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Rick Owens

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 2015 Countess Greffulhe installation La mode retrouvée Rick Owens
On 5 Jan | '2017

Photo by Eileen Costa. © 2016 The Museum at FIT

Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

When Rick Owens told me that La Mode retrouvée was “one of my all-time favorite museum shows since I’ve lived in Paris,” I asked him to lend one of his own dresses to Proust’s Muse and to explain why he was so attracted to an exhibition of the dresses of the Countess Greffulhe. He explained, “I have long been a fan of Count Robert de Montesquiou, but it wasn’t until I saw this show that I was aware of his relationship with the Countess Greffulhe. They both shared a taste for the exquisite and the discipline to pursue perfection to an intense degree.”
~ Valerie Steele

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

Rick Owens
Ensemble, fall/winter 2015
Wool, nylon, cotton, viscose, silk, leather
Lent by Rick Owens

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

Louiseboulanger Evening Gown

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1930s dress installation Louiseboulanger
On 4 Jan | '2017

The Museum at FIT's: opening party for Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe

Photographs © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

“Women who dare to wear clothes that are strikingly original and about three seasons ahead of the style naturally gravitate to Louiseboulanger,” observed one guidebook. That would certainly describe the Countess Greffulhe, who was always a connoisseur of high fashion.

Louiseboulanger
Evening gown, late 1930s
Rayon crepe “Aziza,” velvet
GAL1964.20.29, 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.

Nina Ricci Evening Ensemble with Bolero

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1937 bolero cape Countess Greffulhe dress feathers installation Nina Ricci silk
On 3 Jan | '2017

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.

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

Jeanne Lanvin

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1936 1937 black coat Countess Greffulhe dress installation Jeanne Lanvin
On 21 Dec | '2016

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

The Countess Greffulhe clearly appreciated the sophisticated subtlety of Jeanne Lanvin, one of the greatest fashion designers of her era, whose work reached its height in the 1930s. Even in her seventies, the Countess continued to adopt advanced fashions, such as the coat on the right with almost Surrealist effects.

Left: Jeanne Lanvin
Evening gown, summer 1937
Tulle and crepe
GAL1964.20.38AB, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Right: Jeanne Lanvin
Day coat, 1936
Silk satin, wool, metal, fur
GAL1964.20.31, 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.

Women Between the Wars

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1930 1935 black Countess Greffulhe dress installation Jenny Maggie Rouff velvet
On 15 Dec | '2016

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

The period between the wars has been called “the golden age of the couturière.” On the evidence of her existing wardrobe, it appears that the Countess Greffulhe patronized many celebrated female designers, including Maggy Rouff, who was the daughter of the head designer at the House of Drécoll.

Élisabeth Greffulhe often wore black. Robert de Montesquiou described how “She appeared with the elegant energy and refined majesty of a gazelle that had encountered a length of black velvet, which she trailed behind her with infinite grace.”

Left: Maggie Rouff
Evening dress, circa 1930
Silk velvet
GAL1964.20.30, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Right: Jenny
Evening gown, circa 1935
Black viscose jersey and satin
GAL1964.20.37, 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.

Evening Coat circa 1925

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1925 coat Countess Greffulhe gold installation
On 13 Dec | '2016

Photographs © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

This iridescent blue and silver evening coat with Orientalist motifs (rocks, trees, pagodas, figures) demonstrates how the Countess Greffulhe continued to be attracted to the glittering exoticism of the pre-war years.

Evening coat (no label), circa 1925
Gold lamé, embroidery, and sequins
GAL1964.20.24, 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.

Jenny Evening Dress

By The Museum at FIT
In Objects
Tagged with 1924 dress installation ivory Jenny
On 1 Dec | '2016

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

L: © Stéphane Piera / Galliera / Roger-Viollet
R: Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

Photograph © Zach Hilty/BFA.com

This grand evening gown in ivory silk was designed by Jenny Sacerdote, a couturière whose clothes were described in the fashion press as being characterized by “this new spirit which we call modern.”

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

Jenny
Evening gown, circa 1924-25
Silk satin, silk muslin, embroidery
GAL1964.20.19, 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.

Pierre Bulloz Evening Dress

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

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.

Beauchez Evening Gown

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

© Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet

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.

Worth Tea Gown

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

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.