Purple Stole with sewed-on white textile appliqué, c. 1910

It was through her sister Helene’s (1871–1936) marriage to Ernst Klimt (1864–1892) that the then 18-year-old Emilie Flöge (1874–1952) first met Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), twelve years her senior. From 1904, the sisters owned and operated the Flöge fashion salon, which closely cooperated with the Wiener Werkstätte, selling their fashion jewelry and accessories. At peak times, they had up to eighty seamstresses on their payroll. A few years before Coco Chanel (1883–1971), Emilie Flöge created the so-called reform dress, liberating women from the corset. In most years, she traveled to Paris twice to see the fashions shows of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior (1905–1957). In the Nazi period, Flöge lost her mostly Jewish clientele so that she had to close down the salon and work from her home. The Purple Stole with sewed-on white textile appliqué was designed around 1910. It is silk and shows both courage for color and a penchant for geometric detail.

EF, 2021