Professor of History and Coordinator of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program Betül Başaran published an essay on Princess Niloufer in An Eye for Couture: A Collector’s Exploration of 20th Century Fashion, with additional research by Christine Ramphal. Niloufer (1916-1989) was a late Ottoman princess who grew up in exile in France and later moved to Hyderabad, India as a young bride. Başaran’s essay complicates her story by drawing attention to Niloufer's cultural hybridity and her contributions to the advancement of women’s rights in Hyderabad state before India’s partition in 1947, in addition to her exquisite taste in fashion.
In this book, one of the world’s leading art dealers reveals her passion project—collecting French haute couture from the twentieth century and telling the stories of the women who wore them. These garments and accessories come to life through the women who wore them. Princess Niloufer of Hyderabad, known as one of the most beautiful women in the world, was photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vogue in 1939 and used her status to campaign for women’s rights. She is the subject of a specially commissioned essay by Prof. Başaran, after she received a Fulbright Global Scholar Award to research Niloufer’s life in Hyderabad. Christine Ramphal conducted additional research about fashion history to complement the essay.
