Mrs. Delany, Still Fashionable Centuries Later

So, I figured if everybody else in Atlanta was taking a few snow days, I'd do the same. Of course, there was absolutely no excuse for me not to compose a few posts or two. The power did stay on, after all. But sometimes it's a real treat to do absolutely nothing, and that nothing included spending an embarrassing amount of time on Neiman's website. It wasn't for naught, either, because I found an Etro skirt that I'm dying for as well as some YSL shoes. What really caught my eye, though, was this Carolina Herrera skirt, shown above. It's really unique and striking, right? I tend to avoid wearing anything floral on my person, something which I attribute to those Laura Ashley dresses from the 1980s. (They were cute, but a little went a long way.)

No, what really struck me about this skirt is how reminiscent it is of Mary Delany's botanical paper mosaics. Then I read that much of Herrera's Spring 2011 collection was inspired by 18th century botanical plates, so the connection makes sense. Of course, Mary Delany never used tape in her work (or at least not that I'm aware of), but other similarities are there. Here is a little side by side comparison:





"Phlox suaveolens", 1776





"Amygdalus Persica", 1778





"Cynoglossum omphalodes", 1776.





"Arctotis calendulacea", 1777.


Top images from Neiman Marcus; other Herrera photos courtesy of Style.com; Delany images from Mrs. Delany and Her Circle (Yale Centre for British Art)