This mantua and petticoat dates from the 1760s. It is shaped from French silk, and features an undulating ermine motif. The design mimics the ermine fur trim, which is often seen in royal portraiture. Ermine have a white winter coat apart from their tails, which retain a dark hue. Real fur ermine tails are interspersedContinue reading “Mantua of the Month – May 2020”
Category Archives: Mantua of the Month
Mantua of the Month – April 2020
Each month I will be doing a short feature on a gown that catches my fancy as part of the ‘Mantua of the Month’ feature on my blog page. For April 2020, I have chosen this Court Mantua, which was featured in an exhibition last year entitled ‘A Dress Fit for a King’ at theContinue reading “Mantua of the Month – April 2020”
Mantua of the Month – March 2020
Mantua of the Month is a fun feature on my blog page, which draws attention to the material culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first mantua to be featured (admittedly I am publishing this a little late!) is this Court dress, c. 1750 from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, alsoContinue reading “Mantua of the Month – March 2020”
A Fashionable Business 