Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien, 19 mai 1803, An 11, (471): Chapeau de Paille perlé 1803

This print, made by Pierre Charles Baquoy in 1803, depicts a fashionable lady of the Directoire period in France. Its primary material is the paper onto which the image has been engraved, a relatively novel and widespread material at the time. Consider how its appearance is directly linked to production: the crisp lines, achieved through the skilled hand of the engraver using specialized tools, speak to the rise of print culture. These fashion plates, as they were known, reveal the material aspirations of the rising middle class. Note the woman's straw hat - “Chapeau de Paille” - adorned with pearls, carefully rendered by Baquoy. The very act of depicting and circulating these images through print was a form of cultural production, standardizing ideas of taste and disseminating them widely. This artwork blurs the line between fine art and commercial craft, illustrating how fashion itself became a form of mass production and consumption.