Ruffles & Ribbons: The Pouf

Join Yifu Liu, Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow, in the reading room of the Frick Art Research Library for this deep dive into the fashion of the “pouf”—the voluminous 18th-century hairstyle popularized by Marie Antoinette. Yifu discusses various types of poufs, as well as the measures women took to preserve them for days at a time, as illustrated in hand-colored engravings from the period.

Twenty-four captivating eighteenth-century French fashion plates are on view through August 3 in the Frick’s Cabinet Gallery for the special installation Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette.

Learn more about the show at Ruffles & Ribbons, and plan a visit to the Frick Art Research Library.