The Australian Mermaid: Annette Kellerman

Annette Kellerman was ahead of her time for her physical abilities in the water, her belief in the need for women to maintain a healthy body, and importantly in fashion by her swimwear. She seemed to live in a different era, undeterred by the formalities and restrictions, (whether real or self-imposed) that prevented most women from doing the same. In fact, many of things she did would never have occurred to most women of the early 20th century.

Originally from Australia, Annette took her talents worldwide, breaking swimming and diving records, traveling to various theater stages in Europe and the United States, and eventually made Hollywood silent films that showcased her talents. Hollywood later revisited her incredibly life story, and Ester Williams would channel Annette in The Million Dollar Mermaid (1952).

Annette Kellerman in a self-designed bathing suit, ca. 1903-1913, [Public Domain]

Wedding Dresses 1888 – 1930

 info on images below

There’s no doubt that wedding dress styles, though steeped in tradition (and much of this due to precedent set by Queen Victoria), change according to the prevailing modes of the time. This was just as much true between the 1880s-1930s as it is today. In honor of the recent marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, Femme Fashion Forward will showcase wedding dresses throughout the years of the FFF timeline with stylistic notes.

 

To start off, this video on the exhibition Wedding Belles that took place at the Hillwood Museum from 2011-2012, gives a great overview of the changing styles of wedding dresses. It presents three generations of women’s wedding attire from the Marjorie Merriweather Post family, 1874-1958  >>  Wedding Belles

The Body: Fashion and Physique, Victorian – Edwardian Highlights

This month you may have noticed some posts on Femme Fashion Forward social media featuring images of objects in the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT)s, The Body: Fashion and Physique exhibit, curated by Emma McClendon, which is open until May 5. If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend you take a trip to the Museum at FIT! I want to round out this month by including some other objects in the exhibit from the late 19th to early 20th century, although the exhibit extends earlier and later beyond those dates. These selected objects from the exhibit highlight major differences between a stylish silhouette and physique from the 1880s-1910s and today, dispel some myths about corsetry, and may also be cause for reflection upon the ways in which some of these ideals have stayed with us through time.

                 Both corsets belong to the Museum at FIT: 98.29.4 and P91.43.2