Fashion du jour! Court Dress of Louise-Honorine

Anonymous, French, detail of Two Costume Designs or Portrait Types. 1785-1790,  Pen and black ink, graphite, gouache. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Well we have all read about the crazy gowns created for a day at court. And the fabulous scenes put together in a pouf for an evening ball. And of course, we love them and can't get enough of them! So here is a really great description of an ensemble worn by Louise-Honorine, duchesse de Choiseul while at the court of Versailles.

"It [gown] was made of blue satin, garnished with marten fur, embroidered with gold, adorned with diamonds, each diamond shining in the center of a silver star underlined by gold spangles, and with this dress, further enriched by lace sleeves, the duchesse wore her hair curled and powdered in a coiffure over three feet high which displayed a whole garden with a brook (made of mirror), a little jeweled clockwork windmill spinning away, flowers and grass.”

Bernier, Olivier. 1981. Pleasure and Privilege: Daily Life in France, Naples, and America, 1770-1790. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.