Vain as a Peacock

Society ladies maintained highly structured social lives in the years leading up to World War I, requiring many different types of clothing. After doffing her morning dress, a lady might change into an afternoon suit for a stroll, choosing an outfit that would stand out among the fashionable crowds strutting up and down the boulevards. The Bois de Boulogne was the most famous public promenade in Paris: Fifth Avenue in New York City, and Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, were its American counterparts.

Paris, France
c. 1913-14
Museum Purchase
2007.905.2A

Thanks in part to newly-portable Brownie cameras and lightweight rolled film, roaming photographers' candid snapshots of these style-setting women illustrated features in contemporary fashion periodicals. This avian toque and muff could not fail to attract the lens of a wandering shutterbug.

Paris, France
c. 1913-14
Museum Purchase
2007.905.2B

Formed by the iridescent breast feathers of male peacocks and ornamented with composite taxidermy heads, these matched accessories would have shimmered in the sunlight--changing from blue to green to purple--bringing to mind the expression "Vain as a peacock."