Twee kostuumstudies 1865 - 1868

This is a costume study made in August 1865 by Willem de Famars Testas. Testas created this ink drawing in a period where shifts in fashion mirrored broader societal changes, especially for women. The elaborate dress depicted, with its full skirt and decorative bows, speaks to the restrictive yet ornamental roles assigned to women of the time. The artist’s delicate lines capture not just the garments but a sense of the wearer's prescribed elegance and restraint. Consider how fashion, then and now, is a language of status, a silent assertion of identity shaped by cultural expectations. The detail in rendering these costumes invites us to reflect on the historical constraints and the silent narratives woven into the fabric of women’s lives.