Embodying a Modern Luxury: The White Peacock, Distinction and Desire on the Early-twentieth-century Broadway Stage

Brayshaw, E

Embodying a Modern Luxury: The White Peacock, Distinction and Desire on the Early-twentieth-century Broadway Stage

Brayshaw, E

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Publisher:: Bloomsbury
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption, 2014, 1 (1), pp. 155 - 184
Issue Date:: 2014-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Brayshaw, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8549-0947	en_US
dc.date.issued	2014-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption, 2014, 1 (1), pp. 155 - 184	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	2051-1817	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121896
dc.description.abstract	This article examines the importance of two white peacock costumes within the context of an Orientalist aesthetic operating in the USA in the early twentieth century that combined the symbolism of wealth, beauty, fashion, desire and exclusivity with the display of luxury and taste on the Broadway stage. The costly, elaborate, white Peacock Gowns of the Parisian revue star Anna Held in Follow Mw (1916) and of the haute couture mannequin and showgirl known as "Dolores" in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolics (1919) looked remarkably similar. More importantly, however, they conformed to the historical understanding of the white peacock's symbolism in the USA at a time when there was a shift, as documented by Marlis Schweitzer and Caroline Evans, towards standardisation in the way female bodies were presented to the American public on stage, in fashion and in photography. The argument here is that despite this shift, the enduring symbolism and materiality of luxury relating to the white peacock was used to distinguish two very very different performers from thousands of other actresses and models in the USA in the late 1910s.	en_US
dc.publisher	Bloomsbury	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.2752/205118174X14066464962634	en_US
dc.title	Embodying a Modern Luxury: The White Peacock, Distinction and Desire on the Early-twentieth-century Broadway Stage	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.for	1203 Design Practice and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	2002 Cultural Studies	en_US
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Design
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	1	en_US

Abstract:

This article examines the importance of two white peacock costumes within the context of an Orientalist aesthetic operating in the USA in the early twentieth century that combined the symbolism of wealth, beauty, fashion, desire and exclusivity with the display of luxury and taste on the Broadway stage. The costly, elaborate, white Peacock Gowns of the Parisian revue star Anna Held in Follow Mw (1916) and of the haute couture mannequin and showgirl known as "Dolores" in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolics (1919) looked remarkably similar. More importantly, however, they conformed to the historical understanding of the white peacock's symbolism in the USA at a time when there was a shift, as documented by Marlis Schweitzer and Caroline Evans, towards standardisation in the way female bodies were presented to the American public on stage, in fashion and in photography. The argument here is that despite this shift, the enduring symbolism and materiality of luxury relating to the white peacock was used to distinguish two very very different performers from thousands of other actresses and models in the USA in the late 1910s.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121896