Naomi Lubrich is Director of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland. She studied literature and art in New York and Berlin, specialising in Jewish studies and costume history. Lubrich worked at the Jewish Museum Berlin (1999-2015) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1996-1998). Exhibitions/books include Jewish Switzerland. 50 Objects Tell Their Stories (2018) and Die Feder des Schriftstellers. Mode im Roman des französischen Realismus (2015).
Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Re... more Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Believed to be a sartorial tribute to democracy modeled on an ancient Greek women’s gown, the dress became a staple of neoclassical style. In fact, however, its genealogy is much more complex. It was first worn by the French queen, whose reference was Caribbean, not Greek. Thereafter, Napoléon used the dress in an imperial context, shifting its meaning from Greece to Rome in line with his political agenda. Women’s magazines depicted the dress differently still: they presented exotic accessories to go along with the dress, such as liana-vines, Oriental-style tunics, and chain-link necklaces. Looking at these accessories, and at magazine descriptions, backgrounds, and stories, this essay shows how polyvalent the dress was. It brought to discussion a number of changing ideas about social politics, including colonialism, Jewish emancipation, and the abolition of slavery.
ASDIWAL. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions, 2015
À partir du XIIe siècle, les Juifs furent dépeints portant des chapeaux pointus dans les régions ... more À partir du XIIe siècle, les Juifs furent dépeints portant des chapeaux pointus dans les régions germanophones du Saint-Empire, mais aussi dans certaines régions d’Italie, en France et en Angleterre. Le chapeau pointu, originellement un élégant couvre-chef venu d’Orient, devint un signe distinctif des Juifs après que le port de ce chapeau leur fut légalement imposé, vers 1250. À partir des textes légaux de langue allemande, et des discussions internes au judaïsme relatives au port du chapeau, cet article propose de montrer 1) comment différents couvre-chefs firent leur apparition au Moyen Âge parmi les communautés juives et acquirent une signification religieuse qu’ils n’avaient pas auparavant et 2) comment le chapeau devint, de manière générale, le symbole d’autres parias, criminels, sorciers et sorcières. Considérant la longue histoire, depuis l’Antiquité, des récits mettant en scène un savoir magique juif, il n’est sans doute pas étonnant de voir le chapeau pointu passer des Juif...
Abstract Red and Black was named after the colors of soldiers’ and clerics’ uniforms, as Stendhal... more Abstract Red and Black was named after the colors of soldiers’ and clerics’ uniforms, as Stendhal famously explained, pointing to the importance of fashion for his protagonist’s career. Julien Sorel changes his clothes repeatedly, relying on several advisors to fulfil the requirements of 19th century fashion, namely, to be inventive, but within specified categories. Dandies brought the paradox of conventional originality to a climax, because they celebrated understatement while seeking to draw attention to minute details of dress. For Stendhal, dandy fashion finds its match in literary form, when Julien’s intellectual career doubles as a history of invention. But with Julien’s success - both sartorial and literary - a result of meticulous copying, citing, and plagiarizing, the concept of originality is less ›original‹ than perhaps imagined.
In Emile Zolas Roman uber ein Kaufhaus, Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), erscheint die Mode in Gestal... more In Emile Zolas Roman uber ein Kaufhaus, Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), erscheint die Mode in Gestalt einer mysteriosen Allegorie: Sie wird als Vampir inszeniert, der ihren Ort, das titelgebende Warenhaus, heimsucht. Schaufensterauslagen sehen aus wie geopferte Jungfrauen; im Keller ruhen die Waren kalt und steif in Kartons wie in Sargen; wenn sie die Stoffe betasten, fuhlen die Kundinnen ihr Blut pulsieren; in den Umkleidekabinen spielen sich orgiastische, sadomasochistische Szenen ab. Anhand historischer Karikaturen hat der Sozialwissenschaftler Eduard Fuchs (1906) gezeigt, das Vampire, Teufel und andere Monstren lange als Referenzen der Mode dienten. Doch Zola hat in seinem Roman die notorische Figur des Vampirs nicht lediglich fortgeschrieben – er hat sie bekehrt. Denn die sinnlichen Reize seines Kaufhauses wirken durchaus therapeutisch. Sie befriedigen die Kundinnen und machen sie glucklich. Positiv wirkt sich das Geschaft auch auf die Beschaftigten aus, die aus ihm ihre Unabhangigkeit beziehen. Erscheint das „Paradies der Damen“ zunachst als unheimliches Freudenhaus, so entwickelt es sich zu einer realen Utopie: zur Buhne weiblicher Emanzipation.
Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Re... more Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Believed to be a sartorial tribute to democracy modeled on an ancient Greek women’s gown, the dress became a staple of neoclassical style. In fact, however, its genealogy is much more complex. It was first worn by the French queen, whose reference was Caribbean, not Greek. Thereafter, Napoléon used the dress in an imperial context, shifting its meaning from Greece to Rome in line with his political agenda. Women’s magazines depicted the dress differently still: they presented exotic accessories to go along with the dress, such as liana-vines, Oriental-style tunics, and chain-link necklaces. Looking at these accessories, and at magazine descriptions, backgrounds, and stories, this essay shows how polyvalent the dress was. It brought to discussion a number of changing ideas about social politics, including colonialism, Jewish emancipation, and the abolition of slavery.
Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Re... more Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Believed to be a sartorial tribute to democracy modeled on an ancient Greek women’s gown, the dress became a staple of neoclassical style. In fact, however, its genealogy is much more complex. It was first worn by the French queen, whose reference was Caribbean, not Greek. Thereafter, Napoléon used the dress in an imperial context, shifting its meaning from Greece to Rome in line with his political agenda. Women’s magazines depicted the dress differently still: they presented exotic accessories to go along with the dress, such as liana-vines, Oriental-style tunics, and chain-link necklaces. Looking at these accessories, and at magazine descriptions, backgrounds, and stories, this essay shows how polyvalent the dress was. It brought to discussion a number of changing ideas about social politics, including colonialism, Jewish emancipation, and the abolition of slavery.
ASDIWAL. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions, 2015
À partir du XIIe siècle, les Juifs furent dépeints portant des chapeaux pointus dans les régions ... more À partir du XIIe siècle, les Juifs furent dépeints portant des chapeaux pointus dans les régions germanophones du Saint-Empire, mais aussi dans certaines régions d’Italie, en France et en Angleterre. Le chapeau pointu, originellement un élégant couvre-chef venu d’Orient, devint un signe distinctif des Juifs après que le port de ce chapeau leur fut légalement imposé, vers 1250. À partir des textes légaux de langue allemande, et des discussions internes au judaïsme relatives au port du chapeau, cet article propose de montrer 1) comment différents couvre-chefs firent leur apparition au Moyen Âge parmi les communautés juives et acquirent une signification religieuse qu’ils n’avaient pas auparavant et 2) comment le chapeau devint, de manière générale, le symbole d’autres parias, criminels, sorciers et sorcières. Considérant la longue histoire, depuis l’Antiquité, des récits mettant en scène un savoir magique juif, il n’est sans doute pas étonnant de voir le chapeau pointu passer des Juif...
Abstract Red and Black was named after the colors of soldiers’ and clerics’ uniforms, as Stendhal... more Abstract Red and Black was named after the colors of soldiers’ and clerics’ uniforms, as Stendhal famously explained, pointing to the importance of fashion for his protagonist’s career. Julien Sorel changes his clothes repeatedly, relying on several advisors to fulfil the requirements of 19th century fashion, namely, to be inventive, but within specified categories. Dandies brought the paradox of conventional originality to a climax, because they celebrated understatement while seeking to draw attention to minute details of dress. For Stendhal, dandy fashion finds its match in literary form, when Julien’s intellectual career doubles as a history of invention. But with Julien’s success - both sartorial and literary - a result of meticulous copying, citing, and plagiarizing, the concept of originality is less ›original‹ than perhaps imagined.
In Emile Zolas Roman uber ein Kaufhaus, Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), erscheint die Mode in Gestal... more In Emile Zolas Roman uber ein Kaufhaus, Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), erscheint die Mode in Gestalt einer mysteriosen Allegorie: Sie wird als Vampir inszeniert, der ihren Ort, das titelgebende Warenhaus, heimsucht. Schaufensterauslagen sehen aus wie geopferte Jungfrauen; im Keller ruhen die Waren kalt und steif in Kartons wie in Sargen; wenn sie die Stoffe betasten, fuhlen die Kundinnen ihr Blut pulsieren; in den Umkleidekabinen spielen sich orgiastische, sadomasochistische Szenen ab. Anhand historischer Karikaturen hat der Sozialwissenschaftler Eduard Fuchs (1906) gezeigt, das Vampire, Teufel und andere Monstren lange als Referenzen der Mode dienten. Doch Zola hat in seinem Roman die notorische Figur des Vampirs nicht lediglich fortgeschrieben – er hat sie bekehrt. Denn die sinnlichen Reize seines Kaufhauses wirken durchaus therapeutisch. Sie befriedigen die Kundinnen und machen sie glucklich. Positiv wirkt sich das Geschaft auch auf die Beschaftigten aus, die aus ihm ihre Unabhangigkeit beziehen. Erscheint das „Paradies der Damen“ zunachst als unheimliches Freudenhaus, so entwickelt es sich zu einer realen Utopie: zur Buhne weiblicher Emanzipation.
Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Re... more Abstract The slim, simple chemise of the 1800s came into fashion at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Believed to be a sartorial tribute to democracy modeled on an ancient Greek women’s gown, the dress became a staple of neoclassical style. In fact, however, its genealogy is much more complex. It was first worn by the French queen, whose reference was Caribbean, not Greek. Thereafter, Napoléon used the dress in an imperial context, shifting its meaning from Greece to Rome in line with his political agenda. Women’s magazines depicted the dress differently still: they presented exotic accessories to go along with the dress, such as liana-vines, Oriental-style tunics, and chain-link necklaces. Looking at these accessories, and at magazine descriptions, backgrounds, and stories, this essay shows how polyvalent the dress was. It brought to discussion a number of changing ideas about social politics, including colonialism, Jewish emancipation, and the abolition of slavery.
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