Elegantia, of tijdschrift van mode, luxe en smaak voor dames, November 1807, No. 28: Capote de Velours et Satin... 1807

This fashion plate from November 1807 comes from the Dutch magazine ‘Elegantia,’ a journal dedicated to fashion, luxury, and taste for women. At the time, fashion magazines were a tool of soft power, spreading French fashion and culture throughout Europe in the wake of the French Revolution. This plate presents an ideal of feminine beauty and taste within the confines of bourgeois society. The woman’s dress and accessories signify her class and status, with each detail suggesting wealth and refinement. The colors are soft and feminine, creating a gentle, delicate image. The shawl, or ‘douillette,’ with its repeating pattern, may have been produced in India, and is a symbol of global trade routes and colonial power. Despite the seeming innocence of the scene, the plate reveals the complex intersections of gender, class, and colonialism in shaping identities and cultural values. The woman becomes a canvas upon which the social and economic forces of her time are displayed.