Grand Ladies

The "Belle Epoque" ("Beautiful Era") was a period somewhat like today with unusual international stability, globalization, and an upper class with a luxurious lifestyle built on cheap labor. It began around 1890 and came to an end in August 1914. In the Anglophone world, the Belle Époque covers the end of the Victorian era and the entire "Edwardian era" that includes the first four years of the reign of King George V and Queen Mary. World War I swept away ancien régimes in many places and the human and emotional costs of the war made re-establishing the elaborate lifestyles of yesteryear unthinkable. Something else occurred that doesn't get much play in cultural histories - women attained greater political and economic status. This may have contributed to the acceptance and durability of what is well documented, fashions much like those worn today. A gilded age without long skirts and trains is just not a gilded age.

I have wondered why we have not seen a second gilded age today after about thirty years of exalting the glories of social inequality. I can think of two reasons - the elite understands that negative publicity and, worse, public scrutiny could follow ostentatious display. But far more importantly, élite women will not stand to be stuffed into corsets and frills and relegation to the role of ornamental hostesses. Imagine Carly Fiorina or Meg Whitman in crinolines - I can't. You don't need diamonds when you can pour tens of millions of your money into election time attack ads.

So ends this trip down Memory Lane. Many Americans today want to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when a white male could see how superior he was just by standing in front of a mirror, disputes were settled man to man, men wore guns in holsters, and you could do anything you wanted to on your property without worrying about anybody else, much less ozone depletion, global warming, endangered species, or fished out seas. And women were Women and Men were MEN. Many Americans think unions and regulation of any kind are unnecessary. Same for Marxism. Turn the clock back and watch what happens!

NOTE:  ALL images from the USA Library of Congress Bain collection have been cropped.

The Belle Epoque - 1890 - 1914 that has these subalbums:

Archduchess Maria Josepha,

Princess Victoria of Wales, "Toria",

Margarete von Thurn und Taxis,

Princess Zinaida Yussupova,

María del Carmen Aragón Azlor e Idiáquez, duquesa de Villahermosa,  NEW

Louise d'Orléans, Princess of Bavaria,

Princess Clémentine of Belgium,

Duchess Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, née Anhalt,

Augusta Maria Luise of Bavaria,

Marie Georgievna, "Greek Minnie",

Duchess of Orléans Maria Dorothea,

Archduchess Margaetha Sophie,  NEW

Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna, that has this Albumette -

Dresses worn by Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna,

Queen Marie of Romania,

Grand Princess Alexandra Georgievna,

Victoria Melita,

Grand Princess Xenia Alexandrovna,

Countess Priscilla of Annesley,

Princess Bathildis of Schaumberg-Lippe,

Bertha von Suttner,

Consuelo Vanderbilt, the reluctant Duchess of Marlborough,

Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,

Winifred, Duchess of Portland,

Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva,

Princess Klara of Bavaria,

Lady Collin Campbell,

Comtesse de Greffulhe,

Archduchess Elisabeth Marie, "Erzsi",

Queen Sophia of Greece,

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark,

Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland,

Queen Wilhelmina,

Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy,

Comtesse Anna de Noailles,

Marie Gabrielle in Bavaria,

Princess Ingeborg,

Grand Duchess Eleonore of Hesse and by Rhine, née Princess of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich,

Hildegard Maria von Bayern (1881-1948),  NEW

Wiltrud and Helmtrud of Bavaria,  NEW

Infanta Maria Teresa,

Empress Auguste Victoria,

Grand Princess Olga Alexandrovna,

Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium,

Henriette, Duchesse de Vendôme,

Hélene d'Orléans,

Mary Victoria Leiter of Chicago, Lady Curzon, Vicerine of India,

Princess Karoline Reuss of Greiz,

Baroness Olga de Meyer,

Olga Paley,

Duchess Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West and her sister Princess Daisy of Pless,

Princess Alice of Battenberg - Andrew of Greece,

Lady Florence Phillips,

Grand Duchess Alexandra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,

Princess "Baby Bee" Beatrice,

Princess Alice of Teck,

Duchess Gwendolen of Norfolk,

Archduchess Luise, Crown Princess of Saxony,

Princesses Margaret "Daisy" and Patricia of Connaught and Alexandra of Fife,

Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Rossla,

Princess Alexandra Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg,

Queen Charlotte of Württemberg,

Princess Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg-Kohay, née Bavaria,

Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, "Ena",

Queen Maud of Norway,

Princess Louise of Belgium,

Princess Maria Immaculata,

Grand Duchess Elisabeth of Oldenburg-Mecklenburg,

Grand Princess Elena Vladimirovna,

Grand Duchess Hilda of Baden, née Luxembourg,

Crown Princess Cecilie,

Marie Antoinette of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,

Princess Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg - Eitel Friedrich of Prussia,

Princess Marie Bonaparte,

Grand Princess Maria Pavlovna the Younger,

Lucy Duff Gordon, Lucile,  NEW

Victoria Adelheid of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,

Victoria Luise,

Princess Pilar of Bavaria,

Princess Gundelinde of Bavaria,

Zita of Bourbon-Parma,

Queen Mary - May of Teck - that has these Albumettes:

Princess May's coming out, and

Queen Mary's wedding

Maria Adelheid and Charlotte, Grand Duchesses of Luxembourg,

Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen,

Baroness de Guestre,

The Torby Sisters Nadejda and Anastasia, 

Princess Viktoria Margarete of Prussia,

Marie Louise of Baden,

Marie Auguste of Anhalt, 

Princess Royal Mary, 

Ina von Rupin, and

Sophie Chotek.