La Mode Illustrée, Journal de la Famille, 1882 1882

This is “La Mode Illustrée, Journal de la Famille,” made in 1882 by Firmin-Didot & Cie. It's a print, an image created for wide distribution. Consider the processes involved in making garments like those depicted here. These gowns involved many specialized skills: weaving cloth, dyeing it, cutting and assembling the pattern, not to mention embroidery and lace-making. These were highly gendered forms of labor, often performed within the home, but increasingly outsourced to workshops as industrialization progressed. Prints like these played a crucial role in this process, standardizing design and taste, and projecting an image of luxury that belied the often difficult conditions of production. The image presents a fantasy of leisure. But it also shows how women are involved in the wider capitalist system through their work and consumption. Ultimately, this image highlights the many hidden hands involved in the making of fashion, blurring the line between fine art and the more everyday, yet equally skilled, world of dressmaking.