Anotner Fasnion Epocn

,, ^ rresented by

1909

W^anamaker

Originator

^ I

'HE

Glories of Versailles

IC ings.
Famous Beauties
ized
in the

Queens

&?

Iminortalby Nattier Live Again

Pans Gowns
\^

Wraps.

THE HEJSTRT FRAJ^CIS

LIBRARIES

POXT friJ^ERTHUR MUSEUM

du

Gift of Mrs. Holbrook M. Bunting, Jr.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in

2010 with funding from

Lyrasis IVIembers

and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/anotherfashionepOOwana

Anotner Fasnion Epocn For 1909

Presented by

NV^anamaker Originator
[HE
From the have changed! stept back a century Empire, Paris has into the atinto the days of the Louis'
fashions

mosphere

of grace

&

coquetry;
its

the gay

century that dances on with

shepherds

&
ladies

shepherdesses in

silk

&

satin; its fair

& & gallant lovers in powder & & Darts all unmindful of the terrible rumbles of suffering & sorrow that finally burst in the thundercloud
paint; its Cupids

Hearts

of the Revolution.

once more the dainty feminine charm of the Marquise de Pompadour that sways the fashions as she in her wilful, exswayed those of the days of Louis travagant way. The spoiled beauty whose expenditure
It is

XV

for

perfumes alone was 180,000 francs a year, bent all her on destroying the rigidity that bound France in the days of Madame de Maintenon & the austere ordonnances of Louis XIV against luxury, in clothes, in furniture, in
arts
liveries

& equipages. And mingled with the Pompadour's influence is that of Marie-Antoinette & of the brilliant court of Louis XVI with its entourage of noble ladies who hurried into their Queen's follies & extravagances, whether it was to live like
rustics or in royal splendor.

^x*

PICTURE DRESSES
of
tlie

Days

of

tKe

Pompadour
tlie

Mane-Antoinette,

Made Immortal by
are

Paintings of Nattier,

Modernized for Spring, 1909.

[O the great artists whose brushes have kept in the Louvre & the Palace of Versailles so wonderful a record of the Court days
of France,

the picture
today.
Is

we owe gowns
it

the real inspiration for that are being created

Callot or Drecoll, Cheruit or

Badin,
facts?

who

has "made" a fashion?

Where,

please, did

these artists in dress turn for their lines, their colors, their

ard,

Without the canvases of Nattier, Watteau, FragonChardin & Le Brun, they could never have reproduced

so exquisitely the fashions of the eighteenth century. "O artist cutter!" the

Goncourts wrote Watteau; "from of your playful scissors there have come to us,
both the 'sweet neglect' & the bravery of attire, the morning's
easy carelessness, the
afternoon's
fine
rai-

Oh! fairy scissors! you dower the times to come with

ment.

patterns

from the

Madame de Pompadour
Arabian Nights.

owes you the negligee

Dame Inconnue

Xafticr

that

bears her

name.
si

How

vo-

luptuously you

p t & cut amidst the sili

very satin!
Saucily
tucktrav-

up

skirts,

ishing 'lique-

faction
clothes;'

of
rog-

uish prisons of
tight-laced bodices.

Oh
of

bescis-

ribboned
sors
teau,

Watwhat a

dainty realm of

coquetry

you
La Marquise
des Lignerii

cut out of the

Xa/ficr

Maintenon's realm of prudery." Think of this as you see the Callot costume with the real "Watteau pleat" in the back, only one of several presented by this famous house,
to

show the same

idea.

Think of Watteau's "little mother-of-pearl canvases that shimmer like the inside of a shell," & of his faded blues, his pinks "which are as rosy as a child's cheek, his drabs & grays, his honeyed yellows like a Flemish maiden's locks" when you see the colors of the Louis XV gowns, of the period in which he painted.

Think again

of Nattier, the

Court Painter, to

whom

every one fiockt because he always

made them

beautiful

on canvas. His

portraits
eight
ters are

of

Louis XV's
daugh-

among
o
f

the

loveliest

treasures
Versailles.
it

Is

not

their
that you

charm

feel in the
tier blue

Nat-

by

Drecoll

gown &

the

exquisite

lilac-red chiffon

evening gown by Cheruit?

pure Marie Antoinette gown such as Madame Vigee-

Madame

Victoire de France

Nattier

Le Brun painted in her famous portrait of the unhappy Queen, is the little flowered mousseline dress from Badin, with its fichu & loopt-up skirts. The silver tulle gown with little roses
is

the apotheosis of Louis

XVI

styles.

It is a great privilege to

be able to show with these

gowns many copies true copies made at

of the portraits that inspired

them

Versailles by our artists in Paris.

Original Faskions

tnc

Days of
the panier ap-

Louis

XV ^

XVI
XV

the reign of Louis

peared for
the

men as well as women. On street a woman with one of the panier

from right to left about It was impossible to six feet of space. trace around her a circle less than eighteen feet in circumference. About 1730 these paniers became enormously extravagant in size. The need of exaggerating the paniers created the full gown that had a broad pleat falling from the shoulders, which gave a cerskirts occupied

tain effect of elegance.

Paniers were supat the presst

finally

theaters,
large

as
are
to-

hats

suppresst
day.

Marie

Lec-

zinska, wife of

Louis XV, introduced a few

Polish fashions
into

the
aise"

"p o

France 1 o n

among
of

them,
tles

& mansatin
finisht

whose two
points,

with passementerie,

were

tied

..^-^^^^
La Marciuise d'AnUn X(7 //iff

about the waist.

Fashion
geoisie,

left

the throat bare.

The gowns

of the bour-

who exaggerated
little

the fashions of the Court, were

outrageously decollete.

The

mantelet

&

fichus of mousseline covered the

shoulders.

UNDER LOUIS XVI

The young Queen Marie- Antoinette gave
a

to the Court

most incredible example

in fashions

which she adored.

Her

inclination for rustic tastes,

little

&

her

whim

to play

hamlet at Versailles, made the vogue for very soft & light materials. At no other epoch has a woman's costume had so little weight & so great volume.
the milkmaid in the

Marie-Antoinette also introduced the most curious

coiffures

&

the

mode

of

wearing plumes

in the hair, so

that

it

was

said that to see her in the galleries at Versailles

amid her dames d'honneur was to waving plumes.

see only a forest of

Toward

the end of her reign the paniers disappeared

& were

replaced by "postiches" with ribbons

close-fitting corsage

&

flowers.

The

&

the long waist were kept.

Modern Adaptations
oi Louis

XV & XVl
Wanamaker

xasnions as seen
in

in the ne^v

Pans Go'wns sno^vn

Salons

tke

OFT,

light materials are used for

draped

but the panier effect does not consist of an ugly draped excrescence on the It is a graceful drapery that drops hips.
skirts,

below the hip line & loops into pretty at the back of the skirt.
Skirts are fuller round, but the fulness
is

lines

arranged to

begin at

the knees, except where the

stuffs are very filmy.

The long
Little

bodice, often pointed in front

like a vest, is fashionable.

&

fastened

with four buttons,

mantles of taffeta tassels are la grande mode.

&

satin with pointed ends

&

The elbow
evening gowns.

sleeve with full ruffles

is

again seen on

The fichu is one modern gown.

Plumes are only

of the prettiest finishes given to the

rivaled by flowers as hat garnitures.

Madame

Henriette de France

Nattier

WA N AM AKER ORIGINATOR