Description:
Fashion engravings or plates, so named because they were originally engraved illustrations in magazines, were a major sourse of news about changing styles of dress in the late 18th century and all of the 19th century. More economical to produce and ship than earlier fashion dolls, (known as fashion babies in England and poupees des modes in France), fashion engravings cuold be used by amateur sewers and experienced dressmakers alike to reproduce elements of current fashion. Since the mid-late 17th century, France led the way in the innovation of new styles, which were communicated through the publication of new fashion images. These French modes were then enthusiastically copied by English publications as well as other European countries. Fashion engravings made their way to America, where colonists, and later citizens of the United States, still eagerly sought fashion information from abroad. Taken as a whole, they help document changing tastes in fashion and its consumption in France, England, and the United States. The fashions depicted in this example are described in French, further associating the monthly information with a directness to Paris, the capital of western Fashion. The description reads "le Follet Boulevart St. Martin, 61. Robe de Levantine ornee de dentelles, de Mlle Constance, rue Neuve Vivienne, 57. Manteau en cachemire, de Mme Larcher, r. Vivienne, 8 - Fourrures de Lachnitt, r. Richelieu, 104. Chapeau de Mme Pollet, r. Richelieu, 95 - Gants perfnes de Protte, r. Nue des Petits Champs, 3." The plate is identified as part of an issue of Court Magazine, No. 11, Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn, London.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2016.9.41 |
