Description:
Red paisley mantle, a hybrid between a cape and a jacket, which were also known as dolmans, visites, or cloaks. While the fabric on this example resembles earlier, square or rectangular paisley or kashmir shawls, the fabric is made up into a kind of cape, which is slightly fitted, but whose armsyes extend all the way down to the bottom edge to make a sort of hybrid between an unstructured shawl and fitted coat. This kind of construction severely limited any vertical movement of the arm, gently shaping women’s posture with arms down and bent. Mantles were often worn with dresses during the 1870s and 1880s, as they did not interfere with the lower rear projections of bustle skirts at this time. The label inside reads: "SIMPSON, CRAWFORD & SIMPSON / Importers and manufacturers / 6th Ave. and 19th St. / New York." Founded in 1879, Simpson, Crawford & Simpson was an exclusive department store, one of many late 19th-century establishments that began in the “Ladies’ Mile” area of 6th Avenue in lower Manhattan. These empires of fashion provided a wide range of clothing made and designed in-house, and carried a selection of both imported items and those ready-made in the city’s nearby garment center.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; polychrome; Silk Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+V.129 |
