Marchesa Casati
Marchesa Casati was definitely not called the most scandalous woman of her day for no reason. During her time in the limelight she was possibly the most artistically represented woman to exist after the likes of the Virgin Mary and Cleopatra. There were that many portraits, sculptures and photograph made of Casati to fill a whole gallery which had been taken by only the best artists and photographers of the 20th century such as Man Ray, Cecil Beaton and Giovanni Boldini. In terms of fashion, Casati had made an unforgettable impression on the legendary designers Elsa Shiaparelli, Coco Chanel and Colette arguably shaping many of the visions of their collections and their brand identities which women of that generation would begin to follow and incorporate into their wardrobes. Obviously Casati's choices of accessories and attire were extremely over exaggerated with outfit completions such as her pet Boa constrictor, cheetahs and snakes wrapped around her neck. However, the idea of a woman during the early decades of the 20th century who wanted to break free from social norms and traditional dress codes and be remembered for it at the same time excited the fashion world and influenced people to also experiment with the way they identified themselves. Casati was so different to other women that ordinary clothes would have simply looked abnormal on her and would not have matched her zany, frivolous character. We thought Lady Gaga's meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards was crazy, but it seems Marchesa was already laying the foundations for stars like Gaga back in the twenties when she was known to have worn light bulb garments and peacock dresses lathered in fresh chicken blood for a 'finishing touch' to her look.
Adding on, Marchesa has also had great influence over current fashion brands such as Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford who have used her as a muse for some of their collections. Georgina Chapman also named her brand 'Marchesa' after the heiress and socialite to communicate brand values that reflected Casati's confident nonsensical attire.
In terms of physical appearance, Casati was never classed as the natural beauty and instead made herself remembered for her looks in an unconventional, bizarre way. She had hair which was cut short and dyed a fiery red colour, her skin was bleached white with powder to draw attention to her features such as her pupils which were dark with doses of belladonna and her eyelids which were rimmed in thick black kohl and false eyelashes.
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was once named "the most famous actress the world has ever known" in the 19th century and nearly a century after her death, she is still notable for her distinctive identity and approach to the popular culture world. Bernhardt's style is very similar to Marchesa Casati's in the way that they both enjoyed accessorising themselves with earthly, rather grotesque things such as dead bats and they both had pets that were definitely not fit for household lifestyle. Bernhardt had her own pet alligator which she was known to have accompanied her around America whilst she travelled.
Another fact which differentiated Bernhardt from the rest of society was that the French actress slept in a coffin at night which was a gift bought for her by her coterie and something she had always declared she wanted.
Rather than dressing in accordance with fashion, she made fashion, wearing belts that dipped below her hips and which had all kinds of jewels hanging from them. She never dressed like anyone else and since she didn’t behave like anyone else either, she fascinated the entire world. One specific feature of Bernhardt's which fascinated and caught people's attention was her insanely thin figure. In comparison to the social problems of anorexia and health issues that commence in society today, Bernhardt's weight does not look too worrying in the photographs of her however, for the specific era when women were well developed, it was obvious that Bernhardt's weight was a prominent matter.
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