The Palais Galliera, the city of Paris’ fashion museum, is presenting an exhibition titled A Wardrobe of One’s Own: Dissident Femininities in the 19th Century until February 2027. The exhibition shines a light on a still little-known phenomenon: the appropriation by
nineteenth-century women of the male dress codes of the day. Rosa Bonheur, the painter and inspiration for the name of our Book Shop Bill & Rosa’s Book Room was one of the women who had a permit to travestir. (In 19th century France it was interdit for women to wear pants.) For her, dressing in pants was practical especially in the early days when she visited meat packing plants to observe the muscular structure of animals, particularly of cows, one of her favorite painting subjects. To learn more about Rosa see our article A Broad with a Brush. The exhibition boasts a remarkable and previously unseen collection: the wardrobe that once belonged to Rosa Bonheur, shown here in its entirety.
Anonyme, Rosa Bonheur et Anna Klumpke dans l’atelier du château de By, 1899. © By-Thomery,Château de RosaBonheur
A Wardrobe of One’s Own: Dissident Femininities in the 19th Century intends to fill an important gap in fashion history. The exhibition reveals how the growing adoption of male dress codes went together with a desire for a profound transformation of women’s place in nineteenth-century society, not only in France but also in Anglo-Saxon countries. Featuring almost five hundred works, the exhibition presents numerous iconic fashion pieces and accessories: Amazonian costumes, trousers, tailored suits, cravats, bow ties, top hats, etc.
Palais Galliera gives pride of place to iconography, with a selection of paintings, fashion posters, and one hundred-and-fifty amateur photographs, brought together for the occasion, and seen for the first time. This juxtaposition of silhouettes and images offers a better understanding of the cultural and social significance of the fashions of the day and highlights how the masculinization of female fashion challenged the gender binaries that structured nineteenth century society. It also aims to provide a fresh perspective on the evolution of nineteenth-century women’s fashion. From women wearing men’s clothing to the styles privileged by artistic and lesbian Paris around 1900, including working women in suits and boots, the exhibition examines the impact of dissenting expressions of femininity and how these contributed to redefining women’s wardrobes during this period.
Garmentsand jackets of RosaBonheur, c. 1880–1899. © By-Thomery,Château de RosaBonheur
Featuring a selection of key historical figures, from Marie Antoinette to Natalie Clifford Barney or from George Sand to Rosa Bonheur, as well as a multitude of unknown women presented through vernacular photography, the exhibition invites visitors to identify with and reclaim this heritage.
Palais Galliera Paris Fashion Museum
10, Avenue Pierre Ier de Serbie
75116 Paris
https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en
Woman in a Riding Habit (en costume d’amazone), Reutlinger, Paris, 21 Boulevard Montmartre, c. 1897. © Private collection