In the Labyrinth

And Other Fantasies -- Dreaming in Lingerie

One of the most successful ad campaigns (which ran for over 20 years!) was created by Maidenform Bras -- which involved surreal dreams of doing all manner of activity half undressed in one's highly constructed brassiere. You can find examples of them all over the internet of course -- and they really are "fantastic." But I have to say, this one is my favorite because it involves masks and masquerades....and there is something really alluring about a scantily clad woman with an animal head mask. (Click on the image to get a larger view)

The Splendor Of Shopping: Emile Zola and Au Bonheur Des Dames (The Ladies' Delight)

I have just finished a conference where we read and discussed in great depth Emile Zola's novel, Au Bonheur Des Dames (The Ladies Delight.) The novel, set in the late 1860's, centers on the invention of the department store (based on the historical store Bon Marché in Paris). The owner Mouret -- a scoundrel and womanizer -- is also a creative genius, gathering together all the different trades under one roof, creating "departments" and then using price incentives, advertizing, and spectacular displays (worthy of Alexander McQueen) to draw women from all the classes ("democratizing luxury") into the store to shop in a sensual frenzy. But the writer in me is astonished by the "texture" of the novel -- the feel of the fabrics that comes through in Zola's writing, adding a very sensual experience to the reading itself. 

The silk department:

"... a display of summer silks lit the hall with a burst of surprise, like a star rising amid the most delicate shades of light: pale pink, soft yellow and limpid blue -- Iris's drifting veil in all its glory. There were foulards as soft as clouds, surahs lighter than down floating among the trees, moiré, and Peking silks as supple as the skin of a Chinese virgin. There were pongees from Japan, tussores and corahs from India, not to mention our own light silks in stripes, checks and flower patterns, every design imaginable, conjuring up ladies in furbelows walking beneath great trees of some park on a May morning.

The lace room -- my favorite in the novel.

"Situated near ladies' ware, this was a luxurious room, where store cases had drawers of carved oak that would fold back. Spirals of white lace wound around the columns, which were covered in red velvet, and festoons of guipure lace hung from one end of the room to the other, while on the counters were cascades of large cards completely enveloped in Valenciennes, Mechlin and needlepoint...It was hot in the lace room. The customers, with pale faces and shinning eyes, were stifling. It was as though all the seductive powers of the store had been leading up to this supreme temptation: in this remote alcove was the Fall, this was the corner of perdition in which even the strong would succumb. Their hands buried themselves in the overflowing lace and came away trembling like a drunkard.

And this, the lingerie department unlike any I could imagine:

"Here were camisoles, little bodices, morning dresses, dressing gowns, linen, nansouk, lace, long white clothes, free and thin, in which one could feel the stretching and yawning of idle mornings after amorous evenings. Then the underclothes appeared, arriving one by one: white petticoats of every length, the petticoat tight around the knees and the petticoat that drags its train along the floor, a rising sea of petticoats in which ones legs were lost; bloomers in cambric, linen and pique, wide white bloomers in which a man's hips would have room to dance; and finally the under blouses, buttoned up to the neck for the night, revealing bust by day, held only by narrow straps and made of simple calico, or Irish linen, or cambric, the last white veil slipping from the breasts across the hips.

"Then, woman was dressed again, the white wave of this cascade of linen slipped behind the quivering mystery of skirts, the chemise stiffened by the dressmaker's fingers, the cold bloomers keeping the folds from their box, all this dead percale and dead muslin scattered across the counters, thrown aside, and piled up was about to become alive with the flesh, warm and redolent with the smell of love, a white cloud sanctified, bathed in the night, the slightest flutter of which to reveal the pink glimpse of a knee which in the depths of this whiteness would devastate the world. "

This is really a wonderful novel -- even with some of its 19th century quirkiness -- it is astounding to think that the marketing techniques of big department stores ala Walmart and Target are nothing so new after all. In fact this novel is often required reading in business management and advertising courses for its over the top descriptions of how to seduce the consumer. And while I appreciate the new "department store" of the internet, I must confess I would give it up for the chance to be surrounded by so many beautiful textiles -- to touch everything and to linger.

John Turturro And Italo Calvino: Italian Folktales On The Stage And On Film

Actor John Turturro has acquired the rights to create a filmed version of Italo Calvino's Italian Folktales (perhaps my all time favorite fairy tale collection). Last year, Turturro tested the waters so to speak with a new play "Fiable Italiano" adapted from Calvino's collection. It was performed before sold out audiences in Turin, Naples and Milan and included layers of languages from English to a variety of Italian dialects. (The play also included one of my favorites stories -- about a donkey that appears to defecate gold and a fool who makes sure it happens). 

How To Admire One Another In A Good Year

Love this engraving of Swiss (Basel) dress from the 1630s entitled "How To Admire One Another in a Good Year." Still trying to work what the young woman has concealed under her headdress -- that hoof sticking out beneath the veil is a bit alarming. What we won't do for fashion. But it does show both the wealth in their clothing and the prosperity of their comestibles! 

Dreamy Art Deco Magazine Covers for Asia Magazine by Frank McIntosh

Frank McIntosh is famous for his glorious art deco covers for Asia Magazine, which was popular from the 1920s to the 1940s.  My mother had a collection of the magazines when she was younger -- and sliced off the covers to keep as art. I found them (yes...on the endless "every box must be opened and addressed move") and I am happy to send a bunch out your way for your viewing pleasure. These beauties are from 1926 and 1928 issues. I am pretty sure the "25" (cents) at the top of the pages is the price my mom paid for each magazine.

 

 

 

Yeah, I know...I find them dazzling.