Decadence and Decay: Fashioning the Image of Lady Mary Curzon, Vicereine of India

A headless mannequin placed within a glass box wears a legendary ball gown commissioned in 1902 by the Vicereine of India, Mary Curzon. The dress – commissioned for a state ball in Delhi – was as symbolic as it was magnificent, featuring peacock feathers embroidered in gold, silver, and copper threads. Worn on the statuesque body of the Vicereine, the gown transformed her into “a vision of embodied light” that revealed the opulence of the British Raj rather than the ways in which it was falling apart at the seams. Its display also attempts to highlight the glamour and glory of Empire though it, too, is clearly in a state of dramatic and irreversible deterioration. This presentation examines how imperial authority and the subjugation of the Indian Subcontinent were staged on the body of Lady Curzon through dress and ornament, veiling the steady decline of British rule as well as Curzon’s own failing health. We consider how dress can simultaneously reveal an individual’s authentic self while also laying bare their deepest insecurities, and explore the tensions between the natural process of decay and our often unnatural efforts to prevent it.