Collection consacrée aux modes d'hommes et de femmes, 1783-1813, No. 35 (181) : Un jeune Elegant faisant Jabot (...) 1783 - 1813

This fashion plate, made around 1800, presents a young man adjusting his jabot, a lace frill. This seemingly simple gesture speaks volumes about the codes of elegance during the French Directory period. The jabot, a symbol of aristocratic refinement inherited from previous centuries, is now being playfully adjusted, signaling a move towards a more relaxed, yet studied, nonchalance. Think of similar gestures across history, like the rakish tilt of a hat in a Renaissance portrait, each a nuanced expression of self-presentation. This act of adjusting the jabot finds echoes in later expressions of dandyism. Consider how this image engages our subconscious. This seemingly small adjustment becomes a microcosm of evolving social attitudes, a continual dance between inherited traditions and emergent individual expressions.