Waldorf Astoria Fashion Show
c. 1894

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Waldorf Astoria Elegant Fashion Show
detail
Hall Brothers, New York (printed for)
An "At Home" in the Octagon Room of the Waldorf, Fifth Avenue, New York, 1893-94
Sackett & Wilhelms Litho. Co., New York: c. 1894
Chromolithograph
25 x 47 1/4 inches (sheet size)
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Large print of elegant women modeling elaborate high-style hats in the Octagon Room of the Waldorf Hotel. In 1890, William Waldorf Astor built the Waldorf Hotel, a magnificent Beaux Arts building, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh. It opened in 1893 and was an immediate success with the fashionable set, inspiring William's cousin, Jacob, to build The Astoria hotel next door. Hardenbergh was also the architect of the Dakota Apartments and the Plaza Hotel. The building is shown in a small vignette remarque in the lower left portion of the margin identified as "The Waldorf Hotel, 5th Ave. & 33rd St. New York." The opulent interior shown in this print shows the French revival styles favored in the period.

As indicated in the print, at this time, The Waldorf Hotel was located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street. In 1929 it was razed in order to make way for the Empire State Building). Its successor, the Waldorf-Astoria, a different Art Deco building on Park Avenue, was built in the 1930s and remains one of New York City's most elegant hotels.

This print was issued as a promotion for woman's hats for the hatmaker Hall Brothers, 564 & 566 Broadway, New York. Various of the hats worn are identified in a number key in the lower margin, together with the instructions: "use numbers in ordering trimmed hats shown on this plate prices on slip sent with it." Presumably, an "at home" is the name of a fashion event that was sponsored at the Waldorf Hotel by Hall Brothers.