Sunday, September 12, 2010

Yay or Nay? Madame de Genlis

It was another Yay for haberdashery as Lady Taylor pulled in a victory for her high brimmed hat.  We have not seen what French couture has to offer in the realm of headgear. Perhaps we are overdue?


Adelaide Labille-Guiard paints Madame de Genlis (1780) in her bonnet of lace and ribbons.  Yay or Nay?

H.W. Blunt Collection

18 comments:

  1. It is a very prettily painted bow, but really, it doesn't belong on a human head! Nay...
    Au Revoir,
    ♥Danette

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  2. It's a little... much. It looks like her head is being swallowed by the Lace Monster.

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  3. Nay! You can't see anything but that BOW.

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  4. Yay!----if she were a wedding present. Otherwise, nay.

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  5. I agree with Cherylynn. A big Nay! It is so...weird. Nay!

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  6. I'm distracted by those green gloves! She looks like Elphaba! And the green clashes with the blue. The bow does make her look like she's meant to be someone's present!

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  7. Nay! I agree with Cherylynn, she looks like a wedding present. It is way too much everything.

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  8. I am not so concerned with the bow: the biggger the better.

    I think the gloves are the problem. The minute she goes out of that chair, the green gloves will clash with the blue dress.

    Do you think it may be the painter that changed the gloves colour in order to balance the painting?

    (by the way, I would love to know more about the paintings you post. Can you had some information underneath the picture?)

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  9. Nay, just nay. It is so sad how ruffles can be abused.

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  10. Well, I'm gonna say Yay! Go big or go home, I'm in agreement with Fabulastic. On her right side it looks like there's another bow on the back and I'm curious as to how many bows there are on there. I think those indoor bonnets would be irritating enough to wear, why not have some fun with it.

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  11. Lovely bow and those gloves are nice!! But together and arranged in such a way (speaking about the bow) are a fashion disaster. NAY!!

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  12. Oo, my first vote! Definitely a nay. The last two hats were wonderful but that's a big ribbon and lace mess!

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  13. Oh dear, it appears that Madamme got most of her looks from her father. The very masculine looking neckcloth does not help, or was she a cross-dresser? In any event, we are looking at the hat. The lace is lovely but the bow is...awkward. I will not speak of the green gloves. Nay.

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  14. oh I missed Ms Taylor... Well Mdm de Genlis gets a huge YAY, especially for her gloves. I love them and all the colours of her attire.

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  15. The lace ruffles in the wrong places, the dark colour and the loose fit of the dress and the powdered hair in a time when powder wasn't that common any more - all of that makes her looks like she's in her sixties when she wasn't even forty at the time of the portrait! What a granny look!

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  16. Oops, I should add just in case it wasn't obvious from my rant: Nay.

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