Eighteenth-Century French Fashion Plates in Full Color: 64 Engravings from the "Galerie des Modes," 1778-1787

by Stella Blum (Editor)

The Galerie des Modes has been called the "most beautiful collection in existence on the fashions of the eighteenth century." Published over a 10-year period, from 1778 to 1787, its plates were elegantly drawn, accurately engraved, and exquisitely hand colored by the most celebrated fashion artists of the era. This monument to costume illustration was reproduced by Emile Lévy in Paris between 1911 and 1914. Here are 64 of the finest plates from the Lévy edition, reproduced faithfully from the originals. Selected by costume historian Stella Blum, former Curator of Costumes at the Costume Institute of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, they offer a splendid representation of French fashion in the late eighteenth century.
The great social, economic, and political changes of the turbulent period that led to the Revolution in 1789 were reflected in its the influence on traditional women's costume of the dress of servants and country women; the exotic costumes of actresses; and the simpler, more practical English styles. Men's fashions were also affected by the English as well as by the exaggerated Italianate fashions sported by foppish "macaronis." Children's fashions include the one-piece mantelot, interesting as a forerunner of the attire of the sans-culottes. Special fashion terms, many of which have been obscured by time, are defined in a Glossary.

Genres: Fashion, History, Fashion History

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1982

About the author

Stella Blum, née Biercuk (19 October 1916 – 31 July 1985), was an American fashion historian.

Blum was born in Schenectady, New York on 19 October 1916 and graduated from Syracuse University with a B.F.A. degree in 1938. She married George A. Blum the following year and they had two sons together. She attended New York University, Queens College and New York University Institute of Fine Arts. Blum worked for the Museum of Costume Art from 1940 until 1942 when she quit to raise her children. Upon her return in 1953, she was appointed assistant curator and was promoted to associate curator in 1970 and curator of costumes at the Costume Institute from 1970 to 1973. She left the Metropolitan Museum, into which the Costume Institute had merged, to open a new center for the decorative arts and costumes at Kent State University from 1983 to 1985. Blum died of cancer in Ravenna, Ohio, on 31 July 1985.

Blum was a guest curator for the Detroit Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Arts, Portland Museum of Art, and St. Louis Museum and she catalogued exhibitions in Australia, Switzerland, and Japan. She wrote four books on fashion history, often using images from period catalogues or magazines to illustrate the clothes.

Reviews

[April-Jane Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a brilliant visual guide while I was editing my book, it really helped me envisage the gowns I was trying to describe! There is little writing but the plates themselves are full of detail.