Le Coquet, No. 22, from Journal des Modes Spécial pour Couturières 1869

Laure Noël made this print, ‘Le Coquet, No. 22, from Journal des Modes Spécial pour Couturières’ with etching and aquatint in France in the mid-19th century. It presents an ideal of bourgeois feminine fashion, class identity, and social aspiration. The image employs a visual code that was highly legible in its time. Dresses of such elaborate construction signalled wealth and status. Rendered in pastel shades, these signifiers offer the viewer an aspirational vision of middle-class life. This was a time of rapid industrialization and urban expansion in France. Publications such as the 'Journal des Modes Spécial pour Couturières' helped to shape consumer tastes and desires, in turn driving demand for the products of the industrial fashion system. Through careful historical research, we can understand the complex interplay of fashion, class, and industry in 19th-century France, recognizing that even seemingly innocuous images played a part in shaping social norms.