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Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion
How wealthy American women--as consumers and as influencers--helped shape French couture of the late nineteenth century; lavishly illustrated.
French fashion of the late nineteenth century is known for its allure, its ineffable chic--think of John Singer Sargent's Madame X and her scandalously slipping strap. For Parisian couturiers and their American customers, it was also serious business. In Dressing Up , Elizabeth Block 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 shows that 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 Félix, among others. She considers the mutual dependence of couture and coiffure; the participation of couturiers in international expositions (with mixed financial results); the distinctive shopping practices of American women, which ranged from extensive transatlantic travel to quick trips downtown to the department store; the performance of conspicuous consumption at balls and soirées; the impact of American tariffs on the French fashion industry; and the emergence of smuggling, theft, and illicit copying of French fashions in the American market as the middle class emulated the preferences of the rich. Lavishly illustrated, with vibrant images of dresses, portraits, and fashion plates, Dressing Up reveals the power of American women in French couture.
Winner of the Aileen Ribeiro Grant of the Association of Dress Historians; an Association for Art History grant; and a Pasold Research Fund grant.
French fashion of the late nineteenth century is known for its allure, its ineffable chic--think of John Singer Sargent's Madame X and her scandalously slipping strap. For Parisian couturiers and their American customers, it was also serious business. In Dressing Up , Elizabeth Block 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 shows that 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 Félix, among others. She considers the mutual dependence of couture and coiffure; the participation of couturiers in international expositions (with mixed financial results); the distinctive shopping practices of American women, which ranged from extensive transatlantic travel to quick trips downtown to the department store; the performance of conspicuous consumption at balls and soirées; the impact of American tariffs on the French fashion industry; and the emergence of smuggling, theft, and illicit copying of French fashions in the American market as the middle class emulated the preferences of the rich. Lavishly illustrated, with vibrant images of dresses, portraits, and fashion plates, Dressing Up reveals the power of American women in French couture.
Winner of the Aileen Ribeiro Grant of the Association of Dress Historians; an Association for Art History grant; and a Pasold Research Fund grant.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published October 19, 2021
10 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth L. Block
2 books15 followersElizabeth L. Block, an art and culture historian, is a Senior Editor in the Publications and Editorial Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Dr. Block earned her PhD in art history at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, with a focus on 19th-century American painting. She also holds an MA in American Studies from Columbia University, and a BA in English from The George Washington University.
Gilded Age Fashion (Hardie Grant) is available for preorder now.
Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing (MIT Press) is the winner of the Costume Society of America’s 2025 Millia Davenport Publication Award. The book has been featured in Forbes, Hyperallergic, Daily Art Magazine, Town & Country, The New York Post, and more.
Her book Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion (2021) also published by MIT Press, won the Victorian Society in America book award 2022, and was shortlisted for the Association of Dress Historians 2022 Book of the Year. The book was reviewed widely in academic journals in the fields of fashion history, American history, art history, and business history.
Dr. Block earned her PhD in art history at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, with a focus on 19th-century American painting. She also holds an MA in American Studies from Columbia University, and a BA in English from The George Washington University.
Gilded Age Fashion (Hardie Grant) is available for preorder now.
Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing (MIT Press) is the winner of the Costume Society of America’s 2025 Millia Davenport Publication Award. The book has been featured in Forbes, Hyperallergic, Daily Art Magazine, Town & Country, The New York Post, and more.
Her book Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion (2021) also published by MIT Press, won the Victorian Society in America book award 2022, and was shortlisted for the Association of Dress Historians 2022 Book of the Year. The book was reviewed widely in academic journals in the fields of fashion history, American history, art history, and business history.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 1, 2024
Block's Dressing Up offers us a look into the love affair between American women and French fashion. The book begins with the rise of French fashion as a pan-European phenomenon in the eighteenth century before diving into the American/French fashion market. Beginning in the eighteenth century when emulating and consuming French fashion was a way of articulating a stance against British control, this connection continued throughout the nineteenth century and virtually defined the fashion of the Gilded Age in America.
Dressing Up is a consumer history, focusing on what American women were buying and how French fashion helped them articulate their space in American and international society. This was a period when suddenly American industrialists had money to burn and who looked to Europe, particularly France, as the epitome of taste and class. But this isn't just a story about Americans trying to emulate the French, it's also a story of how the tastes of American consumers influenced the production of French fashion houses, especially as American industrialist money became more and more tempting.
Block's writing is refreshingly clear and unpretentious. The book is full of gorgeous pictures of advertisements and photographs of extant garments from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's amazing costume institute, making it as much a pleasure to look through as it is to read. Block also proves very strong at connecting the history of fashion to the history of art—John Singer Sargent fans rejoice, he makes an appearance here, as he should.
The book does not connect as much to the material history of this fashion—who made it, where the materials came from, etc., which could have been a benefit, but otherwise I think it's a great insight into this period of fashion history.
Dressing Up is a consumer history, focusing on what American women were buying and how French fashion helped them articulate their space in American and international society. This was a period when suddenly American industrialists had money to burn and who looked to Europe, particularly France, as the epitome of taste and class. But this isn't just a story about Americans trying to emulate the French, it's also a story of how the tastes of American consumers influenced the production of French fashion houses, especially as American industrialist money became more and more tempting.
Block's writing is refreshingly clear and unpretentious. The book is full of gorgeous pictures of advertisements and photographs of extant garments from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's amazing costume institute, making it as much a pleasure to look through as it is to read. Block also proves very strong at connecting the history of fashion to the history of art—John Singer Sargent fans rejoice, he makes an appearance here, as he should.
The book does not connect as much to the material history of this fashion—who made it, where the materials came from, etc., which could have been a benefit, but otherwise I think it's a great insight into this period of fashion history.
March 1, 2021
gives the reader an incredibly thorough understanding of the life and times of the late 19th century high fashionistas and their relationships to the times, their inter relationships and relation to society.
The research and the accompanying visuals and artwork are truly astounding.
Enjoyed it immensely
The research and the accompanying visuals and artwork are truly astounding.
Enjoyed it immensely
January 18, 2024
Entertaining even if a bit dry. The author repeats herself numerous times when writing about this one or that one and to whom they were married, etc. The illustrations were lovely and now I want to go to the Met's costume dept.
May 21, 2022
- The point of dressing up has long been associated with impracticalness of it: it shows that one has enough capital that one can afford to dress not needing to work a difficult job
- Much of the fashion of yester years would scream vulgar today: they're simply way too complicated and against the Chanel "less is more" philosophy: but that was also when complicated dress was difficult to make. Today, complicated dress was no longer hard to make, in order to differentiate social classes, more "ones who know" clothing code has been invented
- For the newly rich Americans, since they have no one to emulate, they often turn their attention to the European royalties (even marrying a daughter to a much poorer European roality became popular)
- Protectionist government imemented steep tariff that did hurt import to some extend
- Much of the fashion of yester years would scream vulgar today: they're simply way too complicated and against the Chanel "less is more" philosophy: but that was also when complicated dress was difficult to make. Today, complicated dress was no longer hard to make, in order to differentiate social classes, more "ones who know" clothing code has been invented
- For the newly rich Americans, since they have no one to emulate, they often turn their attention to the European royalties (even marrying a daughter to a much poorer European roality became popular)
- Protectionist government imemented steep tariff that did hurt import to some extend
July 27, 2022
Just finished reading this last night. It was a splurge ebook buy, and for me, it was worth it. The focus in terms of time period is the Gilded Age, one of my favorite periods in history. Block gives a detailed account of the role American and British women played in the French fashion world at that time. The bonus is that the book includes images of many of the dresses talked about throughout the chapters. Some may feel the text is a little dry at times, but if you're a true Gilded Age buff like myself, you won't notice. You'll be too busy admiring the detail that went into the dresses and the text itself.
January 29, 2024
This was a very scholarly book. I read it in response to listening to the author appear on the podacast “ Dressed, The History of Fashion”. Searching out this book was in response to seeing the John Singer Sargent show at the Boston MFA and the mini-series “ The Guilded Age” . The amount of money and the whole economy of high fashion during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s was very interesting. The pictures were fascinating. I don’t understand how women were able to walk and tend to their personal need when wearing some of these clothes. But I do understand why it was important to have a “ladies maid” in the house!
November 24, 2021
Beautiful dresses and engaging stories about the first generation of U.S. women influencers.
February 28, 2022
When I find a quiet moment, I make a cup of tea and sit down to browse this book. I love getting lost in the pages, imagining myself in a BBC period drama. I particularly love the rich photos of debutantes and matrons posing in their dresses next to the images of the garments today.
After I bought the book online, I saw it at The Strand in NYC!
After I bought the book online, I saw it at The Strand in NYC!
February 8, 2022
I especially enjoyed the portraits of dresses worn with photographs of the dresses!
This was well researched and very interesting!
This was well researched and very interesting!
September 14, 2024
Reading while waiting for new season of The Gilded Age television show.
November 24, 2024
A study of the relationship between French fashion and American women from 1870 - 1900. Block uses the dresses to inform her study, examining extant cloth, portraits and photographs, and the paper trail of bills, will, and fashion magazines.
Filled with colored photos, the ten chapters look at different subjects ranging from tariffs to architecture and interior design. Block looks at how fashion was used as a status symbol and how Americans used French dress in both the States and Europe to enforce their place in society.
Filled with colored photos, the ten chapters look at different subjects ranging from tariffs to architecture and interior design. Block looks at how fashion was used as a status symbol and how Americans used French dress in both the States and Europe to enforce their place in society.
February 12, 2022
Beautifully illustrated––the cover alone makes it coffee table worthy!––this is a fascinating account for anyone interested in fashion and fashion history.
Although intellectually rigorous it’s also a consistently compelling and enjoyable read.
In other words, serious scholarship combined with the feeling you've somehow stumbled on a glossy late 19th century issue of Vogue!
Highly recommend.
Although intellectually rigorous it’s also a consistently compelling and enjoyable read.
In other words, serious scholarship combined with the feeling you've somehow stumbled on a glossy late 19th century issue of Vogue!
Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews