Eiffel Tower Controversy, Wear History, Winter Shows

Did you know that the Eiffel Tower was originally despised by the art community? Story is at the center of our work at Compass Rose Design, and we often find that the real historical bits are even more fascinating and contain more intrigue and oddity than fantasy. Lately, I've been particularly captivated by the World's Expositions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the world was in the dynamic transition into the modern industrial age.

The 1889 Exposition took place in Paris, and was the occasion for which the great Eiffel Tower was constructed.  Showcasing the industrial and cultural wonders of the world, the Paris Exposition was also graced by Buffalo Bill and American sharpshooter Annie Oakley with their "Wild West Show."

The construction of the Eiffel Tower itself was delightfully controversial, met with the unconstrained complaints of the art establishment. In turn of the century Europe, art and engineering were distinct and separate disciplines.

 
During the planning of the tower, the Parisian art establishment published a scathing condemnation of the project:
"We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection…of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal" (from wikipedia)

It looks as though history resolved the matter. At any rate, may souvenirs, photos and other bits of history have survived from the Paris Exposition - saved in jewelry cases and cigar boxes and forgotten at the backs of drawers.   Let's take this 1889 watch fob we came across several weeks ago at a flea market and see what we can find. The watch fob, one of many commemorative souvenirs, was made by N.J. Schloss & Co.

Not only is it a delightful medal, but it's a time capsule filled with story. As pocket watches were firmly in fashion between 1850 up until the 1940s and 1950s, watch fobs were a popular souvenir item. This watch fob was made by the N.J. Schloss & Co. a New York-based clothing company as a commemoration of the medal they received at the Paris Exposition.  The Eiffel Tower and exposition grounds are visible in the foreground of the medal.

Though the Eiffel Tower was originally intended to be a temporary construction, it was of course never torn down and continues to serve as a monument to French culture, art, engineering, and industry.  Permits expired in 1909, but by the eve or World War I, powerful radio antennas were attached to the tower, which were later credited with jamming German communication systems to hindered the German approach. Originally a source of artistic contentiousness, the Eiffel Tower has become THE symbol of Paris and visited by more than 200 million people since the 1889 Exposition.

Now this history is wearable and available in our shop: 

Winter Events

• Modern Eden Trunk Show
  November 2, 2012 in San Francisco, Ca. 

• Bazaar Bizaare Holiday Show
  December 1 & 2, 2012 in San Francisco, Ca.

• Compass Rose Design Holiday Trunk Show
  December 8 & 9, 2012 in San Anselmo, Ca.
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