A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

Manner of wearing informal mourning.  Vest of white silk embroidered with black, under a black coat of silk or wool.  Stockings of white silk.  Fringed linen. (1781) The Galerie des Modes gave this plate of a mourning outfit and the one reproduced as number 162 on the occasion of the death of Marie-Thérèse of Austria, mother of Marie Antoinette, on the 29th of November 1780.  Regarding this court mourning dress: "There is a book which will teach you when to put on black stones or diamonds, to wear caps of black étamine* or a gauze kerchief.  It will then tell you in what manner one cuts a mourning whose days are irregular.  You will learn in this useful book that one wears black for the larger part of it, and that if the mourning, for example, is for fifteen days, black is worn for eight days and white for the following seven. "In Paris one wears mourning for one's parents, for monarchs, princes and princesses of Europe; mourning is never worn for a friend.

Black polonaise or informal gown that can be worn in Grand mourning.  The muff is of black plumes according to etiquette.  Grey pelisse edged with swansdown. (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1521 .

Yesterday evening, I went on an unusual date to "Expo 1920s", a program put on by undergraduates at the Russell Sage's Women's Studies Center and the Rensselaer County Historical Society.  (Visiting that campus in Troy makes me almost wish I'd gone to a private college!  SO BEAUTIFUL.) I had no idea what to expect, as there were only very short blurbs online giving basic information.  When we came in it was just starting, taking the form of a kind of runway show, with a student talking from the perspective of a woman from the 1920s to introduce objects (dresses on mannequins, hats on stands, a gramophone, a toaster, etc.), which were wheeled down the aisle to the strains of popular period music.  After the show was over, the three students who'd worked on the project sat on the stage with the curator of the RCHS and took questions.  It was an enjoyable way to spend the evening, although I would have liked it if there had been more discussion of the gradua

Grand Court Mourning, full pleureuse and cravat, wool stockings, épée and black buckles, crêpe on the Hat and the épée. (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1520 .  A pleureuse is a strip of white cloth worn on the sleeve to signify mourning.

Full Court mourning, adjusted, with tied Coiffure.  According to etiquette the gown is of Raz de S. Maur, trimmed with Gauze in drapery tied with ribbons on a ground of bouillonné crêpe . (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1519 . According to Louis Harmouth's Dictionary of Textiles (1920):

Duchess occupying one of the first places in the Queen's household.  She is dressed in un habit de Cour on the Grand panier. The front of the Petticoat is trimmed with Gauze, Blonde, and Festoons of flowers attached at intervals with bows of Ribbons, from which hang tassels. (1781) "The court dress or grand habit consists of closed stays, fully boned, and a gown skirt; the stays are covered with the same fabric as the bottom of the gown, the seamstress makes the petticoat, and the marchande des modes adds the pompoms* and trimmings to it. "The day that a lady is presented at court, her stays, the bottom of her gown, and her petticoat must be black, but all the trimmings are in mesh lace: all the forearms, except the top around the point of the shoulder where the black of the sleeve is seen, is surrounded by two manchettes of white lace, one above the other to the elbow; under the manchette on the bottom is placed a black bracelet of pompoms; all around th

Duke and Peer, decorated with Orders of the King, occupying one of the first places at Court.  He is dressed in an embroidered summer suit. (1781) This costume is a suit à la française , in the fashion of the season.  About the "orders of the king", they are: first the order of St. Esprit, consisting of a gold cross with eight points, flaming with green enamel in the middle of and topped en coeur with a silver dove, and is worn on the left side of the suit, at the same time as a wide sky-blue moiré ribbon passes over the right shoulder under the left arm, in the form of a baldric. The second order is that of St. Louis, intended to reward military merit without the distinction of birth.  it consists of a cross with eight points, enameled with white, edged with gold, holding in the middle the image of St. Louis and suspended, for knights, from the buttonhole of the suit by a red ribbon. At the end of the ancien régime , the peerage contained forty-nine members: fiv

The children of M . le Comte d'Artois, to wit, Monseigneur le Duc d'Angoulême, eldest Son, Monseigneur le Duc de Berri and Mademoiselle, accompanied by their Governesses, one of which holds in her arms the Duc de Berri, youngest of the three. (1781) Although it is not necessary to accord a grand iconographic value to this plate, it is interesting to recall what the destiny was of the children whose portraits Le Clerc gave here. The oldest of the boys, the duc d'Angoulême , born in 1775, after having emigrated, was the grand admiral of France, commanded the Spanish expedition of 1823 and just when his father, King Charles X, abdicated in 1830, he renounced himself as dauphin, his rights to the crown.  He took the name of comte de Marne and died in 1844, seven years before his wife, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, daughter of Louis XVI. The smallest, the duc de Berry , born in 1778, also emigrated, returning to France in 1814, married Caroline of Naples, sister of the ki

Madame, only Daughter of the King, on the knees of her Governess. (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1515 .

Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Sister of the Emperor, Queen of France, wearing her royal Dress. (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1513 .

Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, wearing his royal dress, leaning on his Sceptre. (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1511 .  According to the writing at the top of the plate, and to the reprinted Galerie des Modes , this is the first cahier of the third volume, which seems to conflict with the bound second volume at Bunka Gakuen; I don't really know which to go with.  The fact that these are plates of royalty does imply that they're at the beginning of a volume, so there's that.

Circassienne trimmed with Gauze en pouf , the Coiffure un Hérisson girded with a two-colored Ribbon with a Rosette on the left side . (1781) This plate was not in the reprint of Galerie des Modes available from Bunka Gakuen; I found it in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1510 .

  Redingote with three collars , crossed in front, called Lévite Redingote. (1781) The popinjay à l'anglaise. - "It is today a ton among the youth to copy the English in their dress.  The son of a financier, a young man said to be of family [?], the boy merchant wear the long, narrow suit, hat on the head, heavy stockings, puffy cravat, gloves, short and badine hair.  However, none of them have seen England, or heard an English word. "All that is very well, because this costume requires unity and propriety.  But when you come to reason with this self-styled Englishman, at the first word you recognize him as an ignorant Parisian.  He says that he must go to Jamaica, but he does not know where Jamaica is situated; he confuses the East Indies with the continent of America.  He dresses like an inhabitant of the city of London, works the high head, gives himself the airs of a republican, but beware of entering into a serious conversation with him, for you will no

Circassienne with bands of another color, edged with muslin.  The coiffure is a cap à la Créche belted with a double row of ribbon with a bow on top of the Phisionomie. (1780) False hair - You see the head of this beautiful woman, if remarkable for the edifice of her coiffure and her long hanging hair; you admire its color, its form, its shape and elegance ... Ah well! they do not belong to her ... "However, she boasts of her foreign hair.  She exposes herself to receive the injurious principles that they could still conceal.  In effect, one makes use of necklaces and bracelets of braided hair : the experience decided that it was necessary to abandon them because of the sores that they produce. "But women would rather endure inconvenient itches than abandon their coiffures.  They calm the vivacity of these itches by using a grattoir ... "Independently of false hair, there is used in this coiffure an enormous cushion, stuffed with horsehair, and a forest

  Little Master en C henille.  Frock coat of a fashionable color.  Silk vest with a border of silk embroidery in diverse colors, the Buttons of the Frock in fashionable silver.  He is coiffed with a Hat à la Pensilvanie. (1780) "See an elegant man come in.  It is necessary first that his trinkets, by a pretty tinkling, announce his arrival. "His coiffure is still an essential thing.  One knows the name and address of the female and male hairdressers who distinguish themselves with their skill, and a well-coiffed woman doesn't lack for throwing glances of superiority on every ill-dressed head. "Who is that man ? says this woman of character, the most capable of illuminating her era and nation.  And why this disdainful air?  Because his hair is badly curled. "These well-indoctrinated young people only become angry at trifles.  They stamp their feet, they curse, they rant only when their horses are two minutes late; then fury cuts their words. &quo

This figure is dressed in a Lévite fitted à l'Anglaise with little pleats around the waist.  The Coiffure is a coiffure à l'enfance. (1780) "The farthingales of our mothers, their slashed and flounced fabrics, their ridiculous epaulettes, their pregnant minds[?], this multitude of sleeves of which some resembled veritable poultices[?], all have disappeared, except the excessive height of their coiffures: ridicule could not correct this recent custom: but this defect is tempered by taste and grace which reside in the structure of the elegant edifice.  Women, all things considered, are better set-up today than they have ever been: their outfits unite lightness, decency, coolness, and grace.  These gowns of a light fabric renew themselves more often then gowns which shine with gold and silver; they follow, as it were, the nuances of the flowers of various seasons.  They need only the hand of our marchandes de modes to change them with a so prodigious diversity of gau

[The 34th book was apparently coiffures, and was not included in the reprint.] White gown of plain Muslin trimmed with very fine muslin; the Petticoat of striped and flowered Indian muslin lined with colored taffeta which can be seen through [the muslin].  Simple fashionable hat on a coiffure à l'enfance. (1780) "I saw hats in my youth which had very large brims; and when they were turned up, they resembled umbrellas; sometimes they were pulled up, sometimes the brims were reduced by using gances .  They were then given the form of a boat .  Today the round and bare form seems to be dominant; for the hat is a Proteus which takes all the shapes that one wants to give it. "Ask our women who, after so many attempts, have definitively adopted the English hat , despite their antipathy for England; I counsel them to keep them, to ornament them with pearls, diamonds, plumes, cords, ribbons, tassels, buttons, flowers; that the poets in their language should attach stars

Thank you to everyone for commenting on my post about hoop skirts!  There are so very many statements out there, both from the period in a satirical or curmudgeonly vein and from secondary sources that don't take the biases of their primary sources into account.  And unlike other pervasive myths I've looked into or seen other people look into, there aren't many period sources that can be used to discredit it.  You can find a little black dress from before Chanel or an article on the benefits of a brown complexion from 1901 or descriptions of Andalusian fan language in a travelogue , but people did not tend to publish what the actual experience of wearing a hoop skirt was like.  I can research the actual proportions of fashionable and ordinary skirts from period images, but they don't tell me how quickly people tend to get used to the size, how often they generally knock things off tables, if it really is hideously difficult to go through a doorway or down a staircase,

Young Lady in a robe à la Polonaise trimmed with gauze, escorting a child in a matelot with turned up sleeves. (1780) One knows that the industry of women's dress was divided between three principal groups: the staymaker , which we call corsetiers, which make equally court gowns, camisoles , children's jacquettes and fourreaux ; the marchandes de mode who sew and mount caps, trim gowns with ribbons, flounces, etc.; and finally the seamstresses .  The Dictionary of the Abbé Jaubert (1773) thus enumerates these different phases of the making of a gown; the seamstress first cuts the back, composed of two pieces , then the fronts, the petticoat, the sleeves, manchettes , and trims.  Then she assembles them, after having basted the lining, if approp riate, in sewing the fronts to the back, then the sleeves between the backs and fronts, then the manchettes to the sleeves, finally the trim.  Finally she assembles the pieces of the pettic oa t, she edges them on the bottom

You probably all know by now that I love to do research and write (but mostly do research), and lately I've been working on turning that blog post, Fashion vs. Feminism , into an article, with citations and five times as much text and things. You probably also know that I haven't made very many ensembles, and that I haven't experientially explored many different eras (by which I mean my only full outfits that I've worn have been from the eighteenth century).  So I need a little bit of help. When it comes to the cage crinoline/hoop-skirt, there is only so much satires, fashion plates, and photographs can tell me.  There are a lot of accounts out there of the regular use of corsetry, but I don't find many regarding skirt supports.  I'm hoping that some of you ladies can answer a few questions: - Did figuring out how to sit down take a lot of practice, and does it take you much effort to control the hoop when you do? - Do you find that you have much trouble w

 Lévite simple vue par derrière, coeffure negligée ou grand bonnet à la paysanne avec des barbes. Simple lévite seen from the back; negligée coiffure, or large cap à la paysanne with lappets. (1780) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston,  44.1495 .

Polonaise seen from the back, it is of taffeta trimmed with gauze.  Her coiffure is a medium cap with a very simple gauze lappet. (1780) [Note: the text that goes with this plate, and most (if not all) of the rest in this volume, is not original to Galerie des Modes - it has been extracted from another source by the compiler of the full-color version reprinted after the fact.  Others have simply been written by the compiler.] Gown trims are an essential object to a n outfit, but what must without a doubt interest is changing them with ease, whether relatively to the design or becau se it is the part of the gown which suffers the most by usage.  The Demoiselle Saint-Quentin has conceived of making trims which may be basted on the gown: they are of gauze, of a new and agreeable design, and are sold by the ell; they can be over-all a very co nvenient thing for polonaises. - La Feuille sans titre [the Paper Without a Title], 16 June 1777. (100 followers!  Thank you all, lo

Young woman in a robe à la Polonaise with a fashionable large, white mantelet ; she is coiffed with a parasol hat, trimmed with folded blond lace around it, and surmounted by a bouquet of plumes. (1780) Walking tim e has arri ved.  It sufficed, to correct the abandon of the preceding toi lette, to t hrow one of these fashionable white mantelets, whose flared points fall almost to the bottom of the petticoat, over the shoulders , such that one seems as dressed as in an ordinary polonaise.*  This mantelet is simply decorated with a gauze trim. To complete the illusion of a full toilette, on a coiffure of two fashionable curls, one of which is falling very low on the neck, a light parasol [hat] is posed which is surmounted by a bouquet of plumes that surround a flood of bouillonné ribbons; those end in bows which fall behind at the point or edge of the hat, pulled up, uncovering the chignon.  A cord necklace holding a medallion and two tassels at the end, which brush the parfait

Young Miss studying music; she is dressed in a caraco juste à la Polonaise.  Her coiffure is a milkmaid cap. (1780) The first toilette of this young beauty is finished.  Pending the time of her usual morning walk, she goes to assure herself that her voice has lost nothing of its agreeableness and her fingers none of their suppleness.  She hopes also that the new air that she is undertaking to decipher will be soon interrupted by a certain awaited visit.  Also, she has particularly ensured the agreeableness of her négligé dress.  She has thrown over her shoulders one of these rounded caracos which fasten only at the middle of the waist; a wide gauze kerchief trimmed with the same, forming a too audaciously décolletée "gorgerette", always serves decency and coquetry. To this so simple toilette a coiffure without finish is added; a slightly raised coque , supported on the sides with a fashionable curl, very low, and surmounted by a medium cap with rounded lappets, à l