A History of High Style in the Gilded Age

Join fashion historian Stéphane Houy-Towner for an illustrated talk in the Museum’s Gilded Age home, Glenview, festively decorated for the holidays. This lecture will explore how women of the era dressed to make an impression, particularly during social events, reflecting the fashions popular during the late nineteenth century.

Houy-Towner will delve into the shifting silhouettes of the period, the influence of French and American fashion, and how the fashion mirrored societal values of the Gilded Age. This exploration connects to themes in No Bodies: Clothing as Disruptor, particularly Senga Nengudi’s A.C.Q. – Fandango, where stretched hosiery evokes the restrictive tension of a nineteenth-century corset.

Stéphane Houy-Towner is a curator, consultant, and lecturer with more than fourteen years of experience as a researcher at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. He has worked with prominent cultural institutions, fashion houses, and museums, offering expert insights into the evolution of style from the eighteenth century to the present.