Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century

by Harold Koda, Andrew Bolton, Mimi Hellman

During the reigns of Louis XV (1723-74) and Louis XVI (1774-92), fashion and furniture were not simply meant to be beautiful but were also intended to arouse, attract, and seduce.  Published in response to the critically acclaimed and hugely popular exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum in the fall of 2004, Dangerous Liaisons focuses on fashion and its interplay with the paintings, furniture, and decorative arts of eighteenth-century France. Featuring beautiful color photographs of the exhibition€™s installation, details of the garments, and supplementary historical material, the book demonstrates how the extravagant clothing of the period reiterated the splendor of Rococo and Neoclassical interiors.

Genres: Fashion, History, Nonfiction, Art, 18th Century, Fashion History, Historical

128 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2006

About the author

Harold Koda (3 January 3, 1950) is an American fashion scholar, curator, and the former curator-in-chief of the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reviews

[Matthew]

Fall in love with ROCOCO (and neoclassicism) today!

(its great that the POINT is that the furniture and fashion SEDUCES you, crafty)

(btw this is free on Google Books, so you too, can virtually be Spotted Sitting on the Steps of the MET)

[Elameno · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so pretty!

I love the concept for the exhibition, I love the ideas they explore and how they explore them. I wish I could have seen it in person.

The catalogue itself is a little clunky. It's picture heavy, but if you want to know what the image is be prepared to flip to the back of the book, because none of them are captioned. The text also makes reference to all of these images, but again, be prepared to interrupt your reading to flip back and forth, because they rarely reference an image next to the text.

On the subject of the text, it is full of interesting ideas, but be prepared for run on sentences and the like. The author also switches back and forth within single paragraphs describing paintings and the staging of the exhibition rooms, so you might have to pay careful attention or risk confusion over what she's talking about.

So it's a very pretty catalogue. Not necessarily a functional one.

I like the pretty though.

[April-Jane Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dangerous Liaisons was an exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004 that focused on the relation between 18th century fashion and furniture. How the rooms were laid out for pleasure and socialising, often becoming a form of titillation.
This book features photos and information from that exhibit. Something as simple as a chair was placed with such care, the first impression of a room as important as that of a person. Not only that but complex rules concerning conducting yourself in company would have made just drinking tea or getting dressed overwhelming. It was fascinating and makes for stunning visuals!

[Westley Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, it was very fascinating to see how constructed every aspect of 18th century elite life was, from the clothes they wore, to the chairs they sat in, to the way they sat down and stood up with grace. Very interesting, I learned a lot that I didn't know before. There were two chapters left out but I was able to read most of it for free on google books which was also nice.

[Meg Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful catalog, essential for 18th century studies.

[ツツ]

This is perhaps the first time i found myself more interested in the texts than the images in an art book.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awhile back I got really into French fashion just before the Revolution and how it impacted the cultural life of the court. I found this particular book through a Tumblr post and the magic of ILLs, and it was quite worth it.

Dangerous Liaisons is not the French novel, but actually one of those books museums put together to show off their exhibits. This one took place at the Met in New York in 2004, and after having read the book I really wish I'd been able to see the exhibit itself. It placed costumes of the pre-Revolutionary Rococo period in representative interiors, with mannequins designed to show representative activities. The book also showed several paintings of the period and compared them to the exhibit's rooms.

The photography is amazing, and the curators' essays that accompanied them were really informative, drawing parallels between the design of furniture and clothing and the activities that might accompany them. For example, furniture could be designed to force people close together, assisting with flirtation, or could be very light and fragile, demanding grace and elegance from people maneuvering around it, particularly in large and bulky clothes. It's cool! I'll talk about this a little more when I talk about Fashion Victims, though.

Overall, this is really a lovely book, but unless you're a specialist in the period and subject, probably not worth owning. Get it from your local library or on ILL if you're interested, though. It will reward you.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must have been a neat exhibition. Wish I could have seen it in person. There weren't enough pictures in this book, or enough detail shots. I also found the mannequins to be distracting and stiff. I think it could have benefitted from more poseable and true to life mannequins. I enjoyed the idea that furniture was built intentionally for flirtation and to show off the owner's body and clothes. That was interesting!

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I particularly enjoyed the in-depth discussion of eighteenth century dress and furniture in paintings, even though that was just a backdrop for the book's discussion of the MET exhibit. I wish I could have seen this exhibit in person.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assisted with the Exhibition

[Jessica Jewett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photography in this book is amazing. Whether you're a historical fashion researcher, a costumer, or a writer, this book will be helpful to you.