fashion history Archives - New York City Art Museum Tours

21 Dec Zoom Tours in 2020 and 2021

Posted at 00:02h in courtesans, fashion, fashion history, French women, Louvre Museum, nasty women, Paris, Paris tour, royal mistresses, scandals and secrets, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

At the end of this very real annus terribilis, I want to say a few words to you, our loyal readers and attendees. Above all, thanks! Thanks for keeping Shady Ladies Tours alive by reading our blog, attending our Zoom tours, watching our YouTube videos, contributing to our fundraisers—in short, for being a fabulously loyal community. When the pandemic hit the US, in March, it seemed likely to kill the company completely. Who would have thought that 9 months later, as the pandemic continued to rage, we would be putting on our 18th Zoom tour, with audiences regularly over 100, and have gathered over 28,000 views for our videos? It's been a hard year, but ours is a tiny, flourishing corner. And we have a lot more coming after the holidays! Want to find out more?

Gigi, on of the great scandalous French women

19 Feb Scandalous French Women of History

Posted at 22:45h in art history, courtesans, fashion, fashion history, French women, Paris, Paris tour, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Paris is the great city for the history of racy women. Certainly, other places have contributed—particularly Italy during the Renaissance. But from the time the Renaissance took off in France, scandalous French women have taken most of the world prizes for raciness.

23 Apr Watch: The Tragic Story of Audrey Munson

Posted at 01:48h in art history, beauty standards, fashion, fashion history, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by jenni

Not many people know Audrey Munson by name—but if you’ve spent any time in New York City, you’ve seen her face. Munson’s likeness tops some of the city’s grandest buildings. Even when she is remembered, it’s often for the more scandalous and tragic events in...

21 Apr Portrait of Pianist Misia Sert

Posted at 02:08h in art history, fashion history, Metropolitan Museum, Women's History by jenni

Misia Sert was an accomplished pianist--a student of Fauré's, who helped her support herself by referring students to her, she also famously accompanied Caruso at parties when he sang Neapolitan songs. But she was most famous as a salonnière, one of the women who ran...

17 Aug Highlight from our fashion and beauty tour

Posted at 03:30h in art history, beauty standards, fashion, fashion history, Metropolitan Museum by jenni

As you walk around any museum, you will see portraits that include far more fashion than person. Here is a great Renaissance gentleman with the vast mink collar, his elegant double brocaded with gold thread, his two gold chains, his beautifully manicured hands and probably...

14 Dec Fashion History in Art

Posted at 22:42h in art history, beauty standards, courtesans, fashion, fashion history, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

We have been giving fashion history tours at the Metropolitan Museum for several months now, and the more we work on them, the more we see that fashion history is probably the biggest theme in the entire museum. If you think about it, you might think thathttps://shadyladiestours.com/fashion-and-beauty-tour/beauty—human beauty—is the biggest theme in the art history. But if you look carefully at the beautiful people in the museum, you will see that (aside perhaps from the Greek male nudes), the person's features are only a secondary aspect of the images. It isn't their natural beauty that makes people beautiful in art. Instead, the artworks focus on many other aspects of the beautiful person: on hairdos and make-up and jewelry and clothing and accessories and shoes. In short, human beauty in art consists not of beautiful features, but of costume or fashion.

fashion history