Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français, 1785, nr. 2, nr. 4, Kopie naar T 110: Habit á la Polonois (...) c. 1785

Curator: What a striking character! The figure's gaze draws me right in. Editor: Indeed! We're looking at "Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français, 1785," a print made around 1785 by Pierre Gleich. It is titled “Habit à la Polonoise." There's a whimsical feel to it. Curator: The Rococo style certainly announces itself here. The man almost seems like he is floating. It’s fascinating how clothing, especially for men in this period, took on such performative, almost theatrical qualities. What symbolism do you think is wrapped up in this display? Editor: The "Habit à la Polonoise"—that's Polish style—was, interestingly, a French interpretation of Eastern European fashion. So immediately we have layers of cultural appropriation and reinvention at play. And color—the muted reds, greens, and gold, they hint at wealth and status but within the confines of aristocratic play. It is almost like the colours of the circus. The walking stick becomes almost an emblem, representing power but leaning into it like the old aristocrats that clinged on that old, dusty past and way of living. Curator: I can't help but notice his open hand and direct stare, too. Is he gesturing a welcome, a dismissal, or perhaps presenting himself for our consideration? Editor: Perhaps it’s all of the above! He is the spectacle and the subject, frozen in a moment of perpetual performance. His gaze also invites introspection. What are we inheriting, and what are we discarding, from these visual emblems of the past? Curator: It is interesting to contemplate the echoes of the Rococo period, this pre-revolution dance of opulence and illusion, what survived and what was completely overturned... Editor: Right! It serves as a flamboyant echo through time—a ghost in a powdered wig, reminding us that fashion is always saying something, even if we no longer quite grasp the vocabulary.