Recently, I bought a few fashion plates to frame and put on the wall — not something I usually contemplate doing, because it depresses me that people cut full-color plates out of bound volumes so they can sell them individually and because I’m well aware that works on paper shouldn’t be displayed indefinitely, but … these plates have been detached for a long time, and they exist elsewhere. And I am photographing them for my blog, where I can talk about each of them and research their backgrounds, which preserves and shares the information they convey. (Though I wish I’d done the photography before framing them, as I had to unframe and reframe each one.)
This plate, taken from La Mode Illustrée in April of 1864, shows four “novelties” available at the Magasins du Louvre in Paris. The Grands Magasins du Louvre was a massive department store which opened at 164 Rue de Rivoli, across the street from the actual Louvre palace/museum, in 1855, and was unfortunately partially destroyed during World War II. These early department stores were not so very different from our own, being shopping centers where one could purchase just about anything one needed; while they often had internal mercers and drapers to provide fabric and tailoring and dressmaking departments to turn the fabric into clothing, they were also early outlets for ready-to-wear, though most of the ready-made garments were outerwear and the like (such as that shown here), which needed less precise fitting for the individual wearer.
The Internet Archive fortunately has the full volume of this year of the magazine, so I’m able to bring you a translation of the actual caption for the plate! Moving left to right …
Lauzun jacket. Half-fitted overcoat, rather short, in black taffeta; the shape is rounded in the back, shorter on the sides than in front and behind, with sleeves that are a little wide; on the overcoat, dropping from the waist, a rather long coat basque is found, pleated and edged with black lace. A wide lace borders the whole overcoat; it is surmounted with a narrower lace, laid flat; the epaulettes and lapels are trimmed with lace.
Dubarry casaque. A type of short overcoat, in bright blue taffeta; the lower edge is pinked into two rounded notches, edged with a very narrow black lace. Two very wide flounces of black lace arer positioned on these teeth; a bridging lace surmounts the teeth; a beautiful, up-to-date black passementerie marks the sides of the casaque and trim the fronts, the collar, the sleeves, and their armscyes.
Parisian. Overcoat in black taffeta, with jagged edges: in each notch, there is an application of black lace; on the edges, a flounce of wide black lace; a bridging lace edges the fronts, increases into points over the arms, descends again, trims the overcoat in the back, and rises again on the other front.
Brazilian. Traveling talma in poppy-colored cashmere. This talma is only flat and takes a Louis XV form in the back, represented by a very wide pleat. The trimming is composed of a wide band of black taffeta, surmounted by a narrower band; the tabs are of black taffeta, trimmed with black metal buttons, positioned on the back pleat, diminishing in length as they descend to the lower edge of the talma.
Some notes:
- “Lauzun” likely refers to the title of “Duc de Lauzun”, which was extant between 1692 and 1793, and possibly to the last holder of the title, Armand Louis de Gontaut. Gontaut fought under Rochambeau in the American Revolution; he went back to France to report victory at the Siege of Yorktown and was celebrated for it. He also led the French Revolutionary Army against the Vendee, but was executed on charges of incivisme. It might also refer to the previous duke, Louis Antoine de Gontaut, who was a military hero under Louis XV, given other Louis XV references here.
- There’s another Lauzun jacket later in the year, which looks nothing like this one. It has an extremely 18th century look.
- The casaque is also named in reference to an 18th century figure: Marie-Jeanne Bécu (1743-1793), Comtesse du Barry, last mistress of Louis XV.
- “Casaque” literally means “cassock” but I felt it was better to consider it a separate term as this is very much a different garment.
- A talma is simply a cloak or wrap. The name likely is derived from the comedian François-Joseph Talma (1763-1826): a cartoon in Le Charivari in 1852 shows men in short capes with the caption, “The new Talma mantle, thus called because it gives a completely comic air to the one who wears it.” Most of the uses I’ve seen after that image have been for a woman’s garment, though the association of talma-ness with being less than full length remained.
- The back pleat of this talma is intended to evoke a robe à la française, though the jury is out on whether it does.
Mimic of Modes 