Object of the Month

Rep-silk ladies jacket

A special item in the Museum’s collection is a rep silk jacket from 1916, with the waist hem shorter at the front and longer at the back. The stitching follows the waist line, having curved edges and a collar with applied lapels going up the chest, decorated with an applied earth colored silk lace. Each lapel has six buttons. Four more buttons are stitched are stitched on the bottom part of the fabric embroidered with flower motifs. The long sleeves have cuffs which are decorated with laces applied in a line motif. The lining is made of satin. At the back on the waist, the jacket features six buttons applied in two mirroring pairs of three, and a fan-shaped tail.

European workshop.

Material/technique: rep silk, silk lace/ mixed technique.

Dimensions: Shoulders – 42 cm. Length – 62 m.

In his statement about women, Charles Baudelaire expressed a very eloquent view: “The woman is fully entitled and, in some way, even obliged to make efforts to look magical and supernatural; she must daze and enchant; being an idol, she must cover herself with gold in order to be offered laurels. She must therefore use all artifices offered by the arts to elevate herself above nature, so that she may better conquer the hearts and better amaze the spirits”.