Audio

Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette | Audio Tour

Speaker: Yifu Liu

Yifu Liu: Welcome to the audio tour for Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette. My name is Yifu Liu and I am the Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow here at the Frick. In the eighteenth century, fashion plates such as those on view here were produced as a means of advertising innovations and trends in dressmaking and millinery. This was before the advent of fashion magazines. One of the largest and most influential series of such plates at the time was the Gallerie des modes et costumes français (or the Gallery of French Fashion and Costumes). The series was published for a little less than ten years—between 1778 and 1787—during the reign of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Featuring more than four hundred images created by designers and engravers in Paris, Gallerie des modes gained instant popularity, not only with fashion clients and designers but also with print collectors and even artists who likely used them for inspiration.

No complete set of the Gallerie des modes survives today. Many issues were discarded when fashions changed, and others were destroyed during the French Revolution. But the Frick Art Research Library has an impressive near-complete set of three hundred and seventy original prints, thanks to the generosity of Melinda Martin Sullivan. This exhibition features twenty-four plates from the Gallerie des modes and marks the first time we are showing a selection from these library holdings.

The exhibition opens with two fashion styles closely associated with Marie Antoinette, one showing her in a court gown, and the other showing the chemise à la reine, a type of informal dress that she popularized.

The next group of plates depicts elements of the fashion industry, including a hairdresser at work and a shopgirl selling her goods, along with two plates dedicated to hairstyles and hats.

Around the corner are ten images of casual daywear styles. These are worn by figures engaged in various activities, among them, drinking hot chocolate and going to a masquerade ball.

In between the windows are four images of figures in black and white garments, illustrating the wardrobe requirements for the different stages of grand mourning.

Finally, in between the doorways, are three plates depicting some of the luxurious court styles worn for formal occasions.

These images were advertised as “d’après nature,” or drawn from life. They were meant to be accurate representations of the diverse fashions worn by French people from various walks of life. This rare collection of prints, with its vivid colors kept in near perfect condition, provides invaluable insights into the material and visual culture of late eighteenth-century France.