by Donna Klein How Charles Gibson created the Ideal Woman Women were in the forefront of societal change during the last decade of the 19th century. The woman of the 1890s was athletic, independent, and educated (thanks to recent access to higher education). She was on the cusp; coming into her own. Some women [...]
by Donna Klein From Bouillonné to Ruching - gather your ruffles! Ruffles are more than a brand of potato chip. Ruffles have been embellishing and trimming garments for a very long time. There are a few ways to describe ruffles, each with its own nuanced meaning when it comes to design. Ruffles can [...]
by Donna Klein Gloves - a Part of Fashion for Nearly One Thousand Years Gloves have been used by humans for protection since antiquity. One legend relates that gloves have been a fashion statement among nobility since the 11th century when, according to The Evolution of the Glove, “the Doge of Venice, Domenico [...]
by Donna Klein Removing the Cloak from Mantle Whether the word is spelled 'mantle' or 'mantel,' the origin is the same. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it comes from “Latin mantellum 'cloak'.” By the time it progressed to the Old English, it meant a 'loose, sleeveless cloak.' Whether you talk about a [...]
by Donna Klein The Corsage: Evolution from Body to Bodice to Bouquet What do you think of when you hear the word “corsage?” Most likely you think of a single flower or a small bouquet or nosegay that is usually worn near the shoulder of a woman's dress or on the lapel of [...]
French Minister of Fashion While Charles Worth is considered the 'Father of Couture,' it all started with Rose Bertin, the French 'Minister of Fashion.' This was a name given to her by her detractors, but that is because she was a woman and she was powerful. She was ambitious and fashion was her ticket out [...]
by Donna Klein The Seeds of Couture Charles Frederick Worth was born in 1825 in Bourne, England. He was the youngest of five children born to William and Ann Worth and only one of two children (he and his brother) who survived to adulthood. His father abandoned the family by the time Charles [...]
Lucy Grows into Lucile Lucy Christiana Sutherland was born in London in 1841. Her mother moved back to Ontario, Canada, after the death of her father. The family moved to the Isle of Jersey when her mother remarried. Lucy married James Stuart Wallace in 1884 and gave birth to a daughter, Esme, in 1885. The [...]
by Donna Klein Redfern - from John to Charles Three years before John Redfern's death in 1895, his sons took over the the company and changed the name to Redfern Ltd. This seamless transition allowed the fashion house to move forward, mostly through the creative thinking of his son, Charles Poynter Redfern (1853 [...]