New York City Art Museum Tours

Category: fashion

Bridgerton’s England
Gossip, scandal, wit and lots of bosom-heaving sex! Bridgerton has caused millions to flutter their lashes and swoon as it quickly soared its way into petticoats and hearts. Within the first 28 days of its release more than 82 million households had taken in the gloriously British romp, becoming Netflix’s most-watched show of time. Creator Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal) cleverly matched colour-blind casting with sumptuously colourful costumes to explore the saucy lives of a Regency era aristocratic cast of characters that defied the traditional period drama model.
Oscar Wilde tour guide Dan Vo watched the series with his history house expert spectacles on and spotted some of his favourite historical places and breathtaking country homes serving as the backdrop of this vivacious reimaged England. For example In London, there’s Ranger’s House in Greenwich, serving as the home of Lady Bridgerton, her four sons (Anthony, Benedict, Colin, and Gregory), and her four daughters (Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, and Hyacinth) as well as the extravagant Syon House standing in for The Duke of Hastings’ home. Read on to discover the rich history each of these places has and their real-life significance in Regency times. (more…)
June 7, 2021
Zoom Tours in 2020 and 2021
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? (more…)
December 21, 2020
Scandalous French Women of History
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. (more…)
February 19, 2020
Watch: The Tragic Story of Audrey Munson
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 her life (controversy around her nude modeling; struggles with depression) rather than her essential role in the creative process, and her work as an advocate for the rights of creative women.
The tragic story of model and muse Audrey Munson
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 her life (controversy around her nude modeling; struggles with depression) rather than her essential role in the creative process, and her work as an advocate for the rights of creative women.
Posted by Dressed To Kill Tour on Sunday, April 21, 2019

You can still see the image of Audrey Munson in museums from Hartford to San Francisco.
A statue of her, America’s first supermodel, presides over Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Mass. She holds a Bible as Evangeline in the Longfellow Memorial in Cambridge, Mass.
Audrey Munson as Walking Liberty
She was even in mass circulation for decades as the model for the Walking Liberty Half Dollar.
People who saw Audrey Munson everywhere in New York nicknamed her ‘Miss Manhattan.’
Audrey appears atop the Municipal Building, at the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge and on the Pulitzer Fountain in front of the Plaza.
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April 23, 2019
Highlight from our fashion and beauty tour
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 perfumed gloves, the intricate badge on his hat and the large, assertive (and expensive) feather. We always think it’s sad when we don’t know who portraits like this represent, since they obviously put so much effort into dressing up and having a picture made of their fanciest duds…. Come let us show you how art museums are a giant fashion show on the Fashion and Beauty tour!
August 17, 2018
Anne de Pisseleu, the Duchesse d’Étampes
People often ask if our tours change over time, and the answer is absolutely yes, they change—both because the museum’s displays change, and because we discover things about the artworks. Here for instance is a portrait of a royal mistress that just came onto display at the Met. It isn’t certain who the artist is, but the subject is clearly Anne de Pisseleu, the Duchesse d’Étampes, who was one of the most important mistresses of François I, France’s most important Renaissance king. Anne was a typical Shady Lady: she was famously beautiful, but also famously intelligent. In fact, she was called “the most beautiful of the learned, and the most learned of the beautiful.” It was also typical of the French court that François married her off and gave her husband a title: the French always wanted their royal mistresses to be titled and married (perhaps to prevent their children from making claims on the throne). Want to know more about the Shady Ladies of art and history? Come on our Shady Ladies tours!
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August 8, 2018
Fashion History in Art
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. (more…)
December 14, 2017

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