Galerie des Modes, 48e Cahier, 4e Figure

-
The tender Aspasie* sits with an air of nonchalance following the pleasures that love made her taste, liked to meditate on those that her beauty has right to make her hope: she is coiffed with a hat à la nouvelle Omphale, gown of striped muslin with an elegant border. (1785)

"The New Omphale, a comedy in three acts and in prose mixed with short arias, has been given for the first time at the theater of the Comédie italienne on Thursday, November 22.  The words are by M. de Beauvoir, previously known under the name of M. l'abbé Robineau, attached to the King's Library; we owe him for The Love Seeker and many other masterpieces which were and which will be performed for a long time by the delights of the theater of Nicolet and d'Audinot.**  The music is by Signor Floquet.

"It is the story so well-known from Seneca, titled Camille or the Manner of Escaping the Perfect Love, which has furnished the subject of the New Omphale.  In the story the scene is set in the time of Charlemagne; in the comedy, in the time of Henri IV.

"The motion of the poem is cool and slow, the ending of no effect ... The character of the music has generally been found to be very uniform, but different parts have been noted which are over everything that we have heard up to now by M. Floquet ..."

Correspondance litteraire, December 1782

* A very appropriate name, as Aspasia was known as "the new Omphale".  The original Omphale was a character from the story of Heracles.
* See 46th book, 3rd print: these are famous actors of the time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pride and Prejudice 1995: The Little Things

-
Image
I did threaten to write about the Ehle/Firth Pride and Prejudice , and since I'm in a writing mood without a topic I decided to make good. Regency adaptations tend to go for an overall accurate look, interpreting age and income within the confines of realistic silhouettes and colors, and so they avoid the scrutiny and reputation that a more obviously artistic and unrealistic production garners. But just as this version of P&P  is not entirely faithful in every respect (e.g. the added Darcy-perspective scenes, the actors nearly all being significantly older than their characters - perhaps the most egregious example being Julia Sawalha in her late twenties playing teenage Lydia), Dinah Hill's costuming is not entirely accurate - mainly in ways that make the period more appealing to modern tastes. The exact date when the story is set is never given; generally, the movie's taken to be set in 1813, when the book was published. I'm not going to go into the full story of
Read more

Pattern Time: 1860s Chemise

-
Image
For my 150th post ( \o/ ), a quick little pattern someone might find useful. When I was working my way through a box a few weeks ago, I came across a chemise that didn't quite want to lay flat.  I took a closer look at it to figure out why, and noticed that it had a unique construction with the sleeves cut in one with the body and gussets inserted in the neckline.  I did a really quick sketch of the cutting layout and measured the important bits, so that when I got home I could draw it up in proportion on graph paper. (nb. I messed up. I've been noticing it for a while, but didn't want to point it out from shame, but I accidentally gave the neckline length as it is when gathered - the horizontal cut should be much longer, to within about four inches of the side seam. Please correct for this when making your own version.)
Read more

A Difficult History: Corsetry and Feminism, Part One

-
Image
Recently, I began following a couple of Tumblr blogs focusing on waist training and daily corset wear. Daily wear is not for me, waist training even less so, but I find it an interesting practice. It is also a controversial one. For example, a recent Huffington Post article, " Corset Queen Penny Brown Loves Getting 'Waisted' ," drew comments which were nearly all extremely negative, as do most articles that bring the practice to mainstream attention. Usually, the mental states of the women who waist-train are called into question, and there are numerous references to feminism as incompatible with corsets. The general idea is that the first wave feminists of the late 19th and early 20th century would be horrified by women today wearing them, and that their assumed reaction is an objective statement on the practice. My feeling is that the subject is complex, and cannot be simply declared feminist or unfeminist. There are far more factors than the average internet comm
Read more