Emile Pingat

And For A Little Pingat

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Emile Pingat’s designs have always been fascinating and especially since he tends to overshadowed by Worth (and Doucet, to a lesser extent). Today, Pingat was mostly noted for his outerwear, but he also designed dresses. Below is an interesting day dress from 1897:

Pingat, Day Dress, 1897; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.2012.95.123a-b)

This dress consists of a multi-gored skirt combined with an under-bodice all of a patterned woven silk fabric. The over-bodice simulates a capelet and along with the sleeves is constructed from a red silk velvet. The same color silk velvet can also be seen in the chevrons running along the skirt and the belt. The gigot sleeves are relatively subdued for an 1897 style; what is especially interesting about the sleeves is that the sleeve caps open up to reveal insets of woven silk fabric that’s similar to the skirt and under-bodice. Here’s a close-up of the left shoulder:

Here’s a close-up of the fabric used in the inset on the sleeves. The intricate floral cord border is an interesting decorative touch:

And here’s the fabric used on the skirt and under-bodice:

When you look at the overall dress, the eye is immediately drawn to the shoulders and the two insets provide some interesting color pops to the red outer-bodice. On the flip side, one could also argue that the dress is too busy from a design perspective and that the somewhat dramatic design elements should have been scaled back: one or to works well but not everything. But nevertheless, Pingat’s design is imaginative and the upper sleeve inserts is something that’s not normally seen in 1890s style. Stay tuned for more in our never-ending quest for the unique and different in late Nineteenth Century style.

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And For Some More 1890s Outerwear

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I‘s been especially cold lately in Southern California and once again, thoughts turn to outerwear…😄

Even in Southern California (and Southern Arizona, for that matter), December can get cold and when it does, our thoughts rapidly turn to outerwear.  🙂 Today we turn to the December 1890 issue of Demorest’s Family Magazine:

Decidedly the most popular outdoor garment this season is the jacket, which is worn by ladies of all ages, whether of petite or portly figure. All styles agree in having the fitted back, differing only in the use or omission of plaits or lap at the side-form and back seams, and the majority have tight-fitting fronts, either single or double-breasted, the loose fronted “Reefer,” and the open, rolling fronts displaying a vest, being the exceptions.

Here’s some examples of styles pictured in Demorest’s:

One of the more interesting and eminently practical is the “Reefer” Jacket:


Here’s another view of the jacket style as part of a complete outfit from the December issue of Peterson’s Magazine:

Finally, just to round things off here are some pictures of extant originals:

Jacket, c. 1891; Auction in AntiqueDress.com

Skirt Suit Jacket, c. 1895; Victoria & Albert Museum (T.173&A-1969)

Afternoon Jacket, Emile Pingat, c. 1885 – 1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.76)

Jackets were an integral part of any wardrobe of the period, ranging from the purely functional to the extremely fashionable, and there’s a wide range of possibilities for those recreating historical fashions.


Un Portrait de Emile Pingat

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A few years ago, one of Emile Pingat’s descendants was kind enough to send us a picture of a younger Emile Pingat. It was a touching moment and it’s one of our most treasured memories. Recently we came across this post so we thought that we’d give it a little volume. Enjoy! 🙂

We have been blessed by an early portrait of Emile Pingat that was kindly sent to us by one of our readers, M. Jacques Noel, who is a descendant of M. Pingat. M. Noel gave us permission to post the picture here and we are very grateful, anything pertaining to one of the foremost couturiers during the late 19th Century.

Emile Pingat

An early portrait of Emile Pingat; Courtesy of Jacques Noel, jacnoel21@gmail.com

Pingat was famous for the sheer luxury of his designs, utilizing the best fabrics to create styles that, in our opinion, surpass those of Worth. Although we have discussed M. Pingat in prior posts, here’s just a sample of his work:

From day dresses…

Pingat1 1885

Reception Dress, Emile Pingat, c. 1885; Shelburne Museum (2010-75)

Pingat1 1885

Emile Pingat, Dinner Dress, c. 1883 – 1885; Smith College Historic Clothing Collection (1989.1.3ab)

To outerwear…

Pingat 1

Pingat, Evening Jacket, 1893; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.139)

Pingat Opera Cape1

Opera Cape, Emile Pingat, c. 1882; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.60.42.13)

To something more formal…

Pingat7

Pingat4

The above is just a small sampling of Pingat’s work and we salute him.  🙂


 

The Bustle Dress – A Brief Overview, Part 2

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By 1872 we begin to see the fully trained/bustle look that was to be trademark of the the First Bustle Era. Most notably, styles of the early 1870s places an emphasis on accentuating the bustle effect while at the same time minimizing any fullness on the front, often using vertical lines as an aid such as can be seen in the fashion plates below:

Day Dress, c. 1873

This 1874 reception dress by Emile Pingat also puts this design aesthetic into action:

Emile Pingat, Reception Dress, c. 1874; Philadelphia Museum of Art (1938-18-12a,b)

The striped outerskirt on the front with its vertical lines emphasizes flatness in front while at the same time, the stripped outerskirt in the rear serves to emphasize the bustle silhouette.  However, stripes wasn’t the only way of emphasizing the bustle and front flatness. This 1875 afternoon dress by Worth uses color to achieve a similar effect:

Worth, Afternoon Dress, c. 1875; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.1100a, b)

This dress utilizes a green silk taffeta front skirt trimmed with a layer of swagged taffeta material in the same color with gold fringe. Paired up with the green taffeta is a dark blue and gold patterned silk bengaline-like (it’s hard to precisely say) fabric that’s used for the bodice and the train, serving to harmoniously contrast the green taffeta. Finally, the hem has three rows of knife pleating in the same green taffeta. The side profile pictured below shows the contrast:

Side Profile

The side profile shows how the train is emphasized with the blue and gold and provides  natural focal point that draws the eye upwards towards the bodice and then the neck/head. At the same time, the front is minimized to a degree by the gold fringe and the rows of knife pleating on the hem; the eye just isn’t drawn here in the same way as with the train. Below is a view of dress rear where one can see the blue/gold material used to the best advantage:

Rear View

Close-up of skirt detail.

The above dress examples give interesting insights into early Bustle Era styles in that the style details were all oriented towards emphasizing the trained/bustled silhouette- whether it be stripes, contrasting colors, draping, or a combination of one or more of these elements.

Auguste Renoir, La Parisienne, 1874

In the next installment, we’ll be moving into the Mid-Bustle Era as the bustle gives way to a different look…

(To be continued…)

Trending for December 1890- Outerwear

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Even in Southern California (and Southern Arizona, for that matter), December can get cold and when it does, our thoughts rapidly turn to outerwear.  🙂 Today we turn to the December 1890 issue of Demorest’s Family Magazine:

Decidedly the most popular outdoor garment this season is the jacket, which is worn by ladies of all ages, whether of petite or portly figure. All styles agree in having the fitted back, differing only in the use or omission of plaits or lap at the side-form and back seams, and the majority have tight-fitting fronts, either single or double-breasted, the loose fronted “Reefer,” and the open, rolling fronts displaying a vest, being the exceptions.

Here’s some examples of styles pictured in Demorest’s:

One of the more interesting and eminently practical is the “Reefer” Jacket:


Here’s another view of the jacket style as part of a complete outfit from the December issue of Peterson’s Magazine:

Finally, just to round things off here are some pictures of extant originals:

Jacket, c. 1891; Auction in AntiqueDress.com

Skirt Suit Jacket, c. 1895; Victoria & Albert Museum (T.173&A-1969)

Afternoon Jacket, Emile Pingat, c. 1885 – 1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.76)

Jackets were an integral part of any wardrobe of the period, ranging from the purely functional to the extremely fashionable, and there’s a wide range of possibilities for those recreating historical fashions.