Emile Pingat

The Gilded Age – Our Take, Part 1

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

The recently released HBO series The Gilded Age has become a center of focus amongst the historical costume community and not a day goes by when someone asks us what our take is…all right, let’s being by saying that costuming the show has been a major feat and the sheer scale and magnitude is simply amazing. That said, we also note that the overall quality has been very uneven: one the one hand, many of the costumes are simply exquisite and it’s evident that a lot of effort has gone into recreating early 1880s fashions (the show opens in the year 1883). However, at the same time, there are some costumes that leave us a bit quizzical and have us scratching our heads.

Mrs. Van Rhijn Approves…

However, unlike some other commentators, we’re not going to dwell on the rightness or wrongness of the costume designs, but rather offer some commentary on specific items that interest us the most and not really dwell on some of the less optimal designs (well, mostly, anyway 😆). So, just to get things started, here’s an exquisite opera cape that caught our eye:

We really wish we had a close-up of this…the passmentarie and other trim against a ruby/claret silk velvet base is exquisite. The steel gray lining, along with the passmentarie, further complements the ruby/claret color in the velvet. Our only complaint is that it’s too long- a cape wouldn’t have dragged along the floor- but otherwise, we’ll take it. 😆 Now, just for comparison, here’s a couple original capes by Pingat from the 1880s:

Evening Cape, Emile Pingat, c. 1885 – 1889; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.140)

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

Going out to social events, especially evening social events, was major means of making oneself “seen” in society and every piece of clothing was selected with that in mind. Items such as opera capes were meant to grab people’s attention and they often brilliantly succeeded- Pingat built a whole fashion empire around this.

In the end, the Gilded Age tells a fictional story (albeit rooted in historical reality) so liberties are going to be taken. If you want to take a deep dive into historical 1880s fashion, there are plenty of reference sources and in future posts, we’ll discuss this more. Stay tuned for more in the near future!

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.  🙂


 

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.