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Halcyon Days: Fashion and Culture in Reform-Age Pest

Start Date 13 June 2024
End Date 31 March 2025
Venue Petőfi Literary Museum
Location Budapest, Hungary
Curator Zsolt Mészáros
Designer Gyula Kemény and Gábor Bogdándy 
A floral historical dress on display complete with white and brown sleeves. Also on display are historical paintings of women.
Three drawings of historical ladies' portraits. A book and light up signs are also on display.
On the left hand-side of the wall are a series of six drawings of historical gentlemen in black and white. On the centre wall is a painting of a historical man. He is wearing in the painting, a black suit and white shirt.
Three historical costumes on display. (left) Cream fringed cape outfit, (centre) layered cream dress with lace, (right) black coat with buttons down the middle.

The Reform Age (1830–1848) in Hungary (which was then part of the Habsburg Empire) was characterised by economic, social, and cultural revival. Fashion magazines played an important role in this flourishing period. Pesti DivatlapÉletképekHonderü, and the German language Der Spiegel and Der Ungar appeared with varied illustrations and rich content. These periodicals primarily targeted women readers but also attracted men. They entertained and shaped the readers’ thinking, taste, and community consciousness. They were connected to the development of a modern Hungarian press and literary scene, to urbanisation and industrialisation, and to the formulation of national and European identity, as well as to intellectual discussions about fashion. This exhibition showcases the effervescent artistic and intellectual life of the city of Pest through fashion magazines and clothing in the 1840s.

Images courtesy of the Petőfi Literary Museum.