An engaging and meticulously researched look at the choice of attire in portraiture and its cultural significance.

From the provocatively exposed shoulder of John Singer Sargent’s Madame X to the graphically bold gown Michelle Obama chose for her First Lady portrait, fashion has always registered cultural shifts, and artists have canonized them. This book documents the stories behind the clothes—who made them, who wore them, and what they meant—and reveals the designers, dressmakers, and ateliers whose work came to be immortalized in paint and other media.

In the 1880s, painters were advising the House of Worth on designs destined for society portraits, while Worth, in turn, created signature details that foreshadowed both the unapologetic branding of Andy Warhol’s celebrity portraits and the logo culture of today. The Impressionists painted contemporary city life as they found it, capturing styles that were changing at a dizzying pace. Some sitters chose to be rendered in the latest fashions but, when new silhouettes could make last season’s looks seem suddenly outdated, others reached for classical dress and its illusion of timelessness.

Drawing on archival records, letters, and diaries, this book restores voices to the subjects, who were far more than passive muses, and to the artists, who understood exactly what a choice of dress could convey. The couturiers examined here—including Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Tom Ford, Poiret, Yves Saint Laurent, and Diane von Furstenberg—shaped how an era wished to be seen, while the artists who portrayed them—among them Cecil Beaton, Francesco Clemente, Salvador Dalí, Barkley Hendricks, and Manet—immortalized them.

About The Author

Caroline Rennolds Milbank is an independent fashion historian who has worked as an auction house expert, a curatorial consultant, and an appraiser. Previous titles include Fashion: A Timeline in Photographs and Resort Fashion. This is her sixth book.