Le Follet Courrier des Salons, 1836, No. 498 : Long-champs. 1836

This fashion plate, created in 1836, showcases the height of Parisian style through delicate engravings. Observe the dress's voluminous sleeves, echoing the Gigot style, symbols of status and wealth, akin to the ruffs of the Elizabethan era, representing confinement and aristocratic presentation. Note the emphasis on the waist: cinched tightly, reflecting the hourglass figure, and adorned with a bow. This motif, recurring through history from ancient Greece to Rococo art, signifies love, beauty, and control—a visual representation of the ideal feminine form, a standard that wields immense psychological power, inviting both desire and unattainable aspirations. Consider how the seated woman embodies the cultural values of her time, each detail—from the bonnet to the bouffant skirt—contributing to a complex narrative of beauty, status, and aspiration. The bow, the waist, the dress's elaborate shape: they are all components of an unending cycle, re-emerging in new forms, each time subtly altered by the currents of societal dreams.