Vain as a Peacock

Society ladies maintained highly structured social lives in the years leading up to World War I, requiring many different types of clothing. After doffing her morning dress, a lady might change into an afternoon suit for a stroll, choosing an outfit that would stand out among the fashionable crowds strutting up and down the boulevards. The Bois de Boulogne was the most famous public promenade in Paris: Fifth Avenue in New York City, and Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, were its American counterparts. 

20079052ab-3

Paris, France
c. 1913-14
Museum Purchase
2007.905.2A

Thanks in part to newly-portable Brownie cameras and lightweight rolled film, roaming photographers' candid snapshots of these style-setting women illustrated features in contemporary fashion periodicals. This avian toque and muff could not fail to attract the lens of a wandering shutterbug.

20079052ab-4

Paris, France
c. 1913-14
Museum Purchase
2007.905.2B

Formed by the iridescent breast feathers of male peacocks and ornamented with composite taxidermy heads, these matched accessories would have shimmered in the sunlight–changing from blue to green to purple–bringing to mind the expression "Vain as a peacock."

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