Often looking to the surreal, Melvin Sokolsky would play with proportion, perspective and pre-photoshop trickery in his fashion photography. Known for his series of bubble girls hovering about Paris, Sokolsky drew inspiration from Hieronymus Bosch’s fantastical painting, The Garden of Earthly ...

In 1956, Cecil Beaton costumed the debut Broadway production of My Fair Lady, which would earn the prolific photographer and costumer designer a Tony for Best Costume Design. Seven years later, Beaton was celebrated once more for his Eliza Doolittle costumes, this time worn by Audrey Hepburn in ...

A “stay” was the word of choice for the understructure later referred to as a corset in the 19th-century. Today, the corset conjures up notions of tight-laced, wasp-waisted hourglass figures, however, the stay of the 18th-century was intended to lift the breasts and straighten the back rather ...

As one of the three founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John Everett Millais, would create some of the most well-known imagery of the Pre-Raphaelite movement which looked to Quattrocento or 15th-century Italian art. Shakespeare often served as inspiration to the Pre-Raphaelites as ...

Paul Poiret’s 1913 costumes for Le Minaret were followed soon after with similar versions available for his avant-garde patrons looking to shock in Orientalist ensembles. Poiret’s translation of harem-style dressing for the Parisian set resulted in a stiffened, oversized tunic paired atop his ...