Posts in the Countess Greffulhe category

Photographs of the Countess Greffulhe

La comtesse Greffulhe, nÈe Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay (1860-1952), portant la robe aux lis crÈÈe pour elle par la maison Worth
In this photograph by Paul Nadar, the Countess Greffulhe wears her famous Lily Dress, attributed to the House of Worth, 1896. She studied photography with Nadar and collaborated with him on at least two versions of this photograph, posing in front of a full-length mirror. Long a symbol of female vanity, the mirror can also be compared to a photograph. As Robert de Montesquiou once said, “A photograph is a mirror that remembers.”

Photograph by Paul Nadar.
Palais Galleria, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.
© Eric Emo/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.
La Comtesse Greffuhle dans une robe de bal
The Countess Élisabeth Greffulhe in a ballgown, circa 1887.

Exposed to the crowd at the opera, the Countess Greffulhe experienced a feeling of triumph. As she once wrote to Robert de Montesquiou, “I don’t think that there is any pleasure in the world comparable to that of a woman who feels that she is being looked at by everybody. . . . How can one live when one can no longer provoke this great anonymous caress, after having known and tasted it?” Photography was another way of presenting herself to the gaze of others.

Photograph by Otto Wegener.
Palais Galliera, Musée de la mode de la Ville de Paris.
© Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.
© Eric Emo/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.
Portrait de la comtesse Elisabeth Greffulhe
The Countess Greffulhe wearing an evening coat, circa 1887.

In this photograph, The Countess Greffulhe poses almost completely concealed by a voluminous evening cape, perhaps the same chinchilla cape that she loaned to Robert de Montesquiou for his portrait by Whistler. She later complained that the cape was never returned by his companion, Yturri.

Photograph by Otto Wegener.
Palais Galleria, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.
© Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.
palais-galliera-logos-sm

This exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.
Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.

Proust’s Muse Symposium

Cover for La comtesse Greffulhe L’ombre des Guermantes

Cover for La comtesse Greffulhe L’ombre des Guermantes


On Thursday, October 20, 2016, The Museum at FIT will hold its 16th fashion symposium, Proust’s Muse. The day-long symposium begins at 10 a.m. with Laurent Cotta and Valerie Steele in conversation about Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe. They are followed by Laure Hillerin, the Countess’s biographer, Françoise Tétart-Vittu on the golden age of Paris fashion, and Philippe Thiebaut on the dandy-poet Count Robert de Montesquiou.

There will be a lunch break from 1 to 2 pm, resuming with a lecture by Caroline Weber on the Countess Greffulhe and the costume balls of fin‑de‑siècle Paris, followed by five more exciting talks on fashion, art, literature, and dance in Paris, concluding with a look at the influence of the Countess Greffulhe on contemporary fashion. Finally, from 5:15 to 6 pm there will be a live concert with music inspired by Proust’s Muse, the Countess Greffulhe.

For more details and to register for this FREE event, please visit our website.

About the Countess Greffulhe

Photograph by Otto, the Countess Greffulhe in a ball gown, circa 1887. © Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.

Photograph by Otto, the Countess Greffulhe in a ball gown, circa 1887.
© Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.

palais-galliera-logos-smThis exhibition was developed by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.


Élisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, the Countess Greffulhe (1860–1952), patronized the greatest couturiers of her day, but her audacious personal style was very much her own. As the press observed: “Her fashions, whether invented for her or by her must resemble no one else’s,” adding that she preferred to look “bizarre” rather than “banal.” In this, she resembled her uncle, the dandy-poet Count Robert de Montesquiou, who inspired Marcel Proust’s notorious character, the Baron de Charlus, just as the Countess Greffulhe inspired Proust’s immortal character, Oriane, the Duchesse de Guermantes.

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