Petit Courrier des Dames, 1823, No. 103 : Chapeau de velours plein (...) 1823

This fashion plate from the Petit Courrier des Dames was made in Paris in 1823, using engraving and hand-colouring. It depicts a velvet hat and a satin dress, trimmed with cotton and lace. The image offers a fascinating insight into the fashion industry of post-revolutionary France, when journals like this one played a key role in shaping bourgeois culture, dictating the latest styles and tastes. We can consider the social conditions that enabled the development of fashion as an industry, and the values that underpinned it. Was this image intended to reinforce existing class structures, or to help the bourgeoisie adopt new progressive styles? To delve further, we could explore the history of fashion journals, the growth of consumer culture in France, and the socio-economic status of the women who were the target audience for publications like the Petit Courrier des Dames. Only then we can fully appreciate its place in the social fabric of the time.