Hello to you all from the staff at Chelsea Library.
Stories, crafts and a wizard in the children’s library
This summer during the heat wave we ran two successful story and craft events – an ugly ducking session tied into the Hans Christian Anderson story. Thirty three children came to design flying swans and yellow ducklings and left with a free copy of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ (given to us by Bookstart).
Funny Bones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
The Tickle Ghost by David and Brett McKee
Walter de la Mare
The second story and craft event had a creepy house theme. We read out Funny bones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg and David and Brett McKee’s The Tickle Ghost as well as Walter de la Mare’s The Listeners. We asked the children to imagine what happens next. What will those phantoms treading on the staircase do now that the traveller has gone?
Diane, one of our Senior Customer Services Assistants, designed some brilliant ghosts, little stuffed spectres and hand puppets. The children decorated them with coloured ribbons and sashes which streamed beneath them like kites. Like vampires, who after the overkill of the vampire publishing boom are in desperate need of a transfusion, ghosts can get a little clichéd. So we tried out some new shapes, among them was a Kung-fu kick boxing ghost with a Jackie Chan headband.
Mr Wiz the Wizard
The summer highlight was a visit by Mr Wiz, a Fulham based wizard who played to a packed house of over 50 children. He blew bubbles, threatened to turn chatterboxes into dinosaurs and frogs (one member of staff is still suffering from the frog spell—she stares distractedly at garden ponds in her lunch hour). He magicked pineapple chunks into golden coins and led them in a dance about Five Little Speckled Frogs. The children were thumping on the floor so excitedly that the porters in their office below reported a steady fall of plaster. Each child left with their very own broomstick shaped balloon so that they could fly home chasing bubbles. It was great to see the library so busy – children were still coming through the door during the magic.
Baby rhyme time
Baby rhyme time will be touring the O2 Arena and Wembley Stadium with a beefed up version of ‘Wheels on the Bus’ but until then we hope to take it outside into the Sydney Street Gardens. And if you can’t wait – come along to our weekly session on Thursdays at 11am.
Daniel Jeffreys
Customer Services Assistant
Fashion takeover in the reference library
This week the reference librarians have taken over the Chelsea Gallery to showcase some books from our Costume Collection. There are some rarely seen books on Ancient Egyptian dress from our archives on show.
Books from our Costume Collection – Ancient Egyptian dress
And also some great 80’s fashion images, inspired by the exhibitions currently on at the V&A and the Fashion and Textile Museum (which we’ve blogged about recently ‘Zandra Rhodes – Unseen (and seen in Vogue and Harpers and Queens)’). We’re really inspired by going to these exhibitions, so look out for more related fashion collection blog posts from us….!
Books from our Costume Collection – 80s fashion
Information about both of these subjects and MUCH more is available from the online Berg Fashion Library which we subscribe to. If you are interested in finding out more about this fantastic resource, please ask us in the Chelsea Reference Library.
And for a taster, here is a great image of a 1980’s cardigan from the V&A and a description of it that we found in the Berg Fashion Library.
This hand-knitted cardigan was inspired by the patterns on decorative china plates. The kaleidoscope of stitches in bright primary colours emphasises its hand-crafted appeal, and the striking patchwork effect is achieved by alternating blocks of stocking and fancy stitches. The designer, Patricia Roberts, set up a hand-knitting business in 1976 and still runs a shop in London today. She has published many pattern books and issued ranges of luxury yarn. This cardigan is typical of her innovative designs in bold colours using contrasting textures and decorative stitches.
Margaine-Lacroix and the dresses that shocked Paris – a talk by Susie Ralph
Susie Ralph
I introduced this talk at Chelsea Reference Library on Wednesday 17 July 2013 and I found it absolutely fascinating. But – I was amazed at the dress on display, showing how Margaine-Lacroix’s clinging draped styles, would have been constructed – fabric would be draped, pinned and cut on the dressmaker’s mannequin.
A copy of one of Margaine-Lacroix’s clinging, draped styles.The back of the same dress.
There are two splendid printed silk panels showing enlarged pictures of the Sylphides design. I also learned the designs were patented; her corsets helped found the Gossard empire – Henry William Gossard bought the rights to manufacture her corsets in the United States.
Susie Ralph with one of the splendid printed silk panels showing an enlarged picture of the Sylphides design.
Next week (15 to 28 July 2013) there will be an exhibition at Chelsea Gallery (part of Chelsea Reference Library) on the forgotten designer whose figure-revealing dresses caused a sensation in 1908 and launched the slender silhouette of the twentieth century. There will also be a private view and illustrated talk on Wednesday 17 July 2013.
This is a guest blog post from Susie Ralph, curator of this exhibition. She will also be giving the talk on Wednesday – please book your free place on 020 7361 3010.
The date – Sunday 10th of May 1908, the event – The Prix du Prince de Galles at Longchamp racecourse. A fashionably dressed crowd has gathered for this important date in the Parisian social calendar. The races are the place to see and be seen, where royalty and grandes dames rub shoulders with actresses and the demi-monde, all showing off the latest couture creations. Suddenly a furore breaks out as three beautiful models enter the enclosure – for beneath their exquisite and exceptionally clinging gowns they appear to be wearing – nothing! To add to the shock value, their dresses are split to the knee, revealing a glimpse of leg, barely disguised by the lightest of muslin coverings.
The Belle Époque was an era noted for its love of sensationalism, but even Parisians were astonished at such a display, and a crowd gathered to mob the mannequins. This event generated instant and international publicity for the daring new style, which the press called “ the directoire gown.” The models were dubbed “Les Nouvelles Merveilleuses” in reference to the semi-naked beauties of the French revolutionary period. It was obvious to all who saw them that the young women were wearing neither corset, petticoat nor chemise! The most beautiful of the three mannequins “ la belle Möina” was immediately offered a contract for a fabulous sum by the director of the Moulin Rouge – but the designer of the dresses that caused all the furore – who was she? Her name went almost unrecorded.
She was Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix, a Parisian designer whose long-established couture house had been founded by her mother Madame Margaine. Margaine-Lacroix became famous for her pioneering corsets-sylphides which featured elastic material and a minimum of boning, and she had outlets in Belgium and Buenos Aires which sold these innovative foundation garments. But her daring robe-sylphide gowns brought her even greater renown. These went a step further than the corset-sylphide, for they abolished the corset altogether. They were popular with the stage stars of the day, on account of their fluid lines and exceptionally figure moulding qualities.
The first mention of the robe-sylphide appeared in L’art et la Mode in 1899, the year that Margaine-Lacroix inherited her business from her mother. Advertised as “ sans corset” or “supprimant le corset” – “without corset” or “ abolishing the corset” a glowing article advised readers that this was “truly a fairy-like invention” for the manner in which it slimmed the figure, dispensing with the need for bulky under-garments.
How was it possible at this time to wear a dress without a corset? The turn of the twentieth century was a period of great innovation in the field of underwear, as attempts were made to break away from the old, rigidly boned, stiff corset and introduce foundation garments which gave the body a softer, more natural and flexible appearance. Knitted silk fabrics with a high degree of stretch were employed by the most avant-garde corsetières and the fore-runner of the modern brassiere made its first appearance. The aim was to show off the shape of the real body beneath the dress, rather than the artificial shape of the corset.
Margaine-Lacroix was a pioneer in this field and patented several versions of her robe-sylphide and corset-sylphide. One of these, a garment made from stretchy knitted silk fabric with only the lightest boning, outlined the hips and thighs and looked much like a fore-runner of today’s stretch bodies or magic knickers. In a rare interview given to the press, just days after her dresses scandalised the crowd at Longchamp, she explained her design philosophy and the construction of the dress which was worn without a corset:
“I have been patiently at work for years, educating the public to what women’s dresses really should be …only two garments cover the body – there is first a tight elastic silk jersey ….the outer garment is made to serve as its own corset, the bodice being strengthened with a little whalebone, not enough however to destroy its suppleness.”
It is astonishing, considering how much publicity Margaine-Lacroix’s dresses generated at the time, and how much influence they exerted on the course of fashion, that their creator’s name barely receives a passing mention today. The Longchamp incident has been completely forgotten. Reports at the time claimed that: “even Parisians stared,” and photographs, cartoons and even a satyrical poem about the daring new style, appeared in the press the following week. The news spread rapidly around the world, featuring in papers as far afield as New Zealand. The New York Times reported that:
“Pictures of the young women who displayed their charming persons in so-called directoire gowns, are printed in both capitals [Paris and London] and artists and moralists, men of the world, police officers and dressmakers have been interviewed in bewildering numbers”.
The repercussions of “directoire mania” caused several incidents, reported in the press. Amongst them was a riding accident on London’s fashionable Rotten Row. According to The New York Times’ London correspondent, this was caused by: “a vaudeville artiste …. dressed in a Directoire riding costume of cream broadcloth, cut tight to the figure and slashed on the left side to the knee, showing a long, white riding boot.” Her sensational appearance caused a rider, turning around in the saddle to survey her, to come into violent collision with Winston Churchill’s horse.
The same article related that leading dressmakers in London were already busy with orders for directoire gowns, in numbers that indicated the style’s success, and that the new silhouette would be seen at Ascot: “All will be influenced by the directoire revival.” The week following the Longchamp incident, Lily Langtry was photographed “dressed in a directoire gown” strolling through the paddock at Chester races with the Duke of Westminster.
The sensational directoire style apparently caused a near riot in Chicago, when “a pushing, scrambling mob of 10,000 persons” gathered to watch a “pretty girl in a directoire gown” who had accepted a bet of $500, walk through the town clad in the new fashion! The incident may in fact have happened during the shooting of “The Directoire Gown,” a film made in Chicago in 1908 that featured a similar scene and evidently aimed to cash in on the notoriety of the new fashion.
Actress Marcelle Yrven caused her own sensation, when she appeared on stage in a robe-sylphide, and admirers were expressly banned from entering her dressing room, as “ the charming artiste had decided to wear her dress without any underwear.” It was reported that “ the dress seemed glued to her body, and all Parisiennes worthy of the name, wished to see it.”
Perhaps the most significant statement printed at the time, was this announcement from an un-named “authority.”
“To wear even a modified directoire style ….. women have had to change their figures; the hips are being reduced; the waist however is a little larger, in order to reduce the apparent size of the hips.”
Overnight it seems, thanks to the Longchamp exposure of Margaine-Lacroix’s daring gowns, a new body-ideal had established itself. What became most sort after by fashionable women everywhere was la ligne – “the line,” or new slender silhouette. La ligne sounded the death-knell for the old-fashioned ideal of tightly corseted waistline and prominent bosom. In July of 1908, Les Modes reported on the fashions worn during La Grande Semaine – the week that closed the Paris season. The journal informed its readers that the styles which had “bouleversée” or shaken up race-goers when they made their first appearance in May, were now in the process of totally shaking up fashion. They were to be seen, only slightly modified, on “ toutes les élégantes” – all the most stylish society women attending the final event of the season, the Grand Steeplechase at Auteuil.
The year 1908 marked the true turning point in fashion, when the stiffly corseted, heavy-bosomed ideal of the Fin-de-Siècle, with its attendant bulk of rustling underwear, finally became demodé – and the slender new twentieth century silhouette was launched. Margaine-Lacroix’s important rôle in bringing about this great fashion change, has long since been forgotten, in part due to the attention today accorded to Paul Poiret and the influence of the Ballets Russes. Poiret was one amongst a handful of designers who were all seeking to promote a more natural, slender, less corseted figure – an ideal that chimed with the mood of modernism taking hold in the new century. Vionnet and Lucile can both be counted amongst this number. Close study of newspapers and fashion journals for the year 1908 however, proves that it was Margaine-Lacroix’s robes-sylphides, and in particular the exaggerated versions exposed at Longchamps, that brought about the desired change. Then as now, when designers wished to state their case, they exaggerated their styles in order to achieve the maximum publicity. Vionnet has often been credited with “inventing the bias cut,” that method of draping the fabric so it clings to the body. Photographs reveal that Margaine-Lacroix was using this method for her robes-sylphide as early as 1907, if not before and employed it for the “Merveilleuse” dresses.
The explosion of the Ballets Russes onto the Parisian stage in 1909, and its perceived influence on fashion in general and Poiret in particular, has greatly coloured dress historians’ view of the late Belle Époque. Margaine-Lacroix has been forgotten, cast into shadow by the splendours of the Russian Ballet, and the exquisite illustrations of Poiret’s gowns. But influential as these were, it was Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix who brought about the general adoption of the lean, modern look. The daring dresses she exposed at Longchamp provided the catalyst needed to bring about change.
Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix deserves to be recognised as the designer who succeeded in “ bouleversant la mode” or “knocking fashion sideways” as Les Modes reported in July 1908, describing her narrow clinging style thus: “It is the dress of the moment, that which gives us the silhouette of a modern Merveilleuse.” Dedicated to her craft, but apparently not given to self-advertisement, the Longchamp incident seems to be the only occasion on which Margaine-Lacroix went out of her way to court publicity – and then for her dresses alone, not for herself. She deserves to be recognised as one of the most influential designers of the late Belle Époque. She introduced the uncorseted figure as early as 1899, and the fashion world finally set its seal of approval on her modern silhouette in 1908. Her innovative construction techniques and employment of the bias-cut, created the first modern dresses that clung to and revealed the body. In an age well before the invention of Lycra, she created the first body-con dress – the robe-sylphide.
Dave Walker, our Local Studies Librarian writes our weekly local studies blog, The Library Time Machine. We’re very lucky that he writes for us occasionally too! Over to Dave….
Following my recent post Rites of Spring: Mr Ruskin’s May Queen on the Library Time Machine blog, I was invited to visit the May Queen archive at Roehampton University. Whitelands College, a teacher training college was one of the first educational establishments for women and was started at Whitelands House in the King’s Road in the 1840s.
The art critic John Ruskin, together with the Principal of Whitelands College John Faunthorpe devised the idea for an annual May Queen festival at the College. The first May Queen Ellen I was elected by her fellow students in 1881 and there has been a May Queen or (from 1986 when King Gary was elected) a May King ever since. Whitelands College left Chelsea for a bigger building in Putney in 1930 and subsequently amalgamated with a number of other colleges to form the University of Roehampton. The Whitelands campus is now in a part Georgian part modern building originally called Manresa House which is an odd coincidence as the other Manresa in London is Manresa Road home of the first Chelsea Library.
Whitelands College
We were taken by the Archivist, Gilly King to the secure archives room in the old part of the building. I was expecting to see photographs and college records preserved in archive boxes which we did find but I hadn’t anticipated what you can see below: two racks on which were hanging the dresses of the May Queens.
May Queen’s dresses and a May King’s suit!
The dresses (and one May King’s suit on the left) in the pictures are for the living May Queens and Kings who can come back to the festival each year. The archive boxes contain the dresses of the dead queens packed away carefully as they will never be worn again although a few of them are on display in the College. There was also the one below.
Queen Ellen II’s May Queen dress (1898)
This is the dress first worn in 1898 by Queen Ellen II which had been on display and was now waiting to go back in its box.
I was accompanied on the visit by an Australian archives student who was doing a placement with us. I thought it would be useful for her to see a small specialist archive as part of her programme but my main purpose in going was to see the scrapbooks of photographs which cover the history of the May Queen festival, especially the ones that cover the period when the College was in Chelsea. I’ve been trying to get an image of each May Queen and to identify the previous queens in the group photos like this one.
Queen Agnes II and former May Queens (1909)
From the left: Mildred I (1904), Florence (1906), Elizabeth II (1892), Ellen I (1881), Agnes II (1909),Dorothy I (1908), Elsie II (1907) ,Evelyn (1905), Elizabeth I (1886)(I think),Muriel I (1903), Annie II (1895), Edith (1883)
The archive at Whitelands College is a fascinating and significant collection. It’s not open to the general public but the College does take part in the annual Open House event and there are also group tours.
On our way out we saw some more May Queen dresses on display.
Queen Elsie’s and Queen Edna’s May Queen dresses
These are the dresses of Elsie II who you can see in the group photos and Queen Edna (1924).
Here, in the May Queen corridor you can see Queen Thyra (1890) on the far right.
May Queen corridor
I managed to get a decent picture of Queen Elizabeth II (1892) who was also in the group photo as she was seventeen years before in the year when she was elected.
Queen Elizabeth II (1892)
I took plenty of other pictures in the archives which will form part of an extensive file on this fascinating part of Chelsea’s history. The final picture is one for Shari to send home.
Shari at Whitelands CollegeDave Walker
Dave Walker
Local Studies Librarian
Further information
Open House London will be on 21 and 22 September 2013. For more information visit the Open House London website.
rbkc libraries blog 