Category: 1880-1889
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1883 – Pierre Auguste Renoir, City Dance (Danse à la ville)
In City Dance, Renoir paints a fashionable Parisienne, waltzing with her dance partner, in a winter ball. Dressed in the latest neoclassically draped evening dress style for young women, the dancer’s simple, draped gown is tasteful and classic in the lack of heavy ornamentation and frills.
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cuirass bodice
A form-fitting, long-waisted, boned bodice worn in the 1870s and 1880s–almost gives the appearance of armor as the name suggests.
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1884-1886 – Mme Grapanche, Red Silk Dinner Dress
A pinnacle of 1880s fashion, this bustled gown’s many intricate style details, full silhouette, and bright red color make it a dress to be admired now and envied then.
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1888 – William Merritt Chase, Lady in Black
William Merritt Chase captures the style and youth of his art student, Mariette Benedict Cotton, in this portrait. She wears a black day dress made in the traditional bustle silhouette of the period with puffed sleeves that were rising in popularity at the time. Chase’s use of light adds depth to the piece, emphasizing folds in the fabric and the glittering of Cotton’s eyes and jewelry.
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1884 – Edgar Degas, The Singer in Green
Although dressed in theatrical costume, Degas’ Singer in Green contains details that were fashionable for women’s evening wear at the time, including an off-the-shoulder neckline, a downward-pointing bodice, a diagonal-striped pattern, and a choker-style necklace. What is less fashionable is its lack of applied florals and the bold color palette, which signals the fact that it is a costume.
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1880 – Mary Cassatt, Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly
Mary Cassatt’s 1880 portrait of Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly features the artist’s ailing sister, Lydia Cassatt, wearing a large white bonnet and a blue day dress accented with a plaid print and white lace–a common dress style of the time.
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1887-1889 – Jean-Philippe Worth, Evening dress
This silk evening dress draped in lace was designed by Jean-Philippe Worth in 1887-89 and was very fashionable for its time due to his design, color, and stylistic choices.
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1881 – Édouard Manet, Spring (Jeanne Demarsy)
Spring (Jeanne Demarsy) by Édouard Manet is a breathtaking, youthful portrait of French actress Jeanne Demarsy, who exemplifies the title Spring in both her soft facial features and her Parisienne-style outfit. As one of the last paintings done by Manet before his death, Spring symbolizes the merging of female beauty and the beauty of nature, coming together as one to be admired in its totality.
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1884 – John Singer Sargent, Madame X (Virginie Gautreau)
In Sargent’s most famous portrait, Virginie Gautreau, a celebrated American beauty living in Paris, dresses in daring advance of fashion–the unadorned simplicity of the dress makes it appear modern even today. Her apparent lack of underwear and daringly dropped shoulder strap (later repainted by Sargent) in combination with her heavy makeup and seeming indifference to the viewer provoked scandal when the work was first exhibited in the 1884 Paris Salon.
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