Posts in the cape category

L: © Zach Hilty/BFA.com© Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

L: © Zach Hilty/BFA.com
R: © Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

Even as an older woman, the Countess Greffulhe always sought to attract the gaze of observers. In an early draft of Sodom and Gomorah, Proust attributed an anecdote told of her to the fictional Princesse de Guermantes, who says, “I shall know I’ve lost my beauty when people stop turning to stare at me” to which another character replies, “Never fear, my dear, so long as you dress as you do, people will always turn and stare.”

Left: Nina Ricci
Evening ensemble, dress and cape, circa 1937
Silk crepe, silk muslin, ostrich feathers
GAL1964.20.41ABC, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera


Right: Nina Ricci
Bolero, circa 1937
Silk crepe, silk muslin, ostrich feathers
GAL1964.20.41ABC, 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.

palais-galliera-logos-sm

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

Worth Evening Cape

© Patrick Pierrain / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

© Patrick Pierrain / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT

Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT

Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

During his visit to Paris in 1896, Tsar Nicolas II of Russia gave the Countess Greffulhe a rich court robe called a khalat from Boukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan, but then part of the Russian Empire). She had it transformed into an evening cape by Jean-Philippe Worth, and was photographed wearing it by Otto Wegener. Eight years later, she had the cape altered slightly in conformance with contemporary fashion, creating a sensation when she wore “her great Russian cape of cloth of gold” to a gala benefiting wounded Russian soldiers.

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

Worth
Evening cape, known as the “Russian cape,” circa 1896, altered 1904
Embroidered maroon silk velvet with a roseate pattern, metal yarn, machine lace, braid with multi-colored silk thread, gold lamé taffeta, cotton tulle
GAL1980.189.16, gift of the duc de Gramont to the Palais Galliera

palais-galliera-logos-sm

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