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Sometimes high fashion is difficult to separate into separate arenas. As a rule, we tend to think of personal fashion (clothing, shoes, accessories, etc.) and home fashion (furniture, wall treatments, art, etc.) as two entirely different areas of "fashion". The truth is, however, that the two are often intertwined. Throughout their evolution, fashions from one arena have been associated, even incorporated, into fashions of the other. In the past, some furniture was a woman's fashion statement. The history of furniture in women's fashion probably dates back to the cave, but we'll start with the four-poster bed.

The first raised bed was attached to four posts and had a mattress supported by ropes that kept the sleepers up off the floor where the animals and other household members would sleep in straw or rushes. The invention of this raised bed was very likely what finally allowed women to start dressing in what we now consider nightclothes. With a raised bed the nightdress's material could be flimsier, thinner and more comfortable and a lot more attractive. The bed and the nightgown are paired in the history of female fashion.

My favorite example is the divan. Often, in the old South, these were referred to as fainting couches. The reason, of course, is obvious. Those tightly corseted Southern Belles would often feel woozy (probably due to lung constriction) and need to swoon. The divan was tailor made to support them, hoop skirts and all, when they did.

From ladies chairs that had lower arms to allow for full skirts to the diminutive seats designed for dressing tables, the form and function of the furniture often reflected the fashions of the era. So, the history of furniture in women's fashion can be traced in either arena and, very often, they will overlap quite stylishly.

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