Fashioning the Gilded Age

Abstract

The new HBO series The Gilded Age revolves around a rivalry between “ Old New York, ” represented by the fictional character of Agnes van Rhijn (played by Christine Baranski), and the Russell family, led by George Russell (played by Morgan Spector), who stand in for the era ’ s “ New Rich. ” While business dealings serve as background to the story, the show ’ s main focus is the social intrigues of its women in a world where appearance, etiquette, and social networks capture the audience ’ s attention. Like The Gilded Age , Elizabeth L. Block ’ s Dressing Up puts the women of the era — and their dresses — at the center of its narrative. Block ’ s new book frames the wealthy elites who shaped the Gilded Age economy, culture, and politics as consumers, and focuses on the wives and daughters of elite businessmen and financiers. Such an emphasis allows Block not only to insert women and women ’ s agency more meaningfully into Gilded Age history, but also to explore the economic consequences of the fashion trade. In Block ’ s narrative, elite women were more than a passive manifestation of Thorstein Veblen ’ s “ conspicuous consumption. ” They were active players in a transatlantic network of commerce, power, and privilege that allowed them a position of influence within U.S. society by turning fashion and the dresses they wore into cultural capital. Dressing Up is both a study of the French couture industry and an examination of the role American women played in its development. Block rightly moves away from focusing on couture designers as omnipotent geniuses to focus instead on the social life of garments themselves. This method of “ follow the dresses ” allows her to spotlight the relationships enabled by fashion, bringing labor, gender, space, consumer culture, and performance together into her analysis. Rather than looking at the construction of the garments themselves, Block situates them within a