Embroiderer of headdresses

I think that this is a peaceful postcard. She’s working quietly away at a headdress. Notice the lace on her sleeves and her own bonnet.

I can't resist a hat

Biana Duhamel was a singer and actress. She was seduced by the Baron de l'Espée, who built her a villa which was little more than a gilded cage to keep her in at his disposal. She left him.

The season of the Three Graces

This postcard dates before 1903 and is in very good condition. What beautiful hats, I would have liked to have worn one. Click on the image in order to see the detail of the dresses more clearly.

Five pretty ladies

I know that they were probably quite uncomfortable and involved the wearing of corsets, but aren’t they beautiful? And then there are the hats…

Les Reines de la Mode

I spent a long time trying to find out who this young lady was. Perhaps a Can Can dancer around 1907 at the Moulin Rouge? Anyway, she was beautiful enough to be photographed by Henri Manuel. Here is another of his postcards and a brief biography

1909

I’d love to be able to dress up and wear a hat like this one. I wonder if it was heavy? Ladies in 1909 would be looking at this kind of creation in the shops and wondering what excuse they could give their husbands for buying yet another hat. The inscription on the back is actually dated 1915, I wonder where the card got to for six years?

For Willow...

While I was sorting through some more cards I was really pleased to come acoss this one. Does the one with the white hair remind you of someone? Now we know why his hair was flat.

Where did you get that hat?

I really like the costume cards. These two came from Charente which is the next department to the right. It’s impossible to say which year this was sent as the postmark is unreadable.

I’m not sure how the women coped in the wind with those headdresses. The words at the side comment on the ‘chic’ warm bonnet that he is wearing. I can’t translate properly, as some of the words are local to Charente and I don’t know them.