new year:

All that glitters … 

(Source: metmuseum.org)