Title: Origin and Early History of the Fashion Plate
Author: Nevinson, John L.
Language: English
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  United States National Museum Bulletin 250
  Contributions from
  The Museum of History and Technology
  Paper 60, Pages 65-92


  ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY
  OF THE FASHION PLATE

  _John L Nevinson_


  Smithsonian Press

  Washington, D.C.

  1967



  [Illustration: Figure 1.--DRESS OF SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN for the
  Polish Embassy in 1517. Over his doublet and breeches he wears a
  brocade gown lined with silk. From _Gratae Posteritati_, 1560.
  (_Courtesy of British Museum, London._)
  {A MAXIMILIANO CAESARE AD SIGISMVNDVM POLONIAE REGEM ET BASILIVM
  MAGNUM MOSCOVIAE PRINCIPEM SIC VESTITVS DESTINATVS SVM.}]



  _John L. Nevinson_


_Origin and Early History Of the Fashion Plate_


_A fashion plate is a costume portrait indicating a suitable style of
clothing that can be made or secured. Fashion illustration began in the
late 15th and early 16th centuries with portrait pictures that made a
person’s identity known not by his individual features but rather by his
dress._

_This paper, based on a lecture given in the fall of 1963 at the
Metropolitan Museum, New York, traces the history of the fashion plate
from its origins to its full development in the 19th century. With the
improvements in transportation and communication, increased attention
came to be paid to foreign fashions, accessories, and even to
hairstyles. As the reading public grew, so fashion consciousness
increased, and magazines, wholly or partly devoted to fashions,
flourished and were widely read in the middle social classes; this
growth of fashion periodicals also is briefly described here._

THE AUTHOR: _John L. Nevinson, retired, was formerly with The Victoria
and Albert Museum, London. He now devotes himself to full-time research
on costumes and their history._



Fashion may be defined as a general style of dress appropriate for a
particular person to wear at a certain time of day, on a special
occasion, or for a specific purpose.

A fashion plate is a costume portrait, that is to say, a portrait not of
an individual but one which shows the sort of clothes that are being
worn or that are likely to be worn. It is a generalized portrait,
indicating the style of clothes that a tailor, dressmaker, or store can
make or supply, or showing how different materials can be made up into
clothes. A fashion plate is related to the wear of its epoch and not to
the history of dress, except insofar as the dress of a historical
personage may be imitated at a later date. A fashion plate is reproduced
mechanically, the woodcuts and engravings of earlier dates being
succeeded by lithographs and finally by the various photographic
processes of our time.

This definition of a fashion plate is broader than the one adopted by
Mr. Vyvyan Holland, who has written the only substantial book on the
subject.[1] Mr. Holland limited his study to hand-colored fashion plates
of the period from 1770 to 1899, possibly because these are most in
favor with collectors. He omitted trade and advertisement plates,
believing them to be primarily concerned with the history of dress.

The main functions of fashionable dress are to draw attention to the
wearer, to define his social position, and to show who he is and what he
is doing. Modesty, protection against the weather, and appeal to the
opposite sex, are, so far as fashion is concerned, subsidiary functions.
Interest in fashionable dress goes back at least to the 16th century, as
is evidenced by a popular dialogue written by Alessandro Piccolomini,
a relative of Pope Pius II, who subsequently became coadjutor Archbishop
of Siena.[2] Piccolomini wrote under the pseudonym “Lo Stordito,” and it
is not clear to what extent the dialogue was sponsored by the Academy of
the _Intronati_, an aristocratic, literary, and social society of which
he was a member. He stated that the requirements of fashionable dress
were that it be sumptuous in material, tasteful in style, and borne
gracefully by the wearer. Unfortunately for the costume historian, the
dialogue is not illustrated.

It has been assumed too readily perhaps that the fashion plate dates
from the late 18th century, but it is not difficult to demonstrate that
it existed in all its essentials at earlier periods, even though its
history may not be continuous. The beginning of the illustration of
fashions is found in portraits, the earliest of which, either sculptured
or painted, developed from images of kings and important personages.[3]
These images, unlike the _imagines_ of the Romans, made no attempt to
portray the features of an individual, but made his identity known
rather by his clothes, his arms, and other indications of rank or
position. The development of the stylized image into the personal
portrait is well illustrated in the diary of Jörg von Ehingen.[4] Von
Ehingen, who traveled widely in Europe during the years preceding 1460,
might be described as a professional jouster, who took part, usually
with great success, in tournaments at the various courts. To illustrate
the account of his exploits, he had portraits drawn and painted of the
different princes and kings, portraying each not with his crown and
scepter but with the distinctive fashion of his court. This diary--not
printed until the 19th century--was circulated in manuscript and shows,
in addition to the interest in personal portraits, the growing interest
in the dress of individuals.

  [Illustration: Figure 2.--DRESS OF SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN for the
  second embassy to Moscow, 1526. He wears a wide-sleeved gown with
  the collar and lining made of fine sables. His fur-lined high cap is
  of white felt, its brim distinguished by a band of red cloth, a mark
  of nobility. From _Gratae Posteritati_, 1560. (_Courtesy of British
  Museum, London._)
  {ALTER A LEGATIONE A FERDINANDO IMPERATORE TVNC ARCHIDVCE MISSVS AD
  MOSCVM, ILLE ME TALI REMISIT VESTE}]

  [Illustration: Figure 3.--DRESS OF SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN for an
  embassy to the Sultan, 1541. The short gown (_Schaube_) of Italian
  brocade figured with black and gold has wide shoulders and padded
  upper sleeves. The collar, lining, and foresleeves are of similar
  fabric but with a dark violet ground for contrast. From _Gratae
  Posteritati_, 1560. (_Courtesy of British Museum, London._)
  {AMBO NOS ORATORES TALI VESTE AD TVRCARVM IMPERATOREM MISSI.}]

Although the earlier painters of the Italian Renaissance recorded the
decorative and often exotic dress of their times, their portraits of
individuals consisted in the main of medallic heads and busts. It was
the German portrait painters who, to a greater extent, recorded and
disseminated the knowledge of fashions. Hans Burgkmair painted himself
on the occasions of his betrothal in 1497 and his marriage in 1498,[5]
and in the 16th century Hans Holbein the younger noted on his drawings
the dress material and colors of the clothes worn by his sitters.[6]
Even a much less distinguished person, Matthäus Schwartz, a clerk
employed by the banking firm of the Fuggers at Augsburg, had a book
prepared showing the clothes he wore at what he considered to be the
most important stages of his career.[7]

The first person to have such pictures printed was Sigmund von
Herberstein, who deserves detailed consideration.[8] In his diplomatic
career, which extended over 30 years, Sigmund von Herberstein served
three Emperors--Maximilian I, Charles V, and Ferdinand I. He was a
student of Russian history and an outstanding linguist, who, having
learned Wendish as a boy, found no difficulty with the Polish and
Russian languages. When, in his old age, he printed his memoirs, he
doubtlessly aimed at giving information on how an ambassador should
conduct himself and to this end included illustrations of what he
actually had worn, which in many copies of the memoirs are carefully
colored by hand.[9] Concerning his journey in 1517 (fig. 1), he states
that “In these robes I was sent on the embassy to Sigismund King of
Poland,” no doubt the fashion for the formal dress of an envoy. On his
first embassy to the Grand Duke of Moscow in 1517 he was presented with
a Russian fur-lined robe, but on his second embassy in 1526, he received
a greater distinction (fig. 2): “Having been sent a second time by the
Emperor Ferdinand then Archduke to Moscow, the Grand Duke bestowed upon
me these robes.” This dress was far more sumptuous than the formal black
velvet gown which he normally wore for embassies to the Spanish and
other courts.

By 1541 there was a change in fashion (fig. 3). Von Herberstein wrote:
“We two orators were sent in this dress to the Turkish Emperor,” and it
was in this dress that von Herberstein, suffering perhaps from
arthritis, complained of having great difficulty in bowing low enough to
kiss the hand of the seated Sultan. The imperial fashion of breeches and
hose might have seemed indelicate to Suleiman “the Magnificant,” who
gave the ambassadors other robes (fig. 4): “The Emperor of the Turks
presented us also with these robes.” The long-gowned costume shown here
should have been completed by a turban, but von Herberstein evidently
would not allow himself to be depicted in this.

  [Illustration: Figure 4.--SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN IN ROBES presented
  to ambassadors by the Sultan, 1541. The Turkish gown of yellow silk
  figured with black, with some of the medallions outlined in blue,
  has long sleeves that hide the hands. The inner robe is of red silk
  figured with yellow and gathered with a blue sash. From _Gratae
  Posteritati_, 1560. (_Courtesy of British Museum, London_.)
  {TVRCARVM IMPERATOR NOS QVOQVE VESTIBVS DONAVIT.}]

Von Herberstein seems to have kept his robes in his palace in Vienna,
along with his collection of Russian and oriental weapons, illustrated
in his history of Russia:[10] these, and stuffed specimens of Aurochs,
then almost extinct, and European bison, formed the first museum of
costume and natural history on record.

With the development of ceremonial, some of the princely courts of
Germany had illustrations prepared of what should be worn by the
officials of different grades (fig. 5). Several copies of each of these
_Hofkleiderbücher_--books giving rules or standards for correct court
dress--were no doubt issued, but none seems to have been printed for the
general information of the public. The first printed book on tailoring,
by Juan de Alcega, was published in 1588 and includes diagrams showing
how to cut ceremonial robes from the roll of cloth,[11] but there are no
illustrations of what the completed garments should look like.

The history of fashion plates, therefore, is to be followed in less
specialized works. In the 16th century, with the improvement of
communications and the continuation of voyages of discovery, great
interest developed in the costume and way of life of other nations. It
is in this connection that the word “fashion” was first used in its
modern sense. In an address to King Henry VIII, a petitioner in 1529,
deploring the sinfulness of the people of England, wrote:[12]

  The pryncypall cause [of sin] is their costly apparell and specially
  their manyfolde and divers changes of fasshyons which the men and
  specially the women must weare uppon both hedde and bodye: sometyme
  cappe, sometyme hoode, now the French fasshyon now the Spanyshe
  fasshyon and then the Italyan fasshyon and the Myllen [Milan]
  fasshyon, so that there is noo ende of consuminge of
  substance . . . .

  [Illustration: Figure 5.--LEAF FROM A BOOK of court costumes showing
  back and front view of a gentleman’s dress. German, second half of
  the 16th century. (_Courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam._)]

Foreign fashions were being imitated by English ladies. Inventories[13]
in the Public Record Office in London show that the English queens had
robes cut in Spanish, Milanese, or French styles. As for men, it was
said that they could not make up their minds what to wear, and a popular
caricature shows an Englishman standing naked with a roll of cloth under
his arm and a pair of tailor’s shears in his hand, saying:[14]

  I am an English man, and naked I stand here,
  Musyng in my mynde what raiment I shal were,
  For now I wyll were thys, and now I wyll were that;
  Now I wyll were I cannot tel what.

London, however, was not a fashion center, and the first book on the
fashions of nations was printed in Paris in 1562.[15] In his
introduction to the book François Deserpz moralized:[16]

  . . . noz vieux predecesseurs . . . ont esté plus curieux de
  sumptueuse vesture que de rare vertu . . . car tout ainsi qu’on
  cognoist le Moyne au froc, le Fol au chaperon, & le Soldat aux
  armes, ainsi se cognoist l’homme sage à l’habit non excessif.

    [Footnote 16: Translated, this reads: “. . . our predecessors of
    old . . . were more careful about sumptuous dress than rare virtue
    . . . for as the monk was recognized by his frock, the jester by
    his cap, and the soldier by his arms, so the wise man was known by
    his moderate habit.”]

  [Illustration: Figure 6.--PORTRAIT of an English lady. From _Recueil
  de la diversité des habits_, 1567 ed. (_Courtesy of Victoria &
  Albert Museum, London._) {caption at end}]

Acknowledgments were made to the late Captain Roberval and to an unnamed
Portuguese, but it is not known which of them contributed the portrait
of the English lady (fig. 6). Although she is said to be distinguishable
by her square bonnet, it is hard to find the style paralleled in any
other picture. The huge slashes on the bodice of her gown surely are
exaggerated, as is the smallness of the muff which hangs by a cord from
her waist. On the other hand, Joris Hoefnagel copied and used the
portrait as one of a group of citizens standing in the foreground of
Hogenberg’s 1574 plan of London,[17] so the figure must have been
regarded as approximately accurate.

  [Illustration: Figure 7.--DRESS OF A FRENCH WOMAN (front view) with
  a tight-sleeved bodice through the cuts of which the lining is drawn
  out in puffs. From _Omnium gentium habitus_ . . . , 1563 ed.
  (_Courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum, London._)]

Much more convincing as evidence of fashions are the etchings by Aeneas
Vico that appear in Bertelli’s book on the costumes of the peoples,
published in Venice in 1563.[18] The French woman shown in figure 7
clearly illustrates a fashion which is familiar enough in portraits. Of
particular interest is the back view (fig. 8) showing her petticoat.
This type of petticoat was popular in Spain in the late 15th
century,[19] but was not adopted in France, Italy, and England until the
second half of the 16th century.

  [Illustration: Figure 8.--DRESS OF A FRENCH WOMAN (back view)
  showing the manner in which the bodice was laced and the hood fell
  at the back. The skirt is raised, revealing the farthingale
  petticoat with the roll at its hem which contained cane stiffening
  (_verdugo_). From _Omnium gentium habitus_ . . . , 1563 ed.
  (_Courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum, London._)]

  [Illustration: Figure 9.--DRESS OF A NOBLEWOMAN of Mantua. From
  Vecellio, _De gli habiti antichi e moderni_, 1590. (_Courtesy of
  Victoria & Albert Museum, London._)
  {DONZELLA NOBILE ORNATA.}]

The next development in the history of the fashion plate is found in the
costume books by Cesare Vecellio, published in Venice in 1590 and
1598.[20] Vecellio, a member of the same family as Titian, showed the
costume of the different ranks of society in the various Italian cities
and states, in the other countries of Europe, and indeed in the known
world; he also depicted a number of antique and old-fashioned dresses.
Unfortunately, the illustrations (fig. 9) by Christoph Krieger, whose
name was Italianized as Guerra, are not as good as Vico’s, and Krieger
died before the series was complete. But Vecellio took great pains to
secure accurate and up-to-date information about fashions, and he
received letters and drawings from his friends in various cities of
Italy. Master Erasmo Falte of Parma sent him particulars of the dress of
the Duchess of Parma, together with a sketch by a good local painter,
which Vecellio describes and adds:[21]

  Sotto costumano il verducato, overo faldiglia, qual tien con arte la
  sottana larga à modo di campana, che torna molto commodo al
  caminare, ò danzare: & hora si costumano per tutta l’Italia questa
  sopra detta faldiglia.

    [Footnote 21: Translated, this reads: “Underneath, the habit of
    the ladies [who imitate the Duchess] is to wear the farthingale or
    pleated frock, which skillfully holds the petticoat out wide like
    a bell. This fashion is extremely convenient for walking or
    dancing, and nowadays, ladies throughout all Italy wear this
    pleated frock mentioned above.” (1590 ed., folio 187.a.)]

Thus, the bell-shaped farthingale (fig. 8) had by 1590 become the
general wear of the upper classes in Italy, as it was already in Spain,
France, and England.

Of even greater interest is the evidence of Vecellio’s relations with a
fashion house in Venice. In his general account of the housedresses of
the noble ladies of his time, he mentions the rich modern materials and
especially silk brocades of four and even of six colors, admirably
woven:[22]

  Di queste opere si belle è stato in Venetia auttore M. Bartholomeo
  Bontempele dal Calice, il quale alle volte con le mostre, ch’ egli
  fa di questi drappi de’ quali lui è stato inventore, mostra la
  grandezza dell’ingegno suo, la quale è accompagnata da una
  incomparabile liberalità, e bontà, per ilche è molto amato dalla
  nobiltà Venetiana, & da molti Principi d’Italia & in specie dal
  Serenissimo Duca di Mantova. Nella sua buttiga dove molti Signori e
  Principi mandano a fornirsi, & fino al serraglio del Gran Turco, si
  veggono broccati à opera di tutte le sorte d’oro e di argento.

    [Footnote 22: Translated, this reads: “The originator of these
    beautiful fabrics in Venice is Master Bartholomew Bontempele at
    the sign of the ‘Chalice.’ From time to time at exhibitions he
    makes of these materials he has created, he shows the greatness of
    his intellect, which is accompanied by an incomparable generosity
    and kindness for which he is greatly loved by the Venetian
    nobility, by many princes of Italy, and in particular by his
    Serene Highness the Duke of Mantua. In his store, to which many
    gentlemen and princes send orders, even the Seraglio of the Grand
    Turk, are to be seen brocades worked in all manners of gold and
    silver.” (1590 ed., folio 139.)]

It may seem strange that within 20 years of the Battle of Lepanto (1571)
Venetian fabrics were exported from Bontempele’s sign of “The Chalice”
to Constantinople to compete with the noted velvets of Brusa. After
describing the clothes of the best dressed merchants, Vecellio does not
hesitate to mention his friends Master Paolo, spice merchant and vendor
of the celebrated _Theriakon_ (known in England as Venice treacle), of
the sign of “The Ostrich,” and Bernadino Pillotto, seller of pictures
and other ornaments.

  [Illustration: Figure 10.--FASHION PLATE depicting fanciful hair
  style of a lady from Ferrara, by Christoph Krieger. From _Varie
  acconciature di teste_, ca. 1590. (_Courtesy of Victoria & Albert
  Museum, London._)
  {FERARESE / AVDACE}]

At this time there were also woodcuts illustrating hairstyles. The exact
date of Christoph Krieger’s _Varie Acconciature di Teste_ (fig. 10) is
not known. While Vecellio had remarked that the Venetian ladies were
imitating the goddess Diana and surmounting their tresses with two
little curls like horns, Krieger made illustrations that were even more
fanciful. Each lady bears the name of a city and a distinguishing
quality or temperament, but there is no more reason to connect the
styles with local fashions than to believe that the ladies of Ferrara
were bold or those of Todi capricious.

  [Illustration: Figure 11.--COURTIER FOLLOWING THE EDICT of 1633. He
  has laid aside his lace collar and fine clothes. By Abraham Bosse,
  1633. (_Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston._)
  {Le Courtisan suiuant L’Edict de l’annee 1633}
  {additional caption at end}]

  [Illustration: Figure 12.--LA GALERIE DU PALAIS. The fashionable
  crowd throngs the milliners’ counters in the Palais Royal. By
  Abraham Bosse, 1636. (_Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston._)
  {caption at end}]

Indeed, this series would not be considered in connection with fashion
plates were it not for a conversation in Ben Jonson’s _Cynthia’s
Revels_, first acted in 1600 by the Children of the Queen’s Chapel.
Philautia addresses her friend Phantaste (Act 2, scene 1):

  Philautia: . . . What, have you changed your head-tire?

  Phantaste: Yes, faith, the other was near the common, it had no
  extraordinary grace; besides, I had worn it almost a day, in good
  troth.

  Philautia: I’ll be sworn, this is most excellent for the device, and
  rare; ’tis after the Italian print we looked on t’other night.

This certainly suggests that one of the little eyases, perhaps even
Nathaniel Field or Salathiel Pavy, was wearing a fantastic wig designed
after one of the Krieger woodcuts.

In the early 17th century there was nothing published in northern Europe
that was closely related to the fashion trade. There are engravings of
costume figures such as the _Sieben Edelleute verschiedener Nation_ by
Willem Buytewech (Amsterdam, ca. 1614), which are charmingly drawn but,
as to costume, idealized and exaggerated.[23] The same criticism applies
to the later series by J. de St. Igny, especially in _Le Jardin de la
Noblesse_, and to Jacques Callot’s _La Noblesse_,[24] which depict
military and court dress with less caricature than most of this master’s
work. Among the engravings of Abraham Bosse, there is a series (fig. 11)
relating to the sumptuary law of 1633 by which Louis XIII, at the
instigation of Cardinal Richelieu, tried to curb the extravagance and
simplify the dress of the ladies and gentlemen of his court. This series
is worth mentioning as a record of the dress at this period, but neither
these engravings nor the better known “Galerie du Palais” (fig. 12) are,
strictly speaking, fashion plates which provide information for
dressmakers or wearers of clothes.[25]

In England, the engravings were of a rather different style. Dutch
prints of allegorical subjects were in vogue, and there are innumerable
sets of prints of the seven Ages of mankind, the five senses, the four
seasons, the continents, and the liberal arts, typified by real and
imaginary figures in all styles of dress. Jean Barrà’s figure “Seeing”
(fig. 13), with her looking glass and perspective glass, accompanied by
the farsighted eagle, is illustrated here mainly because of its
explanatory quatrain mentioning fashions.[26]

Not until the early 1640s can reliable engravings of English fashions be
found. Most of Wenceslas Hollar’s 1639 series, “Ornatus Muliebris
Anglicanus, or, the severall habits of English women from the Nobilitie
to the Country woman, as they are in these times,” is slightly suspect
as being imaginary or at best idealized, though the lady in waiting
(Hollar’s no. 23) and the country woman (Hollar’s no. 26) walking on her
iron-ring pattens may be portraits. Hollar’s “Theatrum Mulierum or Aula
Veneris” of 1644 has a much stronger claim to represent the fashions of
London, although some of the European women may be in the traditional
clothes of their cities and states. The full-length female figures of
the seasons are really costume portraits set against London
backgrounds[27] (fig. 14), and, although charming in themselves, they
are not true fashion plates, while those of the series of women’s heads
in circles, which are not copied from other work, are simply
portraits[28] of ladies whom Hollar actually knew in London.
Notwithstanding his engravings of muffs,[29] it is most unlikely that
Hollar had any connection with either a fashion house or a milliner’s
shop in London.

  [Illustration: Figure 13.--SEEING, from a set of the _Five Senses_.
  Engraving by Jean Barrà, ca. 1625. (_Courtesy of National Portrait
  Gallery, London._) {caption at end}]

During the Commonwealth period (1648-60) Hollar’s work depicting
costumes faded out, but the diarist John Evelyn was writing a little
book, _Tyrannus, or the Mode_, which was published in 1661.[30] In it he
mentions a French woman in London during the troubles, whose customers
tormented her with inquiries about French fashions to such an extent
that she used to devise “new Fancies out of her own Head, which were
never worn in France.” Most likely she did not distribute fashion plates
but displayed actual garments or miniature models, perhaps mounted as
dolls (“babies”), as examples of new fashions.

  [Illustration: Figure 14.--WINTER. The lady wears a hood and mask,
  together with furs. She is walking in Cornhill, London. Engraving by
  Wencelas Hollar, 1643 (Parthey no. 609). (_Courtesy of British
  Museum, London._) {caption at end}]

In the _Tyrannus_, Evelyn not only touched on the history and psychology
of fashion but also went as far as to recommend a reformed dress for
men, including the Persian vest and sash which was to be reflected to a
certain extent in the fashions of the mid-1660s. Since he did not
illustrate his theory, there has always been some dispute as to what the
Persian dress actually was,[31] but in any case the fashion did not
last. On the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II, returning
to England from Holland, retained Dutch fashions for a while (fig. 15).
But, by 1670, English men’s dress approximated the French in style,
although not in sumptuosity.

In the second half of the 17th century the attention of Europe was
focused on the court of Louis XIV and the French style of dress,
especially for men, predominated. In particular, the coat
(_justaucorps_), which evolved from the cassock, an outer garment, began
to be worn regularly over the doublet, which by this time was already
much reduced in size yet destined to survive as the waistcoat (_veste_).
This fashion spread fairly rapidly through Europe--in England, as has
been mentioned, it was dominant by 1670--but it is not clear how. The
position of France, however, was stated in a fashion article in the
_Mercure Galant_ in 1673 (vol. 3):[32]

  . . . rien ne plait davantage que les Modes nées en France . . . .
  C’est pourquoi dans toutes les Provinces du Monde on fait venir de
  France quantité de choses qui regardent l’habillement encor qu’on ne
  s’habille pas tout-a-fait à la Françoise . . . .

    [Footnote 32: Translated, this reads: “. . . nothing is more
    pleasing than the styles born in France . . . . This is why much
    relating to dress is imported from France into all the provinces
    of the world, though the final dress is not exactly French.”]

  [Illustration: Figure 15.--MAN in petticoat breeches (Rhinegraves).
  This illustration is not a fashion plate but an engraving that was
  often reprinted in pattern books used by teachers and students of
  figure drawing. From a drawing book by S. le Clerc, ca. 1665.
  (Author’s collection.)]

  [Illustration: Figure 16.--COURTIER IN FULL DRESS for the winter
  1677-78 wearing a flame-colored embroidered cloth cloak over a gray
  silk coat and matching waistcoat. This costume is almost as grand as
  the blue privilege “_justaucorps à brevet_” which, after 1665, was
  occasionally granted to others than princes of royal blood. Issued
  with the _Mercure Galant_, 1678. (Author’s collection.)
  {caption at end}]

  [Illustration: Figure 17.--LADY FITTED OUT for the winter of 1677-78
  wears a dress of black velvet with diamond knots and an
  ermine-bordered skirt. She carries a colored muff. Issued with the
  _Mercure Galant_, 1678. (Author’s collection.) {caption at end}]

The _Mercure Galant_, strangely neglected by costume historians,
occupies a most important place in the history of fashion literature,
since it is the first and for almost a century the only periodical to
contain regular articles on contemporary fashion. The person responsible
for editing and indeed for writing these articles was Jean Donneau de
Visé (1640-1710), an unsuccessful dramatist, rival of Molière, whom he
sarcastically attacked several times in print. The story of his
journalistic venture is not at all easy to unravel,[33] since the
octavo publications (“Chez Claude Barbin, au Palais”) were pirated
almost immediately, and impressions--all that I have seen are
duodecimos--appeared in Paris and Amsterdam (“Suivant la Copie imprimée
à Paris”). A single number of an English translation, the _Mercury
Gallant_, is in the British Museum.

  [Illustration: Figure 18.--OUTDOOR WINTER DRESS for men is strongly
  influenced by military fashions. An enormous fringed baldrick, tied
  by a military scarf, supports the diminutive dress sword. Wigs and
  hats were comparatively small for the winter 1677-78. Issued with
  the _Mercure Galant_, 1678. (Author’s collection.) {caption at end}]

The _Mercure Galant_ was published sporadically from 1672 through 1674,
with six numbers in all. In 1677, it obtained a privilege and, with a
dedication to the Dauphin, took a new lease on life under the title _Le
nouveau Mercure Galant_. Thereafter, it flourished for some years; the
January-March number for 1677 was followed by monthly parts, and on May
15, 1678, the first supplementary (_Extraordinaire_) number was
published, containing an article on fashions illustrated with fashion
plates.[34] The magazine was addressed to the ladies, and, in addition
to a modicum of news and war reports, it contained gossip, poetry,
riddles, songs with their music, and correspondence with readers, some
no doubt fictitious. It deserves full credit for being the first
modern-style magazine.

  [Illustration: Figure 19.--LADY IN INFORMAL winter attire walks to
  her coach wearing a flowered gold-brocaded gown which has been
  caught back to show her embroidered petticoat bordered with ermine.
  She wears a black coif so that her hair will not be disarranged.
  Issued with the _Mercure Galant_, 1678. (Author’s collection.)
  {caption at end}]

  [Illustration: Figure 20.--INTERIOR OF A PARISIAN MILLINER’S SHOP.
  On display are accessories to men’s fashionable costume--breeches,
  scarves, gloves, and wigs. Detail from an engraving by J. Lepautre
  after J. Bérain. Reengraved from a small print in the
  _Extraordinaire_ issue of the _Mercure Galant_, March 1678.
  (Author’s collection.)]

The fashions for the winter 1677-78 (figs. 16-19) may be followed in the
pages of the _Mercure Galant_, but, since these four fashion plates were
also distributed separately, their connection with it has often been
overlooked. The same is true of the large engraving of the interior of a
milliner’s shop (fig. 20), the items in which were numbered and
described in the text of the _Mercure Galant_. Donneau de Visé depended
on trade support and took the opportunity to mention names wherever he
could. The new fabrics displayed below the shelves are distinguished by
letters; the one on the right (letter M), for example, is an Italian
yellow satin brocaded with white and violet. Other small figured
fabrics, he wrote, might be obtained away from the Palais “chez le Sieur
Baroy, au Cloître Saint Opportune,” and ribbons might be found from
Sieur le Gras in the Palais itself. The editor de Visé gives thanks to
M. Bérain (1637-1711), designateur ordinaire du Cabinet du Roy, and to
M. Lepautre (1618-82) for engraving the plates.

  [Illustration: Figure 21.--SUMMER DRESS of a gentleman. He wears a
  linen waistcoat garnished with lace, and a long wig (cf. fig. 18).
  From the _Extraordinaire_ of the _Mercure Galant_, June 1678.
  (Author’s collection.) {caption at end}]

The summer fashions for 1678 were illustrated in the next
_Extraordinaire_ number published on July 20 and represented by a
gentleman (fig. 21) and his lady (fig. 22). Details of these plates are
poor, and, although they are taken from the Dutch edition, the original
designer and engraver must have been far less competent than either
Bérain or Lepautre.

  [Illustration: Figure 22.--SUMMER DRESS of a lady with a pleated
  lace (_Point d’Angleterre_) petticoat. From the _Extraordinaire_ of
  the _Mercure Galant_, June 1678. (Author’s collection.)
  {caption at end}]

The winter fashions for 1678-79 were described in a long article in the
ordinary October number of the _Mercure Galant_, which, for the costume
historian, is of great importance, since it deals among other topics
with the evasion of the sumptuary legislation by the fashionable world.
The fashion plates are by a new artist and are reduced to two (figs. 23
and 24).

  [Illustration: Figure 23.--GENTLEMAN in winter attire supposedly
  just returned from the army. He ordered his gray cloth suit from
  Sieur Gaultier, whose shop, “A la Couronne,” was located in the Rue
  des Bourdonnais. From the _Mercure Galant_, October 1678. (Author’s
  collection.)
  {Habit d’Hyver 1678}]

From this point the _Mercure Galant_ ceased to publish a regular series
of fashion plates. Occasional articles on fashion appeared through the
rest of the 1680s and into the next decade, but they are shorter and
less informative. Donneau de Vizé’s adventure into fashion journalism
evidently had failed, probably because of a lack of demand for it.
Fashions both in clothes and in fabrics did not change very rapidly, and
general fashion information was supplied by two other sources: first, by
the annual almanacs, which were often embellished by a large engraving
of some important political event, and secondly, by the print shops in
the Rue St. Jacques and elsewhere, which commissioned not only Lepautre,
who had worked for the _Mercure Galant_, but the Bonnarts, Jean de St.
Jean, Arnoult, and other competent artists to produce large engravings
of contemporary personalities. These for the most part depicted members
of the French royal family and court circle, actors and actresses, and
other well-known characters, not always named on the print. A “Man of
Quality” (fig. 25) is almost certainly a portrait, which, when suitably
colored as many of the prints were, could be pinned up or framed for
decorative effect. It is wrong to take such a print, as some writers on
costume have done, for a fashion plate recording what was worn or likely
to be worn in the year in which it was engraved.

  [Illustration: Figure 24.--LADY in winter dress of brown Florentine
  satin. Her petticoat is of off-white (_d’un blanc un peu sale_)
  satin brocaded with blue, violet, red, and brown designs. From the
  _Mercure Galant_, October 1678. (Author’s collection.)
  {Habit d’Hyver 1678}]

The decorative character of these distinguished prints was often
enhanced by “dressing” or overlaying them with small pieces of fabric,
lace, or paper.[35] The finest series of such prints is that in the
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City. In figure 26, the outlines of
the engraving were carefully cut with a knife, and selected pieces of
small-pattern fabrics were mounted on stiff paper forming an underlay to
the print.

  [Illustration: Figure 25.--MAN OF QUALITY at the court of Louis XIV.
  Engraving by Jean de St. Jean, 1693. (COURTESY OF VICTORIA & ALBERT
  MUSEUM, LONDON.)]

In England, there was no fashion journalism or series of prints that can
be regarded as illustrations of late 17th-century fashion. Some use can
be made of the engravings after Marcellus Laroon, which were first sold
separately and later published in 1711 as the _Cryes of London_,[36] to
illustrate costume in England, but neither these nor the illustrations
of English men and women which appear in general works on the costume of
Europe can be accepted as fashion plates. Other series, such as the
plates on the dress of Augsburg engraved by Jeremias Wolff, belong more
to the history of costume than to the history of fashion.

In the early years of the 18th century, Bernard Picard, best known for
his great illustrated work on the religions of the world, made a few
small and very neat engravings of fashionable ladies, which were
published in Amsterdam in the 1720s. These engravings, some dated 1703,
should not be classed as fashion plates; like the Le Clerc engraving of
the man in rhinegrave breeches (fig. 15), they are from drawing books.
Some of them, part reengraved by G. Bickham, Jr., were reissued in
London after 1732.[37]

In Paris there was a revival of the fashion plate in the late 1720s. The
still-existing _Mercure de France_, direct successor of the _Mercure
Galant_, carried an occasional fashion article with engravings of dress
accessories. In March 1729 (fig. 27), there is a not-very-well-defined
sketch of a lady with her page, meeting a gentleman. The accompanying
paragraphs are not valuable but contain a recommendation for
“garnitures” to be had from La Demoiselle Perronet, in the Cour Abbatial
of St. Germain des Pres. As for “coeffures et têtes . . . on les coeffe
sur une poupée.”

In the same year, 1729, a set of eight fashion plates entitled _Recueil
des Differentes Modes du Temps_ was issued by Herisset apparently to
advertise a modiste called Chéreau at the “Grand St. Remy” in the Rue
St. Jacques. They are carefully drawn and show back and front views as
well as indicating materials (fig. 28). No accompanying text has been
found, but as they are known in two versions, one said to have been
printed in Germany, it is likely that some descriptions were prepared
for the export market.[38]

The French engravers working in England--Gravelot, Grignon, and
Boitard--produced some dated portraits of English ladies which can be
used as fashion illustrations. The caricature scenes, “Taste à la Mode,
1735” and “Taste à la Mode, 1745,” published by Robert Sayer in
1749,[39] also may serve as records of fashion. There was, however, no
journal of fashion in England before the reign of George III. Indeed,
there seems to have been no publication or series of prints to give
guidance to the fashion trade in Europe in the mid-18th century.

  [Illustration: Figure 26.--DRESSED PRINT, ca. 1695. The engraving of
  Madame la Duchesse d’Aumont is embellished with small pieces of
  velvet, figured silk, and lace. (_Courtesy of The Pierpont Morgan
  Library._)]

  [Illustration: Figure 27.--FASHION PLATE depicting a lady with her
  page being saluted by a gentleman. From the _Mercure de France_,
  March 1729. (_Courtesy of British Museum, London._)]

  [Illustration: Figure 28.--FASHION PLATE, the first of the series
  _Recueil des differentes Modes du Temps_. The fabric of the dress on
  the right is a moiré or watered silk, on the left a “lace-pattern”
  brocade, often wrongly ascribed to the period of Louis XIII
  (1610-43). Issued by Herisset, ca. 1730. (Author’s collection.)]

Technical information together with some fashion plates was available in
the 1760s in various volumes of the French _Encyclopédie_. M. de
Garsault wrote the section on the art of the tailor (1769) as well as
sections on wigs and wigmaking. The engravings by Jean Le Gros (fig. 29)
were of practical use to hairdressers; a similar book of hairstyle by
James Stewart was published in England.[40]

The single-sheet almanac decorated with engravings of contemporary
events continued to be published in France in the 18th century,[41] but
pictures in the English university almanacs were mainly topographical or
historical. The next development was the issue of annual memorandum
books or pocket diaries, which sometimes had a fashion plate as a
frontispiece. For example, the _Ladies Museum or Pocket Memorandum
Book_, 1774, contained an engraving of a “Lady in the most fashionable
dress of the year 1773.” This appeared not very long after the first
production of Oliver Goldsmith’s comedy _She Stoops to Conquer_, which
contains the following dialogue (Act 2):

  Mrs. Hardcastle: Pray, how do you like this head, Mr. Hastings?

  Mr. Hastings: Extremely elegant and degagée, upon my word, Madam.
  Your friseur is a Frenchman, I suppose?

  Mrs. Hardcastle: I protest, I dressed it from a print in the ladies
  memorandum-book for the last year.

_She Stoops to Conquer_ was written in 1772-73, and, although a
memorandum book published at this date and containing fashion plates of
headdresses has not been traced, it is very likely that one existed.

But before this, in 1770, _The Lady’s Magazine or Entertaining Companion
for the Fair Sex_ had begun its long career which lasted until 1837.
Figure 30 shows a typical fashion plate for 1774. A lady in full court
dress is talking to another in visiting dress; behind, a third in full
dress but without side hoops talks to a friend in traveling dress with a
calash hood; in the background a lady in riding dress looks out of the
window. Artistically such a fashion plate is of no great distinction,
but it served a purpose--to give information about current
fashions--very much better than the more spectacularly illustrated
productions such as Heideloff’s _Gallery of Fashion_.

The 18th-century reading public became increasingly fashion conscious,
and there are several series of French colored prints, the finest of
them by Moreau le Jeune from 1775 onward, which have high artistic merit
and have been sought continuously by collectors. Their purpose, however,
was explicitly “pour servir à l’histoire des Modes et du Costume des
Français dans le XVIIIme siècle.” The prints are strongly romanticized
and must be regarded as a record of something between historical and
fancy dress. The accompanying text names but only briefly describes the
dresses and then passes on to facetious moralizing.

  [Illustration: Figure 29.--ENGRAVING BY JEAN LE GROS depicting
  French hair style, ca. 1760. From _L’Art de la Coiffure_. (_Courtesy
  of Victoria & Albert Museum, London._)]

In the same way in London in 1794, Nicolaus Heideloff, whose _Gallery of
Fashion_ was an imitation of one of the French series by Esnaut and
Rapilly entitled _La Gallerie des Modes_, though claiming that the
dresses he described were real ones, seems to have had as an objective
the formation of a sort of picture gallery of costume portraits of
English ladies. Heideloff called it a Repository, which is what we would
call an archive today, but the term came to be used by Rudolph Ackermann
for his general magazine, _The Repository of the Arts_ . . . , published
between 1809 and 1828 (see p. 89). The ladies in Heideloff’s aquatints
are all different in the sense that they are dressed differently and
doing different things, but the variations are mostly fanciful
(fig. 31). In fact, the Heideloff prints served to fill picture books or
to be pinned up or framed on walls; they do not differ greatly in their
approach from the series of the Bonnarts and their contemporaries during
the reign of Louis XIV.

  [Illustration: Figure 30.--PLATE SHOWING fashionable dress at
  Weymouth. From _The Lady’s Magazine_, 1774. (_Courtesy of Victoria &
  Albert Museum, London._)]

  [Illustration: Figure 31.--PRINT OF A LADY in a court dress
  ballooned out by side hoops, by N. Heideloff. The print does not
  attribute this fashion to any specific year. From the _Gallery of
  Fashion_, 1798. (_Courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum, London._)]

It is not proposed to give an account here of the various magazines in
the different countries which contained illustrated articles on fashion
from 1770 onward, since this would merely repeat material in Mr. Vyvyan
Holland’s book. Mention should be made, however, of the movements for
dress reform motivated either by economic considerations or national
feeling. Pamphlets and articles on these subjects were usually without
illustrations, except when concerned with the revival or creation of a
national costume.[42] Sweden was the only country where, thanks to the
enthusiasm of King Gustavus III, the wearing of national dress was more
than an archaizing affectation. Dr. Eva Bergman[43] has described the
origins of this Swedish national dress in a book that is fully
documented with tailors’ patterns and illustrations. As all details were
prescribed by court regulations and very little scope was left for the
impulses and personal choice of the wearers, the dress may be regarded
to a great extent as a uniform rather than a fashion. Modifications did
take place, however, and the style continued into the 19th century. As
late as 1827, a pamphlet was published in Copenhagen on the same
subject.[44]

  [Illustration: Figure 32.--FRONT AND BACK VIEW of a walking dress
  showing that embroidered muslin was worn even in winter. Here, the
  muslin is accompanied by a red sarcenet Highland spencer and a
  matching scarf lined with ermine. From _La Belle Assemblée_,
  December 1808. (_Courtesy of The Cooper Union Museum._)]

  [Illustration: Figure 33.--WALKING DRESS OF GRAY MERINO. Plate 38,
  Ackermann’s _Repository of the Arts_, 1819. (_Courtesy of The Cooper
  Union Museum._)]

With these dress-reform books must also be included the books on French
Revolution fashions, of which that by Grasset de Saint-Sauveur is the
best known.[45] When reading the descriptions of dress of the various
officials, grades, and classes, one wonders whether such clothes were
actually worn except on state occasions, or whether they were fanciful
novelties which the French officials in their reaction against Louis XVI
and his court thought would be appropriate for the new regime. The
intention of this book, however, undoubtedly was serious and quite
unlike the caricature fashion plates often titled “Merveilleuse” or
“Incroyable,” which amused everyone in the early years of the 19th
century.

  [Illustration: Figure 34.--PHILADELPHIA FASHIONS. At this date caps
  or hats were worn indoors with full evening dress. The details of
  this print were probably copied from a French or English fashion
  magazine. From _Godey’s Lady’s Book_, October 1833. (_Courtesy of
  The Cooper Union Museum._)]

After 1800 many types of magazines flourished, and the increase in the
number of lending and subscription libraries and also of public
libraries fostered a new reading public. The magazines had illustrated
fashion articles. Often the engravings, and later the lithographs,
colored by hand, were their most attractive feature. Not that any great
originality was shown; the latest Paris fashions were often adapted,
with or without acknowledgment from French fashion plates of the
previous season. Men’s and children’s fashions were not adapted on
nearly the same scale. Possibly, men’s fashions were more static, or
confined to details such as variations in tying the cravat.[46]

Three magazines are worth special mention. _La Belle Assemblée, or
Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine_ “addressed particularly to the
ladies” was published in London from 1806 to 1868 (fig. 32). During the
1820s the plates were of less merit, but there was a later improvement.
In 1809, the London print firm of Ackermann began to publish _The
Repository of Arts, Letters, Commerce_ and _Manufactures Fashion and
Politics_. This magazine had a much wider scope, and its illustrations
are of good quality (fig. 33). A special feature was the inclusion of
small sample squares of new materials pasted into the text which named
and described them. This feature usefully supplements industrial records
of the period, which are hard to come by and difficult to handle in that
those preserved are usually bulky, not too well dated, and show no
distinction between fabrics made for export and those for the home
market. Thirdly, from 1830 to 1898, _Godey’s Lady’s Book_ was published
in Philadelphia, under titles which varied from time to time (fig. 34).
This magazine is much more famous for its other contents than for its
fashion articles; its plates, often copied from French engravings, are
of low quality and rather crudely colored.

The number, variation, and wide distribution of 19th-century fashion
plates has proved something of a handicap to the historian in search of
reliable information about dress. Mr. Holland has studied them from the
artistic angle, tracing many of the French artists, who did not scorn
fashion work. The relation of fashion plates to Victorian dresses as
worn has been touched on by many costume writers,[47] but the relation
of the fashion plate to the fashion house has yet to be studied; in
particular, the large sheets put out by wholesale drapers and textile
manufacturers and the advertisements of ready-made clothing that appear
in magazines all through the 19th century have not yet been studied to
full advantage.

This account of the fashion plate is necessarily incomplete, because its
history and development has not been continuous, and new links may yet
be found. The earlier period has been treated in greater detail because
it is generally less well-known, and the boundaries between the fashion
plate and the costume picture are not all easy to define. The fashion
plate has died slowly, the victim of the photograph showing the model
wearing actual clothes and the sketch giving the impression of a fashion
artist at a dress show. Through the centuries, the fashion plate has
provided the link between the wearer and the maker of clothes. It has
also attracted as collectors those studying both the social background
of a period and the history of costume.



  U.S. Government Printing Office: 1967

  For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402

  Price 35 cents


_Footnotes_

Notes that were shown in their original location are repeated here for
completeness.

    [Footnote 1: VYVYAN HOLLAND, _Hand Coloured Fashion Plates_,
    1770-1899 (Boston: Boston Book and Art Shop, Inc., 1955).]

    [Footnote 2: ALESSANDRO PICCOLOMINI, _Dialogo de la bella creanza
    de le donne_ (Venice, 1540). The dialogue is reprinted in
    G. ZONTA, _Trattati del Cinquecento sulla donna_ (1913), but it
    deserves a modern translation and editing.]

    [Footnote 3: SIR HENRY HAKE, “The English Historic Portrait.”
    Lecture for the British Academy, 1943.]

    [Footnote 4: MALCOLM LETTS, _The Diary of Jörg von Ehingen_
    (1929).]

    [Footnote 5: SIGRID F. CHRISTENSEN, _Die männliche Kleidung in der
    süddeutschen Renaissance_ (1934), pl. 21.]

    [Footnote 6: Sir KARL T. PARKER, _The drawings of H. Holbein at
    Windsor Castle_ (1945), pls. 16, 19, 24.]

    [Footnote 7: This book, _Klaidungsbüchlein_, in the Herzog
    Anton-Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, Germany, was edited by August Fink
    and published in full in 1963 by the Deutscher Verein für
    Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin.]

    [Footnote 8: For a general account, see J. L. NEVINSON, “Sigmund
    von Herberstein: Notes on 16th century dress,” _Zeitschrift der
    Gesellschaft für historische Waffen- und Kostum-Kunde_ (1959), new
    ser. 1, p. 86.]

    [Footnote 9: SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN, _Gratae Posteritati_ . . .
    (Vienna, 1560).]

    [Footnote 10: SIGMUND VON HERBERSTEIN, _Rerum Moscoviticarum
    Commentarii_, expanded ed. (Basel: Oporinus, 1556).]

    [Footnote 11: JUAN DE ALCEGA, _Libro di geometria y traca_ (1589).
    See also, _Tailor and cutter_ (London, 1933), no. 68. A copy of
    the 1588 edition was acquired by the Folger Shakespeare Library,
    Washington, D.C., in 1964.]

    [Footnote 12: “Supplication to the King.” Printed by the Early
    English Text Society, extra ser. (1871), p. 52.]

    [Footnote 13: _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII_, vol. 1 (2), on.
    3326.]

    [Footnote 14: ANDREW BOORDE, _Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of
    Knowledge_ (1542). Reprinted by the Early English Text Society,
    extra ser., vol. 10 (1870), p. 116.]

    [Footnote 15: _Recueil de la diversité des habits_ . . . (1562).
    The book was reissued in 1564 and 1567.]

    [Footnote 16: Translated, this reads: “. . . our predecessors of
    old . . . were more careful about sumptuous dress than rare virtue
    . . . for as the monk was recognized by his frock, the jester by
    his cap, and the soldier by his arms, so the wise man was known by
    his moderate habit.”]

    [Footnote 17: A. M. HIND, _Engraving in England in the 16th and
    17th centuries_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952),
    vol. 1, pl. 34.]

    [Footnote 18: F. BERTELLI, _Omnium fere gentium nostrae aetatis
    habitus_ . . . (Venice, 1563).]

    [Footnote 19: For the origin of this Spanish fashion in 1470, see
    CARMEN BERNIS MADRAZO, _Indumentaria medieval espanola_ (1956),
    p. 50, pl. 158.]

    [Footnote 20: There are two editions of the book by CESARE
    VECELLIO: _De gli habiti antichi e moderni_ . . . (Venice: Zenaro,
    1590 [Italian text]); _Habiti Antichi e Moderni_ (Venice: Sessa,
    1598 [Italian and Latin text]). The quality of the woodblocks and
    impressions varies considerably.]

    [Footnote 21: Translated, this reads: “Underneath, the habit of
    the ladies [who imitate the Duchess] is to wear the farthingale or
    pleated frock, which skillfully holds the petticoat out wide like
    a bell. This fashion is extremely convenient for walking or
    dancing, and nowadays, ladies throughout all Italy wear this
    pleated frock mentioned above.” (1590 ed., folio 187.a.)]

    [Footnote 22: Translated, this reads: “The originator of these
    beautiful fabrics in Venice is Master Bartholomew Bontempele at
    the sign of the ‘Chalice.’ From time to time at exhibitions he
    makes of these materials he has created, he shows the greatness of
    his intellect, which is accompanied by an incomparable generosity
    and kindness for which he is greatly loved by the Venetian
    nobility, by many princes of Italy, and in particular by his
    Serene Highness the Duke of Mantua. In his store, to which many
    gentlemen and princes send orders, even the Seraglio of the Grand
    Turk, are to be seen brocades worked in all manners of gold and
    silver.” (1590 ed., folio 139.)]

    [Footnote 23: There is an excellent reprint of Buytewech’s book
    with an introduction by W. BRUHN (1926).]

    [Footnote 24: C. LE BLANC, _Manuel de l’amateur des estampes_
    (1854), no. 549-560.]

    [Footnote 25: For examples, see A. BLUM, _L’oeuvre gravé de
    Abraham Bosse_ (1924), nos. 957-961; the plate “Pompe funèbre de
    la Mode,” by A. BLUM (in _Les Modes au XVIIme siècle_, 1927),
    p. 21; and F. P. WILSON, “Funeral obsequies of Sir
    All-in-new-fashions” (in _Shakespeare Survey_, 1958), p. 98.]

    [Footnote 26: J. L. NEVINSON, “Fashion Plates and Fashion,
    1625-35,” _Apollo_ (1950) vol. 51, pp. 138-140.]

    [Footnote 27: GUSTAVE PARTHEY, _Kurzes Verzeichniss der
    Hollarschen Kupferstichen_ (1853), nos. 606-609.]

    [Footnote 28: GUSTAVE PARTHEY, _Kurzes Verzeichniss der
    Hollarschen Kupferstichen_ (1853), nos. 1908-12, 1930-33.]

    [Footnote 29: PARTHEY, ibid., nos. 1946-51.]

    [Footnote 30: JOHN EVELYN, _Tyrannus or the Mode_ (1661).
    Facsimile reprint with introduction by J. L. NEVINSON (Oxford:
    Luttrell Society, 1951), no. 11.]

    [Footnote 31: E. S. DE BEER, “King Charles II’s own fashion,”
    _Warburg Institute Journal_ (1935), vol. 2, no. 2, p. 105.]

    [Footnote 32: Translated, this reads: “. . . nothing is more
    pleasing than the styles born in France . . . . This is why much
    relating to dress is imported from France into all the provinces
    of the world, though the final dress is not exactly French.”]

    [Footnote 33: EMILE MAGNE, _Images de Paris sous Louis XIV_
    (1939). In this book, the social historian Dr. Magne devotes the
    best part of a chapter to the _Mercure Galant_ and gives a listing
    of all fashion articles up to 1700.]

    [Footnote 34: See J. L. NEVINSON, “The ‘Mercury Gallant’ or
    European Fashions in the 1670’s,” _Connoisseur_ (1955) vol. 136,
    p. 87.]

    [Footnote 35: See F. G. ROE, “Prints and Tinsel,” _Connoisseur_
    (1932), vol. 89, p. 302.]

    [Footnote 36: _The Cryes of the City of London, Drawne after the
    Life_, delineated by M. Lauron, engraved by P. Tempest (London:
    H. Overton, 1711).]

    [Footnote 37: _A new Drawing book of Modes_, by Mons B. Picart
    (printed for Richard Ware at the Bible & Sun in Amen Corner,
    Warwick Lane, London; no date).]

    [Footnote 38: R. COLAS, _Bibliographie du costume_ (1933), nos.
    2502, 2503.]

    [Footnote 39: G. PASTON, _Social Caricature in the 18th Century_
    (1905), pl. facing p. 10.]

    [Footnote 40: J. LE GROS, L’Art de la coiffure (1768). JAMES
    STEWART, _Plocacosmos or the whole Art of Hairdressing_ (1782).]

    [Footnote 41: C. L. REGNAULT DE SAVIGNY, _Les almanachs illustrées
    du XVIIIme siècle_ (1909).]

    [Footnote 42: Justus Möser of Osnabruck, a prolific writer in the
    1770s, discussed, in his _Patriotische Fantasien_, not only
    national dress but whether magazines should deal with ladies’
    fashions.]

    [Footnote 43: EVA BERGMAN, _Nationella Dräkten_ (Stockholm,
    1938).]

    [Footnote 44: J. C. RYGE, _Ideer til en national Smag i dansk
    Klaederdragt_ (Copenhagen, 1827).]

    [Footnote 45: GRASSET DE SAINT-SAUVEUR, _Costume des Représentans
    du peuple_ (Paris, 1795).]

    [Footnote 46: H. LE BLANC, _The Art of Tying the Cravat_, 3rd ed.
    (1828). _The whole Art of Dress_, by a Cavalry officer (1830).
    Both of these small books contain fashion plates.]

    [Footnote 47: VYVYAN HOLLAND, op. cit. (footnote 1), chap. 5 ff.
    C. WILLETT CUNNINGTON, _English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth
    Century_ (1937). JAMES LAVER, _Nineteenth Century Costume_ (1947).
    C. H. GIBBS-SMITH, _The Fashionable Lady in the 19th Century_
    (1960).]

       *       *       *       *       *
           *       *       *       *

_Original Captions_

The text for figures 6 and 11-14 was printed as blocks of verse below
the illustration. The remaining text (figures 16-22, skipping 20) was
printed within the body of the illustration. As with all original
(pre-1967) text, the spelling, capitalization and punctuation are
unchanged.

Figure 6:

  [_the word “bien” in the 4th line was printed as “biẽ” with a line
  or “tilde” over the “e”_]

  L’angloyse.
  Ainsi vestue est une femme Angloise
  Par le dessus son bonnet est fourré,
  On la cognoist (biẽ qu’ aux lieux on ne voise)
  Facilement à son bonnet carré.

Figure 11:

  Que ce m’est vne chose estrange
  De remarquer combien me change
  Cet habillement reformé:
  Que i’ay de mal à m’en defendre,
  Et q’uil me fache de le preendre,
  Pour ne l’avoir accoustumé:

  Je violente ma nature;
  Me voyant en cette posture,
  Et demeure tout interdit,
  Mais dequoy me sert cette pleinte,
  Si par raison ou par contreinte
  Il faut obeir à l’Edit!

  Il est iuste qu’on s’accommode
  Au temps, au pais, à la mode,
  Suivant le sainct decret des loix
  Sans chercher de preuue plus ample
  Que celle qui luit dans léxample
  De Lovys le plus grand des Rois

Figure 12:

  Tout ce que l’Art humain a jamais inuenté
  Pour mieux charmer les sens par la galanterie,
  Et tout ce qu’ont d’appas la Grace et la beauté,
  Se descouure à nos yeux dans cette Gallerie.

  Icy les Caualiers les plus aduantureux
  En lisant les Romans, s’ániment à combatre;
  Et de leur passion les Amans langoureux,
  Flattent les mouuements par des vers de Theatre.

  Icy faisant semblant d’acheter deuant tous
  Des gands, des Euantails, du ruban, des danteles;
  Les adroits Courtisans se donnent rendez-vous,
  Et pour se faire aimer, galantisent les Belles.

  Icy quelque Lingere a faute de succez
  A vendre abondamment de colere se picque
  Contre des Ciccaneurs qui parlant de procez
  Empeschent les Chalands d’aborder sa Boutique.

Figure 13:

  Not soe quick sighted, is the EAGLE for her pray
  As I new fashions spie to make mee gay.

Figure 14:

  Winter
  The cold, not cruelty makes her weare
  In Winter, furrs and Wild beasts haire
  For a smoother skinn at night
  Embraceth her with more delight

Figure 16:

  [_the word “nouée” in the 4th line was printed with dieresis
  (“umlaut”) over the “u”, followed by acute accent on the first “e”_]

  Habit d’Hyuer
  Tour de plumes a deux pointes
  Castor gris blanc
  Perruque noüée
  Colet rond Brodé
  Manteau de drap de Hollande couleur de feu double de vetours noir
    ou plúche de couleur
  Manchon de pluche de couleur
  Iuste-au-corps gris brodé de soye de couleur doublé de satin
    et la veste de mesme
  Broderie plate d’Or et d’argent
  Canons a la Royale brodez coupez en botte tenant au bas
  Soutiers noirs lustrez et lizerez d’Or

Figure 17:

  Habit d’Hyuer
  Grande coeffe de gaze brodée Palatine de Marte
  Brasselets ou nœuds de Diamans
  Manchon de pluche de couleur
  Robe de velours noir et les nœuds de diamans
  Hermine sur vne Iupe de dessous noire

Figure 18:

  Habit d’Hyuer
  Ruban large brodé de Soye
  Castor ras noir
  Iuste-au-caorps de drap de Hollande couleur de noisette
  Baudrier brodé couleur de la pluche
  double renuers de manches sans-veste
  frange forte couleur de Prince
  pluche de couleur
  Bas routér couleur de lhabit
  lEcharpe de point d’espagne ou de raiseau Or et Argent

Figure 19:

  Deshabillé d’Hyuer
  Coeffe de Soye ecruë
  Coeffe noire
  Palatine de Point
  Manchon de pluche couleur de feu
  Manche Sereé de pluche.
  Manche de Chemise.
  Menchettes de point.
  Ceinture de tissu d’Or.
  Manteau de brocart a fleurs d’Or doublé de pluche couleur de feu.
  Iupe de pluche couleur de feu.
  trois rangs de grande dentelle Or et Argent-vollante.
  Iupon de brocart a fleurs d’argent bordé d’ermine.

Figure 21:

  Habit d’Esté
  Ruban large tabizé ou brodé avec de la frange
  Juste au Corps destamine Couleur de Prince.
  La Veste aussy longue que le Juste au Corps de toile blanche
    garnie de dentelle ou point.
  Tour de manche double.
  Les Gans garnis de dentelle.
  Le Baudrier à fons blanc et des grans fleurons brodes
    de la Couleur de l’habit.

Figure 22:

  Habit d’Esté
  A graphe de Piereries.
  Gans de point d’Angleterre.
  Manchettes doubles.
  Manteau de gaze.
  Jupe de point d’Angleterre sur un fons de couleur.
  d’entelle d’Angleterre plissée.

       *       *       *       *       *
           *       *       *       *

_Errata_ (noted by transcriber)

[title page]
  _John L Nevinson_  [spacing suggests invisible . after initial]

Footnote 31: E. S. DE BEER, “King Charles II’s own fashion,”
  [open quote missing]

Footnote 37: _A new Drawing book of Modes_, by Mons B. Picart
  [name spelled as shown]





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