Post-Royal Fashion
Jean-François Janinet, Mademoiselle Rose Bertin, Dressmaker to Marie-Antoinette. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Public domain.
During the 18th-century reign of King Louis XVI, a descendant of the Sun King Louis XIV, the prominence of fashion in the royal courts had been well established. Marie-Antoinette, his wife and queen, was a dedicated patron of the arts and highly influential in determining the social events and entertainment of the court. She embraced fashion from head to toe and chose a French hatmaker known as Rose Bertin (born Marie Jeanne Bertin) to be her adviser and stylist. Bertin’s role is considered to have set the grounds for the birth of haute couture by directing personalized clothing, hairstyle, and accessory choices for the queen. For much of the 18th century, Parisian fashions were admired and copied throughout Europe, and the aristocratic classes would travel to Paris to select and be individually fitted for custom-made clothing.
All of these roles temporarily disappeared during the French Revolution, as fashion trends such as plain trousers and Phrygian caps arose among the general public in opposition to the extravagances of royalty and the rich. The pendulum started to swing back to personalization and craftsmanship during the 1850s. Luxury fabric dealer Gagelin-Opigez & Cie. expanded into dressmaking after its clients showed interest in the designs and technical skills of one of its employees, Englishman Charles Frederick Worth. In 1858, Worth found partners and broke out on his own in Paris to produce and sell his clothing designs. The House of Worth set new fashion industry practices by showing garments on live models and inviting prospective clients to the salon for consultations and fittings, tangentially creating socialization opportunities among them. Within two years, Worth had become the designer of choice for Empress Eugénie and many other wealthy and famous figures from Europe and North America. The role of Paris-based royalty in setting and perpetuating fashion and artisanry was thus renewed.
The Chambre Syndicale de la Couture was established in 1868 as an updated version of the industry guilds from the days of King Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Today, it has evolved into the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture to annually apply the term haute couture to fashion houses that meet set criteria: the number of skilled workers in the production workshop, semi-annual presentations of new collections, and the custom creation of garments for specific clients. Virtually all design brands have expanded into more financially reliable ready-to-wear (prêt-à-porter) collections, contributing to a commonly held perception of haute couture to encompass all expensively elegant made-to-order clothing.
Jolibois evening dress by Jeanne Lanvin, 1922-23. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Jeanne Lanvin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Many of the most famous, lasting, and respected creative names in fashion are French: Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Hermès, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Yves St. Laurent, among others. Hermès, the longest-tenured, began in 1837 as a saddle and leather goods manufacturer followed by Louis Vuitton in 1854 as a luggage company. Each brand expanded into weekend and handbags on the way to offering arrays of thoughtfully-designed fine products.
The House of Lanvin was founded in 1889 when Jeanne Lanvin, a milliner, was inspired to design outfits for her daughter Marguerite. Lanvin’s line of children’s clothing gradually grew to include women’s and men’s collections, perfumes, shoes, bags, and other accessories, which continue to be sold across Europe, North America, and Asia. Of the many French women who established their own fashion houses, the most well-known may be Coco Chanel. The embodiment of a rags-to-riches story, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in a charity hospital and eventually sent to a Catholic orphanage where she learned to sew. As a young adult, she supported herself as a seamstress while singing in a cabaret that catered to military officers. Chanel’s liaisons introduced her to a moneyed social milieu where she garnered financial support for her commercial efforts - first as a hat designer, then with casual clothing that repudiated uncomfortable corsets and popularized loose, flowing designs aimed at wealthy beachgoers in Deauville and Biarritz. Her success enabled Chanel to open her own fashion house in Paris in 1919, where she would go on to design two enduring classics, the ‘little black dress’ adaptable for every woman and the Chanel suit as well as release her namesake perfume, Chanel No. 5, and popularize costume jewelry, among other fashion milestones.
The impact of these and other French fashion designers goes beyond the clothing and style choices of fashion insiders and haute couture clients. After the horrors, deprivation, and rationing of the Second World War, Christian Dior’s “New Look” of 1947 represented elegance, curvy femininity, and prosperity - an inspiration for a better future. Dior worked as a fashion artist and designer before and after his military service during the war, gaining valuable experience that led to the founding of his eponymous fashion house in 1946. Although the silhouettes of his New Look collection were criticized by some, including Coco Chanel, as retrograde in reviving outdated notions of feminine clothing shapes, the hope and lavishness that Dior’s designs represented helped rekindle interest in and love of fashion from Paris to Hollywood.
1968 “Safari” jacket for the Rive Gauche boutique, Yves St. Laurent. Museum at FIT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Upon Dior’s untimely death in 1957 at the age of 52 from a heart attack, his chosen successor, Yves St. Laurent, took over at the young age of 21. Dior had hired St. Laurent two years prior and strongly believed in his talent and vision. Three years later, St. Laurent was called to military service and abruptly dismissed from Dior, which he successfully contested in court. He subsequently started his own firm where his designs reflected some of the social developments of the 1960s - beatnik culture and the youth movement, unisex clothing such as pea coats and safari jackets, and clothing for women inspired by traditionally male classics, particularly pants and suits. St. Laurent’s “Le Smoking” tuxedo suit for women introduced and popularized the notion of power and presence with a feminine twist through clothing, a concept that has been reinterpreted over and over by other designers and in mass market attire ever since.
French fashion has rippled through royal influences, revolutionary symbols, evolving notions of femininity, wartime, social upheaval, and personal expression gone viral through social media. Gone are the days when royal courts virtually dictated fashion choices that the wealthy rushed to adopt. Fashion collections from French designers and others around the world continue to amaze, inspire, and influence with endless creativity and top-notch workmanship. Textiles range from silk and wool to synthetic materials to repurposed goods; clothing pieces may be gender-neutral and size-inclusive; elements from cultures near and afar pay homage to designers’ heritage, travels, and/or ideas of beauty. The aesthete within Marie-Antoinette was right after all in treating fashion as an art form.
Jeu de français
Until the next Fashion Week takes place in New York City in February 2024, test or enhance your knowledge of iconic French fashion designers by taking the following English-language multiple choice quiz.
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