At a time when the innovative designs of Coco Chanel are on display at the V&A Museum, it’s important to recognise the ways in which fashion design not only reflects but creates new social norm...
https://clarerosehistory.com/blog/2023/11/enthusiasms-designs-for-new-women/fashion-2/
Whar makes babies modern? Bringing up babies is a practice which has always been part of human societies, but is constantly being rethought and redefined, It can be a site of conflict between old...
https://clarerosehistory.com/blog/2021/05/enthusiasms-romper-suits-for-modern-babies/uncategorized/
What is modern about the handbag? It’s a tricky question to answer, as both terms are so slippery. Is modernity a concept tied to the latest innovations of the 21st Century, with everything tha...
https://clarerosehistory.com/blog/2021/01/enthusiasms-handbags-and-modernity/uncategorized/
An exhibition of purses and wallets at the Musée de la Monnaie, Paris provides a detailed look at some unusual objects and techniques but leaves some wider questions unanswered. Based on a priva...
The exhibition of the work of Natalia Goncharova (1881- 1962) at Tate Modern raises some key issues for the history – and the future – of art. Goncharova is presented here as a forgotten pion...
https://clarerosehistory.com/blog/2019/06/enthusiasms-natalia-goncharova/uncategorized/
The Christmas 1918 issue of Les Modes seems like an appropriate point at which to end this four-year investigation of French fashion during World War I. This issue was one of the first produced s...
https://clarerosehistory.com/blog/2018/12/fashion-in-world-war-i-christmas-1918/uncategorized/
The December 1918 issues of Vogue carried an unsettling mixture of features. Several articles prepared before the Armistice reported on the lasting effects of the war effort on the bodies of both...
In early November 1918, French couture was in a state of limbo – looking forward to the imminent end of the war, but not sure when it would arrive, and still facing shortages and disruptions. N...
By the end of September 1918 the German bombardment of Paris had ceased, as the allies had started to push the German army out of France. The changing mood in France as a victorious end to the wa...
https://clarerosehistory.com/blog/2018/10/fashion-in-world-war-i-october-1918/uncategorized/
The September 1918 issues of Vogue included a feature on the style icon Irene Castle, famous as a dance performer and teacher who had popularized the fox-trot, tango and many other dances. Howeve...