Le bournous 1860s

This photograph by Pierre-Louis Pierson captures a young girl adorned in a bournous, a North African cloak. The bournous, with its tassels and distinctive vertical stripes, evokes a sense of exoticism and cultural exchange, reflecting the orientalist trends popular in 19th-century European art. The garment speaks to a broader fascination with the ‘Orient,’ a term once laden with the weight of European colonial imagination. We find echoes of this fascination in Delacroix’s paintings or even in the theatrical costumes of the time, where the ‘Eastern’ garb signified a world of mystery and allure. However, the bournous, in its original context, served as a functional garment, a protective layer against the harsh desert climate. Here, the cultural symbol is far removed from its origins, repurposed within a European context. The image taps into deep-seated desires for the exotic, engaging viewers on a subconscious level and revealing the cyclical nature of cultural appropriation.