Woman's Parasol

In Emil Zola's novel The Ladies’ Paradise, a prominent item sold at the fictional department store was parasols. The parasol was not only an item that could be bought at the Ladies’ Paradise, but it also was used as part of the lavish presentations around the store. In Chapter 9, Zola describes the display of parasols as follows:

It was the exhibition of parasols. Wide-open, rounded off like shields, they covered the whole hall, from the glazed roof to the varnished oak molding below. They described festoons round the semi-circular arches of the upper storeys; they descended in garlands along the slender columns; they ran along in close lines on the balustrades of the galleries and the staircases; and everywhere, ranged symmetrically, speckling the walls with red, green, and yellow, they looked like great Venetian lanterns, lighted up for some colossal entertainment.

During the nineteenth century, parasols were used not only to keep the sun out of women’s eyes, but to achieve a “fashionable” look among middle and upper class women. A pale complexion that needed little or no makeup was the look women wanted to achieve in order to be set apart from the working class. A pale complexion also led people to believe that the woman was dependent on her husband.

This artifact in the University of Rhode Island’s collection was donated in 1953 by Mrs. George Ballentine of Kingston, Rhode Island. She was the wife of former Dean Ballentine of the Business College at the university. According to the records in the costume collection, the parasol belonged to Mrs. Joseph Noton, a cousin of Mrs. Ballentine.

The parts of the parasol include the cover, whalebone ribs, stretcher, runner, wood stick, ferrule and brass joint. The cover is made of black moiré fabric with eight strips of black velvet sewn vertically down the fabric; black fringe adorns the bottom of the cover. The fringe detail is a good indicator that the parasol was bought at a store such as Ladies’ Paradise because fringe was a trait of store-bought parasols. This parasol was fashionable for the 1860s and 1870s. The moiré fabric was considered very elegant and the fringe seemed to be a popular decoration at the time.

References

Farrell, Jeremy. Umbrellas and Parasols. London: B.T.Batsford Ltd., 1985.

Severa, Joan L. Dressed for the Photographer. Kent State University Press, 1997.

Vincent, Marta. Originals By Kay. 2006. http://www.originals-by-kay.com/learn_about/Edparasols.htm (accessed April 13, 2014).

Zhang, Edward. History of the Parasol. 2012 йил 20-August. http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-the-Parasol---A-Sunshade,-A-Ritual-Artifact,-And-A-Fashion-Accessory&id=7240267 (accessed April 13, 2014).

Zola, Émile. The Ladies' Paradise. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.