rachel.elspeth.gross
rachel.elspeth.gross
Costume Design
Costumes, support garments, jewelry, and accessories.
Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione
Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoini, the Countess of Castiglione, was celebrated during her lifetime as the most beautiful woman in the world. She was photographed more than 700 times between 1856 and 1899, marking her as either the first or second most photographed person of the 19th century. Her rank as most-photographed is only eclipsed by the possibility that Queen Victoria, a noted amateur photographer, might have privately taken more. For complicated reasons, Castiglione has been mostly forgotten, her impact on the development of photographic portraiture minimized as an indulgence, her work dismissed as the unimportant ravings of a wealthy narcissist.
Prescient Vision
Castiglione meticulously documented her successes, reliving her social triumphs on film. Upon her death in 1899, the Italian government delayed the release of her estate to her heirs and dispatched a government team to review her personal documents and ensure that nothing embarrassing or problematic would be released. Afterwards, in a decision which erased the Countess almost entirely from history, the majority of her personal papers and other untold treasures were burned. Why? Because in reality Castiglione was something between a spy and an emissary, and her careful machinations effectively changed the very geography of her native Italy.
Costumes Tell Stories
After she *maybe, probably* became mistress to Napoleon III, Castiglione's husband sued for divorce. (It also had something to do with how much she spent on clothing.) The Count tried at first to gain sole custody of their son; in the 19th century wealthy husbands were more likely to be given control of the children than their wives, assuming said husband was interested in his offspring. After being served with divorce papers Virginia scheduled a photoshoot. Working with her long-time collaborator, the noted photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson, she costumed herself as the mythological Warrior-Queen of Etruria. With cold, flat eyes and a dagger clutched menacingly in her hand, the Countess made her point and the husband backed down, finding a more than modern way to co-parent in the mid-9th century.
Costume as an Art
The only time Castiglione ever sold one of her photographs was for a charity fundraiser, a costume party. Due to her well-earned reputation for wearing only the finest, most de la mode gowns, everyone, including the party's hosts, expected Virginia to arrive in something sumptuous. Instead, she came dressed in a nun's habit. Accompanied by actors playing somber priests, the Countess did what no one expected and enjoyed that triumph as much as her most prestigious achievements.
VINOK
The traditional flowered crowns and hairdresses, Vinok as they are known in Ukraine, are one of my favorite forms of traditional dress that survives into the 21st century. Building the headdresses, making and then painting the corset, was a meditative experience. I suspect it has been that way forever, for the women who wear and make these crowns.
The apparel we think of today as traditionally Ukrainian can be traced back to the 9th century, back to the era of the Kievan Rus. This includes (essentially unisex) garments like ‘Vyshyvanka’ (long shirt or tunic with decorative embroidery at the neck, cuffs, or at the sleeves and hem), or the flowered (or sometimes harvest) wreaths/headdresses known as ‘Vinok.’
Like every other culture on the planet, there are variations on themes, stylistic elements, and decorative accents that reflect the specific ethnographic region where a people live. Historically and today, decorative accessories (belts, jewelry, bags, shawls, headdresses, etc) have been popular, perhaps more so than in other parts of the world, and are often heavily decorated with ribbons, endless tiny beads, or ducats/decorative coins. The direct connection between the historic and the modern, the transitions... The grey area where clothing and costume blur is fascinating.