There was a time when dressing well was an art form that did not adhere to fitting into the latest fads and fashions. Rather, proper etiquette was part of society and young ladies were trained in proper social behavior and dress in prep schools. Manners were crucial to families of the upper middle and upper class of the social fabric of their time.

The proper term for "prep schools" was "finishing school" and they were very popular in the Victorian era. Fashion, proper way to walk or "carry oneself", dining etiquette, speech, writing, prose and poetry, cooking and the needle arts were all part of the finishing school curriculum. You can see how different times were in the 1200's or 1500's compared to today!

Ladies today compete in active contact sports dressed like men and they fight along side the men in the military. But is this really so different from the women in the same era of a different class? There were warrior women as far back as history is told and beyond the time that it is written.

When was the earliest that social training for ladies was practiced?

Now back to the photo and the title of this blog post, the art of posing to be photographed. Exactly how did posing come into practice and when did it begin? I guess a better question would be how long photography has been in existence? When was the first photo taken?

Let's find out

The first actual photographs were taken in the 1820's. Before then, attempts were made to capture images using various techniques such as obscura boxes.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia /"First known photograph, taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1825 by the heliograph process. The image is of a 17th Century Flemish engraving showing a man leading a horse."


The Midnight Writer