Revue de la Mode, Gazette de la Famille, dimanche 25 avril 1886, 15e Année, No. 747: Toilettes de Mme Benoit (...) 1886

A. Chaillot created this print, Revue de la Mode, Gazette de la Famille, in France in 1886. It depicts two women modelling the latest fashions. The image, printed in a popular magazine, provides a window into the world of the late 19th-century French bourgeoisie, a class buoyed by colonial expansion, industrial growth, and a rigid social hierarchy. Note the elaborate construction of the dresses, which required time, money, and skilled labor to produce. These visual cues indicated the wearer’s elite social status. The fashion industry was booming at this time, and these magazines were essential for disseminating style trends. Advertisers played a key role, as did the critics who shaped public taste. We can consider the social function of such publications. Did they merely reflect existing social norms, or did they play an active role in shaping them? To learn more, look to primary sources such as fashion magazines, etiquette manuals, and social commentaries. These resources can help us understand the complex interplay between art, commerce, and society in 19th-century France.