Emile Pasquier
Ballgown
Green/brown changéant silk velvet, lace, beads,
rhinestones, and gold metallic cord
Circa 1889, France
The Museum at FIT, P91.55.6, Museum purchase


Fashions of the fin de siècle used shimmering and elaborate surface decoration to create the image of Woman as an expensive, desirable object. Women in highly ornamented outfits literally embodied their husbands’ wealth, becoming paragons of seductive artifice. Jean Baudrillard called this “a production of value through exteriority.”