Fan

Donaldson Brothers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Trade fans such as this were a result of the profound commercial and social changes set in motion by the Industrial Revolution. They were given away to customers for promotional purposes. Like magazine ads of the time, the fans were instructive as a document of costume and social history. In this example produced by Kohn & Adler, a Philadelphia hat manufacturer, the image not only depicts various styles of hats in the company's stock in 1880 but also supplies the names given to each one. Some of the names bear references to operas.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art