What's in the box?
January 16, 2018 11:58 AM   Subscribe

This vintage postcard depicts a costumed dancer from the Folies Bergère, c.1900. What is the utility of the small box attached to the front of her bodice? My attempts to Google have not turned up any clues.
posted by merriment to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Maybe some variation of the cigarette girl?
posted by Winnie the Proust at 12:16 PM on January 16, 2018


It is in this photo too of Marinett and may have been a specific role in an operetta. Doesn't explain the function of course, but it may have been part of a farce.
posted by vacapinta at 12:29 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


Tips? In a deliberately risqué place, bien sûr.
posted by basalganglia at 12:30 PM on January 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


It appears to be a costume from the Folies_Bergère. Given that Wikipedia describes some of the entertainment provided there as "erotic dancing" and "small nude women", my wild guess is that it could potentially be for the early 1900s equivalent of stuffing $1s in panties... at least, it sure LOOKS like could be. And in that era, that'd be approximately the same naughty thrill, I'd think.
posted by stormyteal at 12:32 PM on January 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


When you zoom in you can see a handle on one side of the box (viewer's right side) so to me it looks like a music box with a crank handle (that you wind up to play a song).
posted by rada at 1:25 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Agreeing with rada, except there's a handle on both sides of the box. Weirdly it kind of looks like a telephone receiver?

If you're on Twitter, maybe tweet the photo to the French National Library (@laBnF) and/or Gallica (@GallicaBnF), their digital arm? They might know, or could tweet it to their own followers.
posted by orrnyereg at 2:06 PM on January 16, 2018


It might be a music box. She might do some automatic dance, like a doll. The hanging down piece might be the handle that comes up to a 90 degree, and then the crank looking part would make sense.
posted by Oyéah at 5:56 PM on January 16, 2018


Visual pun perhaps? Emphasising her "chest". However, I don't know if chest as a euphemism is a literal translation to French. I'm reaching' here....
posted by qwip at 10:11 PM on January 16, 2018


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