Vestibule #02

Fun
      Facts

Strange knowledge about the Stuff

Good swimming fabric

When bathing became popular on the German Baltic Sea during the late 18th century, men and women still wore long dresses made of cotton or linen that soaked up water. Only with the development of nylon fabrics in the 1950s an improvement occured.

From sailor suit to bikini: swimwear through the ages | NDR.de – History – Chronology

Photo: Young woman in swimsuit, by unknown photographer – Deutsche Fotothek, Germany – Public Domain.

The first German fashion magazine

was published in 1787: the “Journal des Luxus und der Moden” (Journal of Luxury and Fashion), until 1821. The oldest fashion magazine still published today is Harpers Bazaar (first edition 1867). The influential Vogue has been around since 1892. Fashion magazines convey trends and are closely linked to the clothing industry.

Photo: Journal of luxury and fashions 1788, Volume III, T.4 – 1788 – Rijksmuseum, Netherlands – Public Domain.

DIY-Fashion

In 1950, the first issue of Burda Mode was published: women could sew fashionable garments themselves at home using the patterns in the magazine. The sewing machine for home use already came into being at the turn of the century from the 18th to the 19th century.

Photo: Edition from the year 1956, Publisher Aenne Burda

The history of knitting:

The precursors of this cultural technique are 1500 years old. The first reliable sources on knitting date back to the 11th century. Until the industrial revolution, men also knit, but for 150 years it has been an occupation mostly carried out by women.

Photo: William-Adolphe Bouguereau: The Knitting Woman painting (via Wikimedia Commons)

The first department store

Emerges in Paris in the middle of the 19th century. The French fabric merchant Aristide Bouricaut founded “Le Bon Marché” and expanded the textile range in 1852 to include stationery, household goods and toys. The concept was so successful that a hotel was set up on the opposite street for “shopping guests”.

Photo: Drawing of the department store “Au Bon Marché”, funded by the Boucicaut family and opened in 1887, Paris, rue de Sèvres (via Wikimedia Commons)

Pret-a-porter

Refers to garments from design houses that are made in ready-to-wear sizes. While haute couture is made-to-measure, ‘pret-a-porte’ (French for “ready to wear”) usually comes in a limited number of garments in different sizes.

Photo: Català: Barcelona pret-a-porter exhibition at Palau Robert (via Wikimedia Commons)