Journal des Demoiselles et Petit Courrier des Dames, 15 Juillet 1902, No. 5282 : Objets de Lingeri (...) 1902

This print was made in France in 1902 for the Journal des Demoiselles, a fashion magazine for young women. The magazine's title, emblazoned across the top, is itself highly revealing of the socio-cultural context in which this image was made. The term ‘demoiselles’ evokes a very particular vision of young, unmarried women, while the focus on fashion and ‘small news’ (‘petit courrier’) suggests a world of feminine concerns quite separate from that of men. But such images not only reflected social norms, they actively helped to construct them. The print is an advertisement for luxury underwear, with the name and address of the maker at the bottom. The display of such intimate items in a public forum like a magazine tells us about the changing status of women at the turn of the century and the burgeoning fashion and advertising industries that targeted them as consumers. To understand this image more fully, historians might consult fashion archives, social surveys of the period, and publications on the history of advertising. The meaning of this image is contingent on its historical and institutional context.