Hey all! I hope you’re having a great weekend! It’s been a few days since my last post and as usual, I’ve been busy with school and work! Harper’s Bazaar recently shared an article that combined two of my favorite things: history and fashion. What could be better than discovering who the fashionable ladies in history were?
Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566)
Known For: The mistress of King Henry II of France.
Signature Style: Pearl-encrusted gowns and gold bracelets.
Why We Love Her: She was two decades older than the King and was immortalized in scandalous nude paintings by members of the Fountainbleau school.
Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957)
Known For: An eccentric Italian heiress.
Signature Style: Dark eyeliner, bold jewelry, flowing robes, and a cheetah on a leash.
Why We Love Her: She was immortalized by artists like Giovanno Boldini and Man Ray, and scandalized society with her escapades.
Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764)
Known For: The mistress of King Louis XV of France.
Signature Style: Pastel rococo confections covered in bows and flowers that make Marie Antoinette’s outfits look bland.
Why We Love Her: She was the patron of many artists and philosophers, including Voltaire, and wielded considerable influence over the King (she helped negotiate an alliance between France and Austria).
Sara Murphy (1883-1975)
Known For: A wealthy expatriate who lived in the South of France with her family and befriended many of the great artists and writers of the 1920s.
Signature Style: Bathing suits topped with long strands of pearls.
Why We Love Her: Picasso painted her portrait and her family inspired characters in the books of Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
Countess of Castiglione (1837-1899)
Known For: The mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France.
Signature Style: Crinolines nearly too wide to fit through a door, bonnets, and masks.
Why We Love Her: She was one of the first people to use photography as a form of art and sat for portraits in which she (gasp!) revealed her bare legs and arms.
Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898)
Known For: The Empress of Austria.
Signature Style: Incredibly tight corsets, layers of petticoats, and jeweled hair ornaments.
Why We Love Her: She spent hours styling her extremely long hair each morning (she bedazzled it with cascades of diamond brooches and was known to wrap her ponytail in pearls) and still found time to help unite Austria and Hungary.
Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1865-1932)
Known For: The wife of a baronet and the subject of one of John Singer Sargent’s most famous society portraits.
Signature Style: Dark hair pulled back into a bun, white dresses and a piercing stare.
Why We Love Her: She is proof of the power of art- this portrait (along with the sizeable clothing budget she received from her older husband) launched her as one of the leaders of England’s high society.
Misia Sert (1872-1950)
Known For: An arbiter of Parisian society who was close with Coco Chanel and many famous artists.
Signature Style: Gibson girl hair, long lace dresses, large hats piled high with faux flowers.
Why We Love Her: She was named as the ‘Queen of Paris’ by the tabloids and helped support her struggling bohemian friends, including Sergei Diaghilev.
Evelyn Nesbit (1884-1967)
Known For: A model/actress whose husband murdered her former lover, the celebrated architect Sanford White.
Signature Style: Long locks, tight cosets, and scandalously bare shoulders.
Why We Love Her: She was a supermodel before the word existed.
Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979)
Known For: Her colorful geometric paintings and fabric patterns.
Signature Style: Cloche hats, bold prints and dark lips.
Why We Love Her: She was the first living female artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre.
Lesley Blanch (1904-2007)
Known For: A British author and historian.
Signature Style: Caftans, scarves and exotic jewelry picked up on her voyages.
Why We Love Her: She travelled around the world and wrote about her experiences in many celebrated memoirs and novels.
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