Fashion Plate, April 1808

Fashion plate: Le Beau Monde, or Literary and Fashionable Magazine, April, 1808 (vol. 3, no. 20)

This image appeared in Le Beau monde, or Literary and fashionable magazine in 1808, the third year of its publication. It was printed in London by J. B. Bell (1745-1831), who also printed La Belle Assemblée. URI’s copy is erroneously inscribed with the year “1803.”

Men’s dress in this fashion plate followed Napoleonic or military character. The emulation of Napoleon and other trends in France governed this style with features like the tailcoat, a saber or sword, a bicorn hat, and boots (McPhee 2011, 4-7). Both gentlemen wear tailcoats over white linens, breeches, buckled shoes or boots. Elaborately tied, white neckties flank sideburns, curls, and tailcoats. The man on the left sports the bicorn hat.

The woman’s dress features a white neoclassical gown over which a pink pelisse is worn. The hem is longer in the back, and trails on the ground. Fashion shifted in the era after the reign of terror into less visible social divisions. The exploration of these styles and speak to the democratic social and political regime after the collapse of the aristocratic society in France as well as the gradual movement towards industrialization of textiles.

References:

McPhee, Constance. 2011. “How Napoleon Became an Emblem.” Art in Print 1, No. 4:4-10.