Fashion scholarship as a discipline is still its infancy, so the “firsts” just keep coming. This one, for example, is the first to look at W.W. I and what women wore while their men were away. Which fashions showed devotion to soldiers at the front? Which suggested the men had been forgotten? The show includes wartime uniforms, mourning dresses, and hats, plus pieces by Lanvin and Chanel never before seen in this country. —L.J.

French Fashion, Women, and the First World War was featured in the August 24, 2019 issue of Air Mail. Read on