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قراءة كتاب Origin and Early History of the Fashion Plate
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Origin and Early History of the Fashion Plate
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.
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.)
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.)
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.
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.)
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.)
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.