Glamour
30’s Fashion Expo
Brussels Costume Museum
March 2015
Link to Museum web site (in English)
The ground floor showcased the
daytime, the garden party and the weekend.
The first floor featured the wedding and
the evening.
The second floor presented in
private.
So much to see at Brussels Museum of Costume and Lace. A fine
illustration of the metamorphosis of fashion and females from the roaring 20s to
the late 1930s when the lights began to go out again all over Europe. The decade’s
style evolution was plain to see in the first tableau. A drop waisted bright
yellow crêpe 1920s dress stood beside a 1930s dusky blue bias cut velvet
evening gown. It made it easy to see why flappers favoured short boyish hair
whilst 1930s ladies strove to be sophisticated with perms and waves. The
hairstyles just went with the clothes
and would have looked quite wrong the other way round. You could argue that any
ten year period in popular fashion would show the same level of variation. Hindsight
can be cruel, but looking at the clothes in this exhibition from a distance of many
years it is sobering to trace how the more unsettled the political landscape,
the more swirly and luxurious and embellished and totally impractical fashion became.
The daytime collection reminded one that even in the 1930s women strove
to follow fashion with whatever means were at their command. Hence those who could
not afford expensive furs, bought moleskin or dormouse or lamb or rabbit… which
had been treated to look anything rather than rabbit…If you had the time and
money to change in the afternoon, you had plenty of choice of what to wear. Afternoon
dresses of silk faille, of navy blue crêpe and of aquamarine cotton printed
with anemones, tulips and wild flowers just awaited a 1930s summer day. One dress
in this section, described as a formal dress from the late 1920s, was so like
the clothes I wore (or wanted to find and wear) in the 1970s I had to have a
second look. It really was hard to believe that the dress was over eighty years
old. Round neck, full sleeves, mid calf, decorated with embroidery, smocking
and a beaten copper belt buckle …it fitted the bucolic style from the 1970s
perfectly. The garden party collection brimmed with taffeta, muslin and floaty crêpe.
It can be summed up by ‘pale and pastel with a parasol’ (and a wide brimmed hat).
Imagine a sleeveless white polka dot organdie dress, flounced hem, lace ribbon
and a green velvet belt lining. Very languid, very Hollywood and very chic.
If the garden party hadn’t left your sensibilities too fatigued, there
was always the weekend to look forward to. For every activity there were
special clothes. A riding habit. Beach pyjamas, a swimsuit. Summer hats, matching
bags and of course a parasol…
Up to the first floor and there they were…dresses for a Girls Big Day,
one of the big social events of any Season…The Wedding.
Again a marked contrast between dresses ten years apart in fashion
years. (which is a lot of years) There was a dress very like the one worn by Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1923. Ivory satin, mitten sleeves, silver lace, a
long scalloped train. Ah… but the 1935 crêpe confection beside it was pure film
star. Long sleeves, a draped belt made of triangular panels cut on the bias and
a draped cowl neck. If the wedding gowns were fairytale, then the evening gowns
were storybook. Mauve crêpe stood next to lavender crêpe. Draped necklines, black
sequins, silver lamé, machine made lace, silk velvet, bows, paste trimmings and
little capes. (Nb. Not all on same dress) High class dressing up for glamorous
people.
It’s not only these days that slim people get the best clothes. An early
1930s black sequined evening gown and a Chanel sheath dress constructed of
mother of pearl sequins were very slim. I can only assume these women did not
eat all evening (or sit down). The one piece I would like to have taken home to
wear was a silk lamé coat in figured gold and green. The green lamé had slits
to allow the gold lamé to show through. From Lanvin, winter 1926/27. Sublime. As
memories of wearing mourning dimmed a little after the First War, black came to
be seen as quietly elegant. Chanel and her lbd from the 1920s was copied widely
and the 1930s embraced the trend. Helped by the popularity of Hollywood films
and the perceived elegance of the actresses in those films, black became an essential
for your wardrobe. I saw what Schiaparelli did in the 1930s to put her own special
stamp on this trend with a floral satin cowl neck top with long full sleeves
worn with a floor length black skirt. One striking example of the couturiers
art appeared at first glance, to be a dress and bolero. It was in fact one
piece, made in black satin crêpe and white satin silk. The bolero, lapels and
cuffs edged with black and white fabric petals.
The second floor presented In Private. The lingerie and nightwear that
went under and with these beautiful clothes. Powder pink rayon bras and girdles
from the 1930s. Nightdresses in the same pink, with v necks, shoulder flounces
and quantities of machine made lace. Plus the wearer’s initials embroidered on
the bodice. A silk kimono in blue and yellow worn over sleeveless blue silk
pyjamas…this ensemble included a matching clutch bag. Bed jackets in powder
pink taffeta, slips, a dressing gown and a pair of red silk stockings from a
chic city centre shop.
And that was that. Three floors of captivating clothes.
Yet again Brussels Museum has assembled a sumptuous exhibition, one that
reminds us that not only did Belgian couture epitomise faultless elegance, but
rightly takes its place in the Age of Glamour, which is so beautifully displayed
here.
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