Evening dress Callot Soeurs. Ca. 1925. French. Silk, metallic thread & glass. | THE MET
1920’s Hairstyles A collection of 1920’s photographs, depicting some of the hairstyles of the time, like the kiss curl, the orchid bob, the charleston cut, coconut bob, earphones hairstyle, cottage loaf (bun) and popular styles you’ll probably never see in a period drama like extreme windblown style, the frizzy hairstyle and the Poodle cut.
Trousers Early 20th century. Java. Cotton batik, machine sewn stitching. Batiks (the name given in Indonesia to the process of applying resist-dyed patterns to cloth) are worn in Java by both men and women. They are used by Javanese men in the traditional forms of headcloths (kain kepala) and skirtcloths (kain panjang). Today batik shirts are also very popular. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both the Dutch and the Chinese in Java also wore clothes made from batik patterned cloth. Men relaxed at home in the early morning or evening wearing trousers such as these, which were secured around the waist by a string or belt. These trousers were usually made by cutting cloth from batik patterned waist cloths, but were sometimes made up and then decorated with batik designs. The design of this pair, with its large motifs of a bamboo like plant with lurking peacocks in blues, greens and browns, suggests that they were made at one of the towns on Java's north coast. | V&A
Headdress circa 1920. Thailand (possibly Cambodia). Glass, Gilt Lacquer & Silver Dancer’s Headdress for Sita.
Dance dramas such as Thai versions of the Rama epic featuring Hanuman, king or the monkeys, Rama, and Sita, were very popular in the Kingdom of Siam in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Headdresses such as this particularly fine example were made for the dancer who played the key role of Sita. As heroine of the epic, she, like Rama, were attired regally with ornate costumes and spectacular crown-like headdresses. Lower ranking females such as princesses wore diadems rather than full crowns with tiered spires.
This headdress comprises gilded lacquer, black lacquer, wood, rawhide, faceted glass spangles, and silver. The glass spangles are mounted in a jour silver settings, in complex bands of silver wire, and with many mounted in flower-like settings en tremble on wire stems so that the spangles shimmied and moved in a frenetic and over-exaggerated fashion with any minor movement made by the dancer. The silver settings are particularly fine.
The crown incorporates a diadem with gilded rawhide flanges or wings that frame the dancer’s face on either side and which are embellished with fine wire netting inset with dozens of silver-mounted glass spangles.
Before the dancers performed, it was traditional for them to place their headdresses, diadems, masks and musical instruments on an altar along with offerings to respected teachers and spirits. After the ceremony, the headdresses were put on and a small, single fresh flower was tucked behind the ear (McGill, 2009, p. 108). | Michael Backman