VINTAGE FASHIONISTAS | 1921
The Sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the University of Pennsylvania’s first Black sorority, 1921. VIA
(Source: blackhistoryalbum, via monkeyknifefight)
”Venus” dress by Christian Dior, 1949
Gray silk net embroidered with feather-shaped opalescent sequins, rhinestones, simulated pearls, and paillettes.
This extraordinary ball gown by Christian Dior, of foggy gray silk tulle, arrayed with an overlay of scallop-shaped petals, is called “Venus.” The bodice and shell forms of its skirt are embellished with nacreous paillettes and sequins, iridescent seed beads, aurora-borealis crystals, and pearls. The glittering overskirt and train adumbrate both the seashell motif and the crescent wave patterns of Botticelli’s Venus. Dior is best known for his revival of the wasp-waisted silhouette seen here. His celebrated first collection of 1947 was dubbed the “New Look” by the influential American editor Carmel Snow, because the corseted, full-bosomed, and hourglass shaping had not been seen for decades. In fact, the “New Look” was an old look revived. After the deprivations of World War II, Dior believed that the survival of the haute couture relied on its ability to restore fantasy and luxury to women’s wardrobes. The fragile effects of this gown, which merges Second Empire romanticism with the classical iconography of ideal and eternal beauty, recall Dior’s belief that “fashion comes from a dream.”
(via blackorchid)
Blanche Dunn, the chic Harlem Renaissance-era actress, photographed in Morningside Park in Harlem by her friend, Carl Van Vechten, in 1940. Ms. Dunn was essentially an “It” girl of the era: a mainstay at Van Vechten’s legendary parties and, as noted by the legendary Harlem Renaissance writer, painter Richard Bruce Nugent, “at all the Broadway first nights. A party was not a party, a place not a place, without Blanche”. Photo: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
k, 20s, canadian. i cry over beautiful faces and doctor who (though rarely for the same reasons), i love inserting martha jones in the eleventh era and idk what text posts are. sometimes i make graphics and gifs
