On a recent visit to the Museum of the City of New York we visited one of their exhibitions "Gilded New York". It explores the culture of the city at the end of the 19th century, an era marked by success and lavish lifestyles. The exhibition features jewelry, costumes and decorative objects set in a beautiful display. We even found some shoes!
From their website:
Explore the visual culture of elite New York in the late-19th and early- 20th centuries.
Inaugurating the Museum’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery, Gilded New York explores the city’s visual culture at the end of the 19th century, when its elite class flaunted their money as never before. In New York, this era was marked by the sudden rise of industrial and corporate wealth, amassed by such titans as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, who expressed their high status through extravagant fashions, architecture, and interior design. The exhibition presents a lavish display of some 100 works, including costumes, jewelry, portraits, and decorative objects, all created between the mid-1870s and the early 20th century. The dazzling works in the exhibition will illuminate an era when members of the new American aristocracy often displayed their wealth in storied balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and hotels. It was a time when New York became the nation’s corporate headquarters and a popular Ladies’ Mile of luxury retail establishments and cultural institutions helped launch the city to global prominence.
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| Fancy dress costume by Maison Worth representing “Electric Light,” 1883 • Worn by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II to the Vanderbilt Ball |
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| Matching satin and sequin slippers and silk stockings to go with her gown |
Link to visit the Museum website
http://www.mcny.org/content/gilded-new-york
