ourselves in over the top chic artsy do’s and took our chic artsy selves to the Frist. We could not have felt more out of place. We took seats near the back, even though our outfits placed us in the front row, to listen to Gloria Gloom (a chic artsy name if you ask me) lecture on the “Painter of ‘La Vie Modern’”. In correspondence to the Frist’s “Birth of Impressionism” collection Gloom’s lecture was to address the early Impressionists’ responses and challenges to the modern. In an age of transitioning painting styles Gloom insists we look not only at the subject, but what they’re wearing.
Gloom cites the fall of the republic, following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), as the break down in court life. After France’s loss in the Franco-Prussian War a sort of democratization took place and the court in Paris took on a relaxed attitude, as seen in relaxed positions of the salon 
portraits. Tissot depicts this casual fashion-forward woman in a fringed bolero surrounded by her books in a middle class room. “Mademoiselle L.L.” (1864) provides further proof of the break from the previous aspirations to be a part of La circle de la rue Royale. With the development of department stores and the circulation of fashion magasins fashion norms were created in which social classes could buy the same silhouettes. Tissot’s “modern” portrait in fact took me to the housewives of the 1950’s and 60’s (minus a few feet on the hem), with the cropped ball-fringe bolero, full skirt, and dainty hair piece. In this way Gloom makes her point clear—that art and fashion are intricately linked and it is through this link that we can give form to certain periods.
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