Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette

Organized in conjunction with Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture, this Cabinet installation presents twenty-four hand-colored engravings that depict French fashion in the late eighteenth century. These engravings, known as fashion plates, are selected from Gallerie des modes et costumes français (1778–87), the largest and most influential series of such plates at the time. Featuring over four hundred images created by talented designers and engravers in Paris, Gallerie des modes inspired many competitors and counterfeits across Europe. Its success anticipated the arrival of true fashion magazines, such as Cabinet des modes (1785–93). Catering to an increasingly fashion-conscious public, Gallerie des modes shows a wide range of poufs, headwear, jewelry and ensembles worn by French people from various walks of life. Touted as "d'après nature" (drawn from life), these images were presented as accurate representations of the diverse fashions that flourished under the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. No complete set of Gallerie des modes survives today. Many were discarded when fashions changed, and others could have been destroyed during the French Revolution due to their association with the decadence of the ancien régime. The Frick Art Research Library has an impressive collection of three hundred and seventy original prints, a selection of which will be on view at the Frick for the first time.