I am currently in the grip of a new obsession: the 18th century. It is a period of history that I am somewhat unfamiliar with but that I can't wait to discover more in depth. In French history, it fits nicely between the moving of the royal court to Versailles by Louis XIVth, and the revolution that beheaded that king's great-great-great-grandson, Louis the XVIth. In Britain, the Hanoverians climbed on the throne for the first time with George I, but most of the power was in the hands of Parliament, and its political masterminds.
This 'Century of Lights' brought us many precious advancements in arts, theatre, music and philosphy. It gave us Rousseau, Voltaire, Goethe, Kant, Bach and Mozart just to name some of my favorites. This is probably the century I would most like to be reborn into.
In terms of dress, it would be a big mistake not to mention Marie Antoinette, of course, who devoted a considerable amount of her time and money to fashion, taking part in the creation of new designs and making ever more innovative and scandalous choices. As Queen, she was setting the trends, and the whole aristocratic world followed.
These plates are from the fantastic book by Auguste Racinet, published in 1876, containing color depictions of historical dress from antiquity through to the 19th century. The artist trained as a technical illustrator and worked on architecture as well as furniture illustrations in addition to costumes. It is evident to me that he has not only an understanding of the shape of the garments but also of their layering and construction. Nevertheless, according to his contemporaries, he relied mostly on portraits and paintings to create these outfits, and not so much on extant garments, which is surprising.
The plates for the 18th century are numerous and exquisite, and this double-page plate is a perfect example. I could spend days just looking through these outfits and making a list of the ones I would like to recreate. How about number 20, with its fitted coat-like bodice? This would be an example of the french anglomania trend, copying British riding wear and turning it into fashionable outdoor gowns. I think I have subconsciously made a mental note to look for some suitable fabric...
I wonder though: are the colors true, or are they simply a reflection of the artist's pallet? The same tones appear in all eras of the book, which makes me think there is at least some influence of the medium and not only history. Indeed, the plates are made with color lithography, so the pallet of available colors for a specific plate would be limited, even using 'dotwork' color mixing techniques. Nevertheless, I believe they had a large choice of inks, and some of the plates even feature gold and silver. The prevalence of green fabrics in particular is strange to me because green was a notoriously difficult color to make, achieved only with easily fading mineral and vegetable dyes. The new and fashionable vibrant greens that are to come were only produced from 1775 at the VERY earliest, so probably weren't used in dyes until the next century. Yes, I am talking about the highly toxic arsenic-based green dyes that will plague the 19th century, and allegedly kill Napoleon himself. Therefore I doubt there were any gowns in this acid-green color at the time.
Nevertheless, these are beautiful and it blows my mind to think that they are double works of art: the art of the tailor that originally created the designs, and the art of the lithographer that painstakingly recreated all of the details into these beautiful prints.
Let me know what you think! What aspect of the 18th century are you most interested in? Do you have any suggestions of books or documentaries I should read/watch?
Images from Racinet, Auguste. Le Costume Historique. Taschen, Bibliotheca Universalis, Cologne, 2003