Skip to main content

Modern Monday: Visit Paris to Hollywood at the Denver Art Museum



Today I wanted to share my recent trip to the Denver Art Museum to look at all the beautiful vintage fashion in their From Paris to Hollywood exhibit which will be up until July, 18th, 2020. As a small aside, the museum did give me permission to record while I was in the exhibit, but asks me to remind everyone that I am not associated with the Denver Art Museum in any way. I'm just a lover of historical fashions and all of my views expressed here are my own. This is not sponsored content. I have also done my best not to include anyone else in my footage to respect their privacy. This exhibit is framed to narrate the love story between Veronique and Gregory Peck using fashion, family photos, letters, etc. The exhibit starts in the 1950s when they met in Paris while Gregory was traveling for the film Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn. As a fun aside, Roman Holiday is one of my favorite films.


The exhibit continues on showing items from the 1950's through the late 1980s and relating them to the lives of the couple. Veronique was a favorite at the couture houses in Paris at this time and the exhibit is full of works from her favorite designers including: Balenciaga, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, Pierre Cardin, Pucci, Valentino, Thea Porter, Andre Courreges, Guy Laroche, Armani, and many others. A few of the things that really stuck with me is the attention to detail on these pieces. There was so much beadwork, stitching, and care put into the pieces on display. Veronique also seemed to have a taste for metallic fabrics because there were so many of them in this collection. It was also fascinating to look at how Veronique's personal style evolved over the years, how tastes changed, and where they remained the same.


If it is safe for you to travel, or are in the area I highly recommend visiting this exhibit before it closes next month. I've included links for the exhibit and the museum below. If you can't make it, hopefully you can live a bit vicariously through the vlog a created and have linked below. There are also links to the exhibit and art museum if you want to check out their other upcoming exhibits.


Bisou Bisou, Maridith Denver Art Museum Website Paris to Hollywood Exhibit This blog post and video are not sponsored by the Denver Art Museum, or any other entity. All views expressed in this video are my own. All footage and still photos were taken by me at the museum.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pockets in the 16th Century?

So if you are new to my blog, Hello! I took July off to focus on work and realities of covid life. Thanks for hanging in there.  This week we are doing to cover 16th Soccocia and their role toward the origin of pockets. People need a place to carry and keep their small items as they walk around. In the middle ages you might have a pilgrim satchel or a belt pouch. Some women in the middle ages had the brilliant idea to stop wearing their money purses outside of their over gowns and instead would wear them between their kirtle/sottona layer and over gowns. This arrangement still gave you access to the purse, but made it harder for thieves to cut your purse strings and run.  Fast forward to the 16th century and we find the heirs to this practice in socaccia. We have some visual evidence of these in mid to late 16th century art out of Italy. This is a detail of Alessandro Allori's,  Woman at her toilet, ca 1575-78. Currently in Florence, Church of Santa Maria Novella, Gaddi Chapel.  J
1 comment
Read more

Two Tone Lucet Cording

  Hello Beautiful Humans! Today I have a brief tutorial for you on how I made the lucet lacings for my most recent renaissance dress. It is a craft that is hard to document in the 16th century, where I do most of my work, but I love how quickly this technique works up into fairly strong cording. This two tone technique is much stronger than a typical single strand lucet braid because of the extra cord running through the entire cord. I also love the possibilities for coordinating your laces to your outfits. My laces were made much longer than I needed them for this dress. Looking back I could have cut my lacing in half and been fine, but now I have all this extra if I should ever need it. Long laces also mean I can pre-lace myself into this dress with a spiral lace and then tighten it until I feel comfortable. For this particular style of lucet I used a hardwood lucet fork I purchased from an 18th century reenactor, a skein of DMC 6-strand embroidery floss, and a ball of size 10 cr
Post a Comment
Read more

Voided Velvet Sleeves from a Thrift Store Scarf

  Detachable sleeves are one of my favorite things to make for renaissance dresses, and always seem to be the last thing I think to make when I'm planning my outfits. These sleeves are made from thrift store fabric to mimic one possible way that "cut work sleeves" were made in the period. There are several theories, and my research has made me think that they all may have been in use at different points in time for different specific motifs. To make these sleeves I used a voided velvet scarf I found at my local thrift store and remnants of rayon velvet, silk shantung, and linen. Techniques I cover in the video include basting, hemming stitches, and how to easily sew with velvet. I completed the project using a mix of hand sewing and a modern sewing machine. I love wearing these Italian renaissance dresses at reenactment events or when I attend events for the Society of Creative Anachronism. Groups like this have helped me learn more about how period techniques and mate
Post a Comment
Read more