Fashionable. The art of appearing in the 18th century.
SNOECK| N° d'inventaire | 25212 |
| Format | 23 x 29 cm |
| Détails | 600 p., very numerous color illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Nantes, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9789461617101 |
The history of costume and its representation in the Age of Enlightenment is as much a real illustration of a material culture as it is a creation of the imagination. In the 18th century, the birth of fashion was first and foremost that of new trades and a specialized press, and constitutes the sign of an accelerated transformation of society. The French style, worn by both the aristocracy and the urban upper middle class, prevailed in all the courts and cities of Europe. For the first time, the confrontation of pictorial works with 18th-century costumes will allow us to explore a new staging of the body, between social demands and the whims of taste. The exhibition brings together nearly 200 18th-century objects from major textile museums (the City of Paris Fashion Museum, the Lyon Fabric Museum, the Jouy Canvas Museum, the Museum of Chemiserie and Masculine Elegance) and fine arts museums (the National Museum of Stockholm, the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, Versailles, the Louvre, Ecouen, Nantes, Dijon, Tours, Orléans, etc.). Emblematic paintings (The Duchess of Polignac by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and The Fashion Merchant by François Boucher, the National Museum of Stockholm) will be displayed alongside precious textiles, previously unseen drawings, clothing, and accessories, some of which have been specially restored for the exhibition. The exhibition unfolds in four distinct universes, like so many facets that explore the link between painters and the making of fashion. The first chapter of the exhibition focuses on demonstrating the acceleration of fashion phenomena, both in painting and in clothing, in a game of competition between the ruling elites and the rising classes. The second chapter presents painters as actors in the "fashion factory," revealing themselves to be the true ancestors of couturiers and fashion designers: in fact, they invented silhouettes, textile motifs, and decorations for accessories, pocket objects, and toiletries, while also creating designs for the specialized press. The third chapter, "Artists' Fantasies," explores the links between imaginary pictorial worlds—fêtes galantes by Watteau and Lancret, enchanted pastorals by François Boucher—and the clothes that became iconic thanks to them. Finally, the last part, "Pour une histoire du neglige-déshabillé," takes a new look at the growing vogue for negligees in men's and women's wardrobes, from the dressing gown to the empire dress, from the veils of the vestal virgins to the antique negligee. It highlights the evolution of a new feminine silhouette, which lengthens and simplifies to the point of white monochrome. With À la mode, the Musée d'arts de Nantes and the Musée des beaux-arts de Dijon, in partnership with the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, confirm their desire to combine genuine scientific rigor on a subject little explored in exhibitions on the 18th century, with an opening to a wide audience.
The history of costume and its representation in the Age of Enlightenment is as much a real illustration of a material culture as it is a creation of the imagination. In the 18th century, the birth of fashion was first and foremost that of new trades and a specialized press, and constitutes the sign of an accelerated transformation of society. The French style, worn by both the aristocracy and the urban upper middle class, prevailed in all the courts and cities of Europe. For the first time, the confrontation of pictorial works with 18th-century costumes will allow us to explore a new staging of the body, between social demands and the whims of taste. The exhibition brings together nearly 200 18th-century objects from major textile museums (the City of Paris Fashion Museum, the Lyon Fabric Museum, the Jouy Canvas Museum, the Museum of Chemiserie and Masculine Elegance) and fine arts museums (the National Museum of Stockholm, the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, Versailles, the Louvre, Ecouen, Nantes, Dijon, Tours, Orléans, etc.). Emblematic paintings (The Duchess of Polignac by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and The Fashion Merchant by François Boucher, the National Museum of Stockholm) will be displayed alongside precious textiles, previously unseen drawings, clothing, and accessories, some of which have been specially restored for the exhibition. The exhibition unfolds in four distinct universes, like so many facets that explore the link between painters and the making of fashion. The first chapter of the exhibition focuses on demonstrating the acceleration of fashion phenomena, both in painting and in clothing, in a game of competition between the ruling elites and the rising classes. The second chapter presents painters as actors in the "fashion factory," revealing themselves to be the true ancestors of couturiers and fashion designers: in fact, they invented silhouettes, textile motifs, and decorations for accessories, pocket objects, and toiletries, while also creating designs for the specialized press. The third chapter, "Artists' Fantasies," explores the links between imaginary pictorial worlds—fêtes galantes by Watteau and Lancret, enchanted pastorals by François Boucher—and the clothes that became iconic thanks to them. Finally, the last part, "Pour une histoire du neglige-déshabillé," takes a new look at the growing vogue for negligees in men's and women's wardrobes, from the dressing gown to the empire dress, from the veils of the vestal virgins to the antique negligee. It highlights the evolution of a new feminine silhouette, which lengthens and simplifies to the point of white monochrome. With À la mode, the Musée d'arts de Nantes and the Musée des beaux-arts de Dijon, in partnership with the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, confirm their desire to combine genuine scientific rigor on a subject little explored in exhibitions on the 18th century, with an opening to a wide audience.