Days of Miracles and Wonders

Every time I worry that we are, in fact, in the end times (trying to remember if those wackaloons have bred their red heifer yet, and then beginning, ridiculously, to wonder what exactly would be the best thing to wear to the Apocalypse -- certainly it would need a lot of pockets, and of course if you are facing the Apocalypse surely you wouldn't care about eventual lung cancer, but could use asbestos cloth ... and would red be too matchy-matchy?) I remember that, even if we are rapidly approaching the time of Peak Everything; there are consolations; even if the world is running down, we can make the best of what's still around.

Like, for instance, the Internets. Which lets me, with the click of several buttons, browse through an exhibit from the Met back in 2002 -- Blithe Spirit: The Windsor Set, and see the dresses of another time when some had it that there was no use planning for the next year, much less the next decade; a time when they were going to party like it's 1939.

It always surprises me that mere electrons can manage to carry such treasures to me through wires and waves; treasures nearly as ephemeral as those electrons. How improbable, how ridiculous! What petite main in Vionnet's studio would believe it, if she were told that some American woman would, seventy years in the future, look at this dress--basically over the telephone? She'd stick you with a pin, and tell you to stop wasting her time. The woman for whom this dress was made would snort -- she'd believe that in a year, maybe two, her dress would be hopelessly out of style, and not worth anyone's attention.

This dress is black silk satin and black silk net, with sequins. (A dress made of wet toilet paper would probably be less fragile.) And yet -- it's still here. Its maker is gone; its wearer is gone; every man who guided it through a foxtrot, long gone: but it's still here. Still here, and since it's in a museum, safe and protected from everything from excess humidity to violent video games, likely to continue to be here, and through various generosities and some very clever engineering, we can up our brass periscopes outside our daily concerns and just, for a moment, look at it.

It might be taken (black birds, so ill-omened!) as a memento mori, but it might also be taken as kind of defiant monument: if something so delicate could abide through such terrible history, why shouldn't we? I'd like to call this a reverse Ozymandias; no "look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" but instead, a quiet invitation to rejoice.

Comments

[Laceflower]

OMG I love it here. Going back into lurkdom now Erin.

[Lydia]

Oh, Erin, I think you've outdone yourself with this one. What beautiful words. Thank you.

[Netter]

that is a gorgeous gown, is the title reference from the Paul Simon song (Boy in the bubble) or did he get it from somewhere else? I just happened to be listening to Graceland this morning.

[Kerstin]

Pure poetry, my dear! Love all your words!

[Ev]

Erin,Beautiful essay. Thank you.

[Ladygrande (Texas Marie)]

Oh, my!!!I like this one - timeless:http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Blithe_Spirit/10.L.htmThanks for the story and the link.

[Claudine]

I want one! I saw that exhibit, and everything there was really something special.

[Bridget B.]

Once again, you delight and educate the fashion neophyte (which would be me!) Vionnet, Queen of the bias cut? Who knew? And this dress . . . So yummy!

[Rebecca]

Oh, Erin! You are the best. As a perpetually depressed progressive, I can read DAD and find a reason to hope. There will be good things about this wretched empire collapsing. We can emerge from this mess sadder, wiser and better dressed.I'm writing you in for Chancellor of the Wardrobe.

[deanne]

what a beautiful way of looking at things. i loved this:if something so delicate could abide through such terrible history, why shouldn't we?:)

[Anonymous]

I haven't heard a reference to Ozymandias since I left college - and in such proper context! Get your stories in print, Erin, we will need them when fashion becomes obsolete and we give in to the trekky or borg one-design-fits-all to remember when clothing helped define our individuality.

[astrojen]

Oh Rebecca, you are so right. Erin surely has the wit and poise of the Chancellor of Wardrobe, orpossibly the Secretary of Stlye/Fashion.Reading Erin's posts is truly an education for those like myself.I hope I can understand it all before The End. If not,I will be satisfied just to dream of possessing dresses such as this.Very cool!

[Cookie]

Beautiful clothes! But the reason Wallis Windsor's clothes were so great is that she basically didn't do anything else with her life except focus on them (and prying jewelry out of her totally whipped husband.) She was a quite disappointing, anorexic and snobby woman who I find less and less admirable the more I read about her. But her taste...divine.

[kim p.]

Vionnet, the Duchess of Windsor, the red heifer, and Ozymandias all in one post--you have outdone yourself this time, Erin! Brava! This is the best site ever. (And thank your for the exhibition link to those amazing Vionnets, Mainbochers, and the rest.

[The Vintage Housewife...]

oooh lil darlin' i love your post! on a silly note i never thought what sassy dress i'd wear for the end! ha ha ha... honestly gal your site is so darn tooten' sweet...love the clothes!! stop by my place...cat

[Eirlys]

I usually leave it until at least Wednesday before I succumb to apocalyptic visions, but I'm happy to make an exception.Well put, Erin! Wasn't it T.S. Eliot who said that "Humankind cannot bear very much reality", which is surely where dresses come in? I don't think it was a Prufrock quote, but that would have been nice.Have you a begun a "futility" category yet? There should still be enough time...

[daisyfairbanks]

Wow. Thanks you.p.s. You'll be available as a fashion stylist after the apocalypse, right? Awesome.

[AmandaMay]

What a beautiful post. And what an amazing dress!

[lorrwill]

Oh Erin you are in very good voice today. Time to bust out another Secret Lives, me thinks.

[Nadine]

I love this post.. . . foxtrot . . .

[Lucky Lucky Girl]

ooooooh. that is stunning. Not that anyone else was confused, but I had to say...

[wundermary]

Oh my! Wallis and her whipped hubby surely were dressed for the apocalypse. Somewhere I once read of the many difficulties the Duke of Windsor presented during WWII, including a story that had him wanting to turn back to reclaim fine bedding that had been left behind as he was forced out of France. The exhibition photos are wonderful, but I am a little disapointed that they don't show the shoes or hat that are still "Wallis Blue".The whole red cow thing makes me think of Miracle, the white buffalo that was born in Janesville. How is it that a deity should be so dependent upon earthly things?

[Lisa @ the Vintage Fashion Library]

And she quotes Sting, too. Be still my beating heart.....Erin, you are a genius. But I'm neither first, nor last, to say it.

[Kristen]

ah! erin! i love this post.

[Meg]

This is the first I've heard of Lott, the farmer/evangelist. sigh For the record, there ARE smart, thoughtful, tasteful people in Mississippi. And FROM Mississippi. Sometimes, you just have to laugh at (with?) the ones who......aren't. lolYou should write a book, Erin. Marvelous post. As always.