Jean Lepautre, after Jean Berain, Garde-robes pour dames et pour hommes, 1678.
There was little variation in the cut of clothing during the Baroque period, but cloth, embroidery and accessories still offered scope for originality. The Mercure galant reported on the latest trends. Jean Lepautre, after Jean Berain, Garde-robes pour dames et pour hommes, 1678. Bibliothèque nationale de France

The beginnings of the modern fashion system

The forerunners of the first fashion magazines were published in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. Like their modern counterparts, they pictured seasonal fashion trends, and helped to create the fashion system as we know it today.

Joya Indermühle

Joya Indermühle

Dr. Joya Indermühle is a curator at the Swiss National Museum

“Nothing is as fleeting as fashion,” remarked Donneau de Visé, founder of the Mercure galant gazette, in its 1687 edition. This seems obvious in the fast fashion world of today, but in the Baroque period it was a ground-breaking idea. It would pave the way for our modern understanding of fashion as something that is ever-changing, a mirror reflecting social, cultural and political change. Its mainspring is found in the growth of the fashion press and determined efforts to promote cloth manufacture in France under Louis XIV.

Flourishing French fashion press

Books of costume showing the fashions of the time emerged as early as the 16th century, and enjoyed great popularity among artists and collectors, especially during the Renaissance. One of the best-known is the 1590 De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo (‘Antique and modern costume from around the world’) by Cesare Vecellio.
Depictions of Renaissance fashion from Cesare Vecellio’s De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo. Venice, 1590.
Depictions of Renaissance fashion from Cesare Vecellio’s De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo. Venice, 1590. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
These books presented the typical costume of different regions or cities. Combined with innovations in copperplate engraving, printed fashion images took on a new importance during the Baroque period in the form of individual fashion plates or series, and later in the first fashion magazines. Louis XIV not only promoted the manufacture of luxury goods, but also allowed them to be advertised internationally with engravings of the latest modes. With his patronage, the French fashion press flourished between 1672 and 1710. Hundreds of fashion images were printed in similar portrait format – black ink on white paper and a simple black border – in the Rue Saint Jacques in Paris. They would then be hand coloured if the buyers so wished. Fashion engravings could also be purchased as single plates. These were passed from person to person across national and social boundaries. It was a cost-effective way to publicise the new styles. ‘Fashion’ during this time was not limited to clothing, however. It included desirable gestures and settings, such as the Jardin des Tuileries or the latest interiors, which always featured in the background.
Fashion involved not just clothing, but also a person’s gestures and surroundings. Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, Femme de Qualité aux Thuilleries, 1668.
Fashion involved not just clothing, but also a person’s gestures and surroundings. Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, Femme de Qualité aux Thuilleries, 1668. Bibliothèque nationale de France

Part portrait, part fashion plate

It was not long before far-sighted artists, publishers and merchants developed this successful medium further. Henri Bonnart is credited with the idea of the portrait de cour en modes, as it was known. By portraying prominent members of high society or the court in fashionable poses and dress, he created what might be seen as the precursor of today’s celebrity culture. This hybrid of portrait and fashion plate not only brought new fashions to a wider audience, but also encouraged readers to identify with and imitate these figures. In that sense these fashion images fed into the need to ‘see and be seen’.
Fashion plates were also available in colour. Henri Bonnart, Madame la Marquise D’Entragues, 1694.
Fashion plates were also available in colour. Henri Bonnart, Madame la Marquise D’Entragues, 1694. Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Mercure galant – forerunner of the first fashion magazines

Donneau de Visé went a step further. In 1672 he began publishing the Mercure galant, a gazette covering the latest in fashion, culture and society. In keeping with the understanding of fashion as an entire lifestyle, it also contained poetry and songs, reports from the court and of battles, theatre reviews and arias. Its relaxed, conversational style was a major factor in its success. The author wrote as if corresponding with the reader directly. An excerpt from the 1672 edition reads, for example: “I promised you, Madame, that I would summon all the latest fashions for you [...]”. With the King's endorsement, the Mercure galant appeared monthly from 1677 onwards, and was a major factor driving the spread of new fashion. For the first time, a periodical contained detailed descriptions of clothes, accessories and fabrics. Donneau de Visé also launched special editions containing fashion engravings, the best-known of which were drawn by court artist Jean Berain and engraved by Jean Lepautre. These were the first pictures to appear in a regular publication, and blazed a trail for later fashion magazines that built on the combination of images and text. Then, as now, these engravings are one of the key sources of information about Baroque clothing, because the precise images are accompanied by written descriptions. We know, therefore, that around January 1678 the headdress of choice for the fashionable lady would be the lace cornette fraisée de point de France (illustrated below). The focus was very much on the material, colour and motifs of fabrics and accessories. While the cut of clothing changed little over the years, textiles offered a way of introducing variety and innovation. The global cloth trade, complex manufacturing processes, and Lyon as a centre of silk-weaving were all major factors here.
Founded in 1672 with the permission of Louis XIV, the Mercure galant reported on the latest in fashion, culture and society. It is seen as a prototype for the first fashion magazines. The detailed descriptions it contains are one of our most important sources of information on Baroque dress.
Founded in 1672 with the permission of Louis XIV, the Mercure galant reported on the latest in fashion, culture and society. It is seen as a prototype for the first fashion magazines. The detailed descriptions it contains are one of our most important sources of information on Baroque dress. Bibliothèque nationale de France
The title Habit d’Hyver (‘winter clothing’) reveals the seasonal rhythm newly adopted by the fashion industry. The combination of detailed engravings and written descriptions as a way of conveying the latest trends was pioneering at the time.
The title Habit d’Hyver (‘winter clothing’) reveals the seasonal rhythm newly adopted by the fashion industry. The combination of detailed engravings and written descriptions as a way of conveying the latest trends was pioneering at the time. Bibliothèque nationale de France

The seasonal rhythm of fashion

While raw materials for textiles – mainly silk and cotton yarn – had to be imported, under finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert and Louis XIV France developed into a centre of cloth manufacturing. In fact, the strict quality controls practised by the Grande Fabrique, a type of guild, turned Lyon into the world's foremost silk-weaving hub. In the mid-17th century, multiple, systematic changes in fabric design per year were introduced as part of a protectionist economic policy that sought to maximise exports and minimise imports. In addition, a court calendar was launched at Versailles, prescribing which items of clothing or accessories should be worn at what point in the year. There were two main consequences of this. The first was a market in which the timing of the sale became crucial. The second was that silk producers both served and fuelled demand for new designs, colours and grades of cloth with a variety and virtuosity that had never been seen before.
Woven silk, French, 1708-1710.
The choice of designs, colours and grades of silk fabrics reached its zenith during the Baroque period. ‘Bizarre’ silks were extremely popular. Featuring large-scale patterns juxtaposed with stylised leaves and flowers, they were inspired by motifs from East Asia. Woven silk, French, 1708-1710. Galerie Ruf AG, Stansstad
At the same time, to encourage the growth of the sector, the Mercure galant chose to report on the work of the silk manufacturers in Lyon and the cloth merchants and retailers in Paris, sometimes mentioning them by name. The gazette went into great detail about the new, seasonal rhythm of fashion. In some respects it owed its continued existence to this rapid change and the constant stream of new products. The innovative drive of French textile producers, and the way in which news of the latest fashions spread in images and text ultimately combined to establish the modern, trend-driven fashion system. Graphic reproduction provided the medium by which these trends could be conveyed from Versailles and Paris to large sections of the population throughout Europe, including Switzerland. Only a fraction of people could actually afford the fabrics that were described, but everyone could try to follow fashion as their circumstances allowed. The Paris-focused seasonal fashion system is still in place in the 21st century, but given the need for resource-efficiency and sustainable manufacturing, the time is right to examine it with a critical eye.

Published on: 28.02.2023

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/02/the-beginnings-of-the-modern-fashion-system/

More of: BaroqueModern AgeCultureFashionArticle

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