Journal des Demoiselles, 1 Juillet 1889, Nr. 4736 : Toilettes de Mme Gradoz (...) 1889

Editor: This watercolor print from 1889, "Journal des Demoiselles," by P. Deferneville, showcases the fashions of the time. I am drawn to the intricate details of the fabrics and the way they represent social status. How can we interpret this work through a material lens? Curator: A materialist reading pushes us to consider how the production and consumption of fashion intertwined with labor and class. What kind of labor was involved in creating the clothes depicted here? Who had access to these materials and who did not? Editor: I imagine seamstresses toiling away, and perhaps even child labor in factories, to produce the textiles for these garments. The fine detail suggests meticulous handwork, implying skilled and potentially exploited labor. Curator: Precisely. We also need to think about the colonial context. Where did the raw materials for these fabrics originate? The dyes? The exoticism implied in these "Toilettes" connects consumption in France to global networks of resource extraction and exploitation. Is it high art or a document of the labor involved? Editor: That’s a great point. The "Journal" format seems to blur the lines between high art and a catalogue, reminding me that it's an object of consumption itself, reproduced and distributed widely. Curator: Exactly. It served to propagate the ideals and aspirations of the bourgeois, while simultaneously masking the means of its own production and distribution, effectively becoming a product just like the fashions displayed in its panels. What implications might the consumer culture depicted hold for its audience? Editor: I hadn't considered the colonial element, it really puts the image into perspective. It speaks to the globalized fashion industry, even back then, and raises uncomfortable questions about its ethics. Curator: Thinking about the materiality of art and its social implications opens up so many layers.