Alessandra Galasso

1001_fashion_tales

Last week, during the Sanremo Festival, Italy’s

Last week, during the Sanremo Festival, Italy’s most famous and popular song contest, trapper Achille Lauro, styled by Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, paid tribute to the Marchesa Luisa Casati (Milan 1881- London 1957), the most fabled socialite, performer, and art patroness of the first three decades of the 20th century, who claimed. “I want to be a living work of art.” As the wealthiest woman of her time, Casati’s parties and appearances became legendary as she wore dresses made for her by Léon Bakst, Paul Poiret, Mariano Fortuny, and Erté. Lauro wore a headpiece adorned with crystals and feathers, a silk organdy crew-neck dress, embroidered leggings, and leather boots. Despite the commotion caused inside the Ariston Theatre and among the almost 10 million people watching at home (which the Marchesa would have loved), Lauro/Michele are just the last of an endless list of artists, fashion designers and stylists who have paid her homage: from Cecil Beaton, who in 1971 photographed Marisa Berenson at the Proust Ball thrown by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, wearing a Paul Poiret dress and a headpiece made by Piero Tosi, which reminds me of the one designed by Michele, to John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld. Long live the Marchesa, the original female dandy! #marchesacasati #marchesaluisacasati #achillelauro #gucci #sanremo2020

The character of the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland" is strictly linked to the chronic mercury poisoning that afflicted hatters from the 18th until the 20th century. Mercury was a cheap way to turn stiff, low-grade fur from rabbits and hares into malleable felt. However, the mercury would be absorbed through the lungs and the skin causing hatters convulsions, trembling limbs, and paralysis. In women who worked with toxic pelts as furriers, it produced abortions, premature births, and stillbirths. Mercury kept being used for hat-making as late as the 1960s when only because fur felt hats became unfashionable, it disappeared. The expression “mad as a hatter” thus derives from the terrible effects caused by the mercury employed in the hatting trade that transformed workers into toothless, shy, stuttering, irritable, and shaking bodies, just like the character portrayed by Carroll. Ps. Sorry for spoiling such a beloved literary icon.
(In the picture, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland”, 2010. The orange hair probably refers to the fact that brushing a mercury and acid solution onto the pelts turned them a reddish-orange, which is why the process was called “carroting”.) #madhatter #aliceinwonderland #fashion #fashionhistory #fashionista #fashionvictim

In February 1955 (thus the name 2.55), Chanel intr

In February 1955 (thus the name 2.55), Chanel introduced a bag that would revolutionize the history of this accessory. "I got tired of holding my bags and losing them, so I added a strap and put them on my shoulder." 2.55 was an immediate success. Paradoxically, by providing women with a chain (and a bag), Chanel ended up freeing them. For the first time, it was acceptable for all women, including those from high society, to carry a bag on their shoulders. NB. The original 2.55 featured a “Mademoiselle lock” designed by Chanel herself, while the interlocking CCs front closure was introduced by Karl Lagerfeld in the 1980s. #cocochanel #cocochanelquotes #chanel255 #chanel #chanelbag #chanelclassic

The 1950s saw the return of an uber-feminized idea

The 1950s saw the return of an uber-feminized ideal. After more masculine outfits worn during the war years, fashion reverted to the hour-glass silhouette. Tuning in to the Cold War era, pointy-cone bras called “bullet bras” turned the female body into... an atomic weapon! Years later, the cone bra will resurface in Jean Paul Gaultier’s legendary pink satin corset designed for Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition Tour, becoming a declaration of women’s empowerment. NB. JPG has declared he originally made the cone-bra for his teddy bear since his parents wouldn’t buy him a doll. (sic!)
Image: Evelyn West #bulletbra #blondambition #madonna #vintagebras #evelynwest

To create the silhouette he wanted, Cristóbal Bal

To create the silhouette he wanted, Cristóbal Balenciaga went so far as to invent his own fabric: the gazar. The textile was developed with the Swiss company Abraham and Balenciaga used it in his collections of the 1960s. A silk with a crisp hand and a smooth texture, fabricated with double-twisted threads woven as one, and stiff as metal, it lent itself to the creation of architectural shapes that were previously impossible. See the 1967 black cocktail dress “Quatre Cornes” that creates a geometric volume from which a woman emerges like a butterfly from a cocoon.

#cristobalbalenciaga #cristobalbalenciagamuseoa ##cristobalbalenciagamuseum

The spectacular, over-the-top hairdos created for

The spectacular, over-the-top hairdos created for Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, by her legendary hairdresser Léonard, were seen as something of an insult to the French people. The Queen was said to be wasting precious flour to powder her elaborate poufs at a time when people were starving due to the increasing price of bread.
#marieantoinette #marieantoinettestyle #marieantoinettehair #marieantoinettefashion

On June 24, 1911 in Paris, French couturier Paul P

On June 24, 1911 in Paris, French couturier Paul Poiret hosted the Persian-themed party “Thousand and Second Night”. The invitation card, a collaboration between Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy and illustrator George Lepape, required all guests “A costume borrowed from Oriental tales is an absolute must.” The party was cleverly used by Poiret to promote his oriental-style garments as the legendary lampshade skirt and harem pants worn in this picture by his wife Denise. It also reflected the craze of the Oriental revival that had hit Paris since Schéhérazade, produced by Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, premiered in Paris the year before with music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and costumes designed by Léon Bakst.

#PaulPoiret #thousandandsecondnight #lampshadeskirt #balletsrusses #leonbakst #orientalrevivial #scherazade