Style from the Nile

Egyptomania in Fashion From the 19th Century to the Present Day

Isabella Campagnol

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781399098083
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Fashion Design

A compelling look at the influence of ancient Egypt on modern fashion, by a dress, textile, and decorative arts historian—includes illustrations.
In November 1922, when the combined efforts of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon revealed to the world the "wonderful things" buried in Tutankhamen's tomb, Egypt had already been a source for new trends in fashion for quite some time. In the early nineteenth century, for example, Napoleon's Egyptian campaign contributed to the popularization of Kashmir shawls, while the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 stimulated "Egyptianizing" trends in gowns, jewelry, and textiles.
But post-1922, a veritable Egyptomania craze invested all artistic fields, quickly becoming a dominant Art Deco motif. That included fashion. "Flapper-style" dresses were elaborately embroidered with beaded "Egyptian" patterns; evening bags were decorated with hieroglyphics; brooches nonchalantly sported ancient scarabs; and the sleek black bobs favored by the admired icons of the time, Louise Brooks and Clara Bow, looked up to the fabled Egyptian beauty of Nefertiti and Cleopatra.
Egyptomania continues to influence twenty-first-century fashion as well: the awe-inspiring John Galliano's designs for Dior Spring-Summer 2004 brought back pharaonic crowns in lieu of headdresses in a triumph of gold-encrusted creations; the ancient practice of mummification was referenced by Iris van Herpen's Fall 2009 collection; and Egyptian vibes resonated in Chanel's Métiers d'Art 2018/2019 collection. Through the combination of rigorous fashion history research, intriguing images, and well-informed, approachable writing, Style from the Nile offers a comprehensive overview of a phenomenon that, to this day, has a mesmerizing appeal.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 ‘Soldiers, Forty Centuries Behold You!’: Napoleon, Cashmere Shawls, Giraffes and Early Nineteenth-century Fashion
• 2 ‘Retour d’Egypte’ Fashions in the Nineteenth Century
• I Dancing with Cleopatra: Egyptian Vibes at Costume Balls from the 1897 Devonshire’s Ball to the Roaring Twenties
• 3 Ancient Egypt and the Belle Epoque
• 4 ‘Wonderful things!’: Tutankhamun’s Influence on Fashion During the Roaring Twenties
• II What to Wear ‘to Do the Nile’: Stylish Tourists from the Nineteenth Century to the 1920s
• 5 The Story Lives On: Egypt in Fashion from the 1960s to the Present Day
• III ‘When Ancient Egypt Was Young’: Beauty Secrets and the Land of the Nile
• 6 Reinterpreting Ancient Egypt in Contemporary Fashion
• Conclusions
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Plates