Journal des Luxus und der Moden 1790, Band V, T.11 1790

This fashion plate from Friedrich Justin Bertuch’s *Journal des Luxus und der Moden* was made in Germany in 1790. Bertuch’s journal, published monthly out of Weimar, was an attempt to keep pace with the rapidly changing styles coming out of Paris and London. Consider the role of fashion magazines in the late eighteenth century: they helped disseminate new styles from the fashion capitals of Europe to a wider audience. This print demonstrates the aspirations of the rising German middle class. By studying these images, they could keep up with the latest trends and participate in a shared European culture. But fashion was more than just aesthetics. It was a language of social status, gender, and national identity. To fully understand this image, we would need to research the history of fashion, the publishing industry, and the social history of Germany in the late eighteenth century. Art is never created in a vacuum, and its meaning is always shaped by the context in which it is made and viewed.