Part One
Background
In France, after the Revolution there
was a democracy of fashion. All levels of society were able to participate. Expensive
silks, which would have been the preserve of the aristocracy, gave way to
cottons, linen and muslin. The fashionable silhouette needed no corsetry,
padding or panniers. The form was simple and inspired by the clothes of
antiquity. By the late 1790s this had
evolved into the familiar shape of the ‘Empire Line’. Within the fashionable democracy
some women wanted to enhance the style further by adding expensive accessories
to their dresses.
Early Costume Parisien fashion plates
show embroidered reticules, fichus and plain shawls. But by the early 1800s the first
‘Cashemire’ shawls started to appear in fashion plates.
The Cashmere shawl became an object
of desire for those who could afford it and the ultimate accessory. To
understand why, you need to appreciate how much one of these shawls would cost.
The shawls were only produced in the Kashmir region and the spinning and
weaving process was complicated due to the nature of the goat’s hair fibers. It
is said that one shawl could take up to three years to weave. Then there was
the further expense of transportation by land and sea to Europe. One bill from
‘Lenormand’ for a green cashmere shawl for the Empress in 1809 shows a price of
1920 francs. That is the equivalent to many thousands in today’s money.
 |
| Kashmir goat painted 1819. |
Not only a shawl
 |
| Mans waistcoat 1780-90 V&A Collection |
 |
| Robe made from cashmere shawl c. 1797 |
There are two late 18th century examples of
clothes made from cashmere shawls in the Victoria and Albert Museum. However, in France the actual shawl dress or 'robe de cashemire' started to
appear in Costume Parisien by 1804.
One of the most famous wearers of this
fashion was Josephine, Empress of France.
“Josephine- She had from three to four hundred shawls; she used them for dresses, for bed covers and for cushions for her dog. She always wore one in the morning which she draped over her shoulders more gracefully than anyone else that I have seen. Bonaparte who thought she was too much covered by these shawls, would pull them off and sometimes threw them into the fire. Josephine then called for another”
Mme de Remusat, Memoires.
As a costume maker it is interesting
to understand how they would cut a shawl to make a dress. The paintings of the
period offer many clues to their construction. It is obvious that the two ends
of the shawl length make up the skirt part of the dress. A painting of
Josephine and of her daughter Hortense shows the bodice is part of the centre
of the shawl with the side border clearly visible. They are both caught at the
shoulder in a tunic style. This could be a reference to classical fashion but
also for practicality to use smaller parts of the centre of the shawl with a
seam at the shoulder covered by the decorative pin.
3 comments:
What an interesting post!!! Thank you very much for share this information
Nereida
What an interesting study! This shows that the shawls back then were really huge. I wonder wether they were purchased in purpose to sew a dress or wether it was originally common to turn them into something different after wearing them for a while.
Sabine
Thank you. @ Sabine, I'm still trying to establish whether they used the length of both ends of the shawl for the skirt or just one side. I'll post part two next week :-)
Post a Comment