Evening dress worn by Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, 1908. Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum.

Ring (amethyst in a gold setting), 1800-69. Victoria & Albert Museum.

Birth of Venus, by Swiss painter Fritz Zuber-Buhler (1877). Museum of John Paul II Collection.

Irish crochet lace dress, 1908. Kyoto Costume Institute.

Boots by Pinet, 1867. National Gallery of Victoria.

The Moorish Chief, by Austrian painter Eduard Charlemont (1878). Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Annie Edson Taylor, an American adventurer who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Shade card for dress fabrics, made by Friedrich Bayer & Co., Germany, 1896. Victoria & Albert Museum.

Day dress, early 1870s. John Bright Historic Costume Collection.

Fan, 1860–69. The MET.

Portrait of Countess Hanna Erdödy. Photographed in Hungary in the 1870s.

Rehearsal in the Studio, by French painter Edgar Degas (1878-79). Fogg Museum.

Ensemble by House of Worth, 1910s. Whitaker Auctions.

Day dress, 1867–69. Piña cloth (a traditional Philippine fiber made from pineapple leaves) and silk. The MET.

The Bellelli Family, by French painter Edgar Degas (1858-69). Musée d'Orsay.

Chair, 1867–69. The MET.

Day dress, 1885. Museu del Disseny.

Parasol, 1915-29. The MET.

Breakfast Time, by Swedish painter Hanna Hirsch-Pauli (1887). Nationalmuseum.