Petit Courrier des Dames, 1823, No. 186 : Chapeau de Velours (...) 1823

This is a fashion plate titled “Petit Courrier des Dames, 1823, No. 186 : Chapeau de Velours (...)”, made in 1823 by an anonymous artist. These plates were a product of Parisian culture, intended for circulation amongst the middle and upper classes. Let’s consider this image as a window into the performance of femininity during the Restoration period in France. We see a woman adorned in the latest fashions: a velvet hat, a Merino wool coat, and a satin dress. These plates served not only to dictate style but also to reinforce societal expectations around gender and class. Fashion and accessories, then, were a means to maintain and display social standing. The emotional and personal dimensions of fashion in the 1820s played a crucial role in shaping identity and self-perception. "Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman," Coco Chanel supposedly once said, capturing the essence of how clothing can simultaneously reveal and conceal. This fashion plate shapes societal expectations and mirrors the personal negotiations of identity through style.