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Vitaldi Babani Evening Coats

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1920 coat Countess Greffulhe silk taffeta velvet Vitaldi Babani
On 29 Nov | '2016

Photographs © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

Left: The Countess Greffulhe was a pioneering fundraiser for the arts and a great supporter of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Leon Bakst’s brilliantly colored dance costumes and sets inspired both fashion and interior design. The Countess’s flowing robes and coats by Babani and Fortuny created a similarly exotic effect.

Vitaldi Babani
Coat, circa 1920
Printed and embroidered silk chiffon
GAL1964.20.18, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Right: After her daughter grew up, the Countess Greffulhe stopped wearing pink, which was associated with youth. However, she continued to wear green. The Japonism for which Babani was famous is exemplified by this green velvet evening coat with a kimono-like silhouette.

Vitaldi Babani
Evening coat, circa 1920
Silver lamé, black silk, emerald green velvet, black taffeta
GAL1964.20.16, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Pierre Bulloz Evening Dress

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1913 dress installation Pierre Bulloz silk
On 21 Nov | '2016

Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

This beautiful black evening dress, embroidered with black and violet sequins, shows how the Countess Greffulhe retained her dramatic signature style, while also adapting to evolving fashions in the twentieth century.

Pierre Bulloz
Evening dress, circa 1913
Silk satin, chiffon, and tulle, embroidered with sequins, tassels with glass faceted pearls
GAL1980.189.12, gift of the duc de Gramont to the Palais Galliera

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Vitaldi Babani

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1912 caftan coat Fortuny green grey silk taffeta velvet Vitaldi Babani
On 17 Nov | '2016

Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

Far left: Attributed to Babani, this evening coat is strongly influenced by Fortuny. In particular, the floral and vegetal motifs of the fabric recall Fortuny’s love of Renaissance textiles, which were themselves heavily influenced by imported Asian textiles. Made of green velvet, lined in red taffeta, and fastened with a Murano glass button, it is one of many Orientalist garments worn by the Countess Greffulhe during the 1910s and 1920s. Notice again her love of green.

Attributed to Vitaldi Babani
Evening coat, circa 1912
Green silk velvet printed with gold, glass buttons
GAL1964.20.13, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Near Left: In the years prior to World War I, the Countess Greffulhe began to support the Ballets Russes, and her personal style also increasingly gravitated toward Orientalist garments. The house of Vitaldi Babani specialized in the sale of Japanese kimonos and garments by Fortuny and Liberty, before starting to create their own designs, such as this gown in the form of a caftan, which was originally worn, slightly bloused, over a sash.

Vitaldi Babani
Indoor gown, circa 1912
Grey silk taffeta with painted pochoir decoration, silk passementerie, glass buttons, lined in orange silk taffeta
GAL1964.20.12, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Mariano Fortuny

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1912 Duchesse de Guermantes Fortuny jacket Marcel Proust velvet
On 14 Nov | '2016

© Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

Mariano Fortuny, a Spanish artist based in Venice, created “unique” garments made from marvelous fabrics that evoked for Proust “that Venice loaded with the gorgeous East.” In Proust’s novel, the Duchesse de Guermantes often wears Fortuny, and the narrator asks her about one such gown “streaked with gold like a butterfly’s wing” that seemed to have a special poetry. Soon he is bribing his mistress Albertine to stay with him, by buying her Fortuny gowns that “swarmed with Arabic ornaments, like the Venetian palaces hidden like sultanas behind a screen of pierced stone.”

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Mariano Fortuny
Jacket, circa 1912
Bronze green silk velvet printed with gold, matching belt
GAL1964.20.14AB, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Worth “Byzantine dress”

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1904 Countess Greffulhe dress silk Worth
On 7 Nov | '2016

© L. Degrâces et Ph. Joffre / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

At the wedding of her daughter Élaine, the Countess Greffulhe wore this sensational “Byzantine empress” gown, ensuring that press attention focused on the mother of the bride. Indeed, the bride’s dress was hardly mentioned at all. According to La Vie Parisienne, “As luck would have it, Madame Greffulhe reached the top of the steps a long time before her daughter and was able to remain there for about a quarter of an hour, in full view of everyone.” The dress bears a Worth label, but in his memoirs, Paul Poiret claimed to have designed it.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Worth
“Byzantine dress,” 1904
Lamé taffeta, silk and gold thread, silk tulle, embroidered with glass pearls and metal sequins, fur (originally sable, replaced during restoration in the 1980s with rabbit).
GAL1978.20.2, gift of the duc de Gramont to the Palais Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Maison A. Félix House Coat

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1895 A. Félix coat green silk
On 2 Nov | '2016

Robert de Montesquiou appreciated Élisabeth Greffulhe’s taste and often commented on her fashions, such as a garment of “green shot silk, mixed with violet, which gave her the appearance of a Lorelei” (i.e., a siren or mermaid). This green shot silk housecoat is by the couturier, A. Félix.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Maison A. Félix
House coat, circa 1895
Shot silk taffeta, silk braid trimming with metallic thread
GAL1964.20.5, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Beauchez Evening Gown

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1900 Beauchez dress installation
On 31 Oct | '2016

L: © Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet
R: Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT

Robert de Montesquiou recalled that the Countess Greffulhe “would have the most renowned designers show her everything that was fashionable; then, when she was certain that they had come to the end of their pretentious rambling and bragging, she [would say], ‘Make me anything you like, as long as it’s not that!’”

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Beauchez
Transformable evening gown with two bodices, circa 1900
Midnight blue and brown silk velvet, machine lace, silk chiffon and tulle, embroidered with beads and sequins
GAL1964.20.8, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Shoes

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1905 Duchesse de Guermantes Marcel Proust red shoes velvet
On 28 Oct | '2016

One of the most famous scenes in Proust’s novel occurs near the end of The Guermantes Way, when the Duchesse de Guermantes, “lifting her skirt,” begins to step into their carriage. Catching sight of her foot, her husband exclaims: “Oriane, what are you thinking of! You are still wearing your black shoes! With a red dress! Go upstairs, quickly, and put on your red shoes!” It is a devastating moment, because their friend Swann has just been telling them that he is dying – something they prefer not to hear, since they are late for a party.

In real life, another friend of Proust’s, Madame Strauss, did once put on black shoes with a red dress, and her husband angrily ordered her to change, but it was not under such circumstances of cruelty and selfishness. Proust simply ran upstairs to fetch the other pair of shoes. Thus, a writer takes elements from life and transforms them into art.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Lagel-Meier
Pair of high-heeled shoes, circa 1905
Sheared velvet, leather
GAL1964.20.75, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Worth Tea Gown

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1897 dress installation tea gown velvet Worth
On 26 Oct | '2016

L: © Stéphane Piera / Galliera / Roger-ViolletR: Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT

The Countess Greffulhe often chose clothing of a brilliant green color, because it complemented her auburn hair. Her audacious style is epitomized by this extremely elegant tea gown, simultaneously a reception dress and a robe d’intérieur, which she wore to receive intimate friends at home in the late afternoon. The large motifs on the gown are typical of the spectacular historicizing textiles commissioned by Jean-Philippe Worth, director of the era’s most famous couture house.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Worth
Tea-gown, circa 1897
Blue cut velvet on a green satin ground, Valenciennes lace, lining in shot silk taffeta
GAL1964.20.4, gift if the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.

Worth “Lily Dress”

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1896 dress installation lily velvet Worth
On 20 Oct | '2016

L: © L. Degrâces et Ph. Joffre / Galliera / Roger-Viollet R: Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT

L: Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT R: Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

The Countess Greffulhe patronized the greatest couturiers of her time, but she was often the real creator of her dresses. This is certainly true of the famous “lily dress.” It has a princess line that was atypical for the period, but very flattering to her tall, slender figure, and the Bertha collar resembled bat wings, alluding to Robert de Montesquiou’s personal symbol, the bat. Finally, the motif of fleurs de lys refers to a verse he composed in her honor: “Like a beautiful silver lily with black pistil eyes.” She had herself photographed by Paul Nadar, wearing this dress and posing in front of a mirror.

Robert de Montesquiou by Boldini, 1896.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

“Her dresses, invented for her or by her, must resemble no one else’s,” observed the press, adding that she preferred to look “bizarre” rather than “banal.” The writer Edmund de Goncourt admired her “supreme aristocratic and artistic elegance,” but he also once described the Countess Greffulhe as “a distinguished eccentric,” adding that she reminded him of a “female version” of Count Robert de Montesquiou.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Worth
Evening gown, known as “La Robe aux Lis” (the lily dress), circa 1896, altered later
Black silk velvet, ivory silk satin appliqués in the form of lilies embroidered with metal sequins and glass pearls; modern collar
GAL1978.20.1, gift of the duc de Gramont to the Musée Galliera

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.