Babani: Life and Legacy of a Forgotten Designer, 1894–1935

Linsey Labson
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice

About this Item

Title
Babani: Life and Legacy of a Forgotten Designer, 1894–1935
Contributor Names
Labson, Linsey (Author)
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice (Degree granting institution)
Font, Lourdes M. (Thesis advisor)
Date
2020
Degree Information
M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2020.
Department: Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.
Advisors: Font, Lourdes.
Abstract
This paper serves as the first comprehensive overview of the House of Babani, an important but largely overlooked design firm based in Paris during the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The names Fortuny and Gallenga are well-known within the history of fashion; however, these designers tend to be overanalyzed, whereas scant attention has been paid by scholars to contemporaries who shared their aesthetic of avant-garde Modernism suffused with Asian and other non-western influences. From the opening of the house of Babani in Paris in 1894, Vitali Babani (1858-c.1942) and later his son Maurice (1891-1974) played an interesting part in the ubiquitous appropriation of non-western design in modern fashion in Europe and America during this period. For nearly five decades, Babani served as a luxury textile retailer as well as a purveyor of couture and ready-to-wear fashions, featuring products influenced by Middle Eastern, African, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese design. Despite this, the name seems to disappear by the 1930s with few mentions by fashion scholars. This paper is organized to include biographical research, historical significance within the scope of fashion history, and an expansive compilation of garments attributed to Babani, found in collections worldwide. Conclusions are drawn about the designer's origins, personal history, and influence on fashion history, as well as determining areas of further research. This paper is also a case study for the reconstruction, in written form, of the life and work of a designer who has drifted into obscurity. It is an example of how to research a subject that is unknown or has left few traces in the scholarly literature of fashion history.
Subject
Babani
Fashion designers
Retail trade
Fashion--History
Rights
In Copyright
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Identifier
FIT Repository ID: etd_000865
pqdiss: 28540434
ISBN: 9798505542606
Related Materials
Also available from ProQuest
Type
Text
Thesis
Language
eng
Publisher
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Citation

Labson, L. (2020). Babani: Life and Legacy of a Forgotten Designer, 1894–1935 [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3911
Labson, Linsey. Babani: Life and Legacy of a Forgotten Designer, 1894–1935. 2020. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3911
Labson, Linsey. "Babani: Life and Legacy of a Forgotten Designer, 1894–1935." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2020. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3911