The Fashion of The Gilded Age

In this episode I am joined by prominent historian Elizabeth L. Block to discuss all things 19th century fashion!

Her book, Dressing Up chronicles how wealthy American women-as consumers and as influencers-helped shape French couture of the late nineteenth and examines the couturiers' influential clientele--wealthy American women who bolstered the French fashion industry with a steady stream of orders from the United States. 

Countering the usual narrative of the designer as solo creative genius, Block tell us just how these women-as high-volume customers and as pre-Internet influencers-were active participants in the era's transnational fashion system. Block describes the arrival of nouveau riche Americans on the French fashion scene, joining European royalty, French socialites, and famous actresses on the client rosters of the best fashion houses-Charles Frederick Worth, Doucet, and Felix, among others.

Block reveals the power of American women in French couture.

Listen now to find out just influential late 19th century France was to American fashion, and how The Gilded Age on HBO has interpreted this in their new hit show.

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Thanks for listening, and stay fab everyone.

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