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Section 3. Study of art
https://doi.org/10.29013/ESR-21-5.6-17-21
Vovk Anatoliy Nikolaevich, Postgraduate student of aint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design E-mail: vovk.anatolij@gmail.com
ORIENTALIST VESTMENTAL ACCESSORIES IN WOMEN'S ATTIRE DURING THE FIRST EMPIRE
Abstract. The relevance of the research, first of all, is conditioned by enormous character of the upheavals caused by the period of the First Empire and Napoleonic wars which have mainly predetermined the image of modern Europe in many respects. The events of 1804-1815 attracted attention not only to the foreign and domestic policy of the Emperor Napoleon, but also to the changes in women's costume associated with it. The formation of the costume of the era fully reflected the various events of the First Empire's politics.
Keywords: fashion, France, Napoleon, empire, turban, shawl, protectionism.
France during the First Empire was a state that in the architecture of the reign of King Louis XVI.
fought wars in the East. Before coming to power and being crowned, Napoleon visited Egypt and Syria. The states of the East had an impact on the lives of the French, who found themselves in Africa, because France traded with the Levant via Marseille.
The art that made Napoleon's trips to Egypt famous brought a new and exotic style to French life. In 1802 the La Description De L'Egypte was published. The unfamiliar concept of the mysterious region's new architectural elements gradually found its way into the interiors of France. This Egyptian style in the interior was called the "retour d'Egypte". It is erroneous to claim that the style emerged at the time of the Egyptian campaign. Furniture with sphinxes designed by Richard Mique can be found in the chambers of Queen Marie-Antoinette in Versailles before the revolution. The chief architect of the Ancien Régime, Mique was able to enforce the neoclassical style that was to become the main style
Furniture with sphinx heads, wings and palmettes became fashionable for a brief period. After 1798, the manufactory in Sèvres produced porcelain with Egyptian motifs. Sets with deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs appear on the tables.
Considering that architecture, being one of the tectonic arts, influences the formation of fashion, the new aesthetic vision of clothing in France was based on Napoleon's campaigns in Africa. The new fashion exploited the shawls, turbans and fabrics brought to France, which in the First Empire became a free propaganda of state policy.
Turbans as part of eighteenth-century women's costume existed under Queen Marie Antoinette. According to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts dresses à la turque first appeared in July 1779. Borrowing Oriental art from the Ottoman Empire, the style became the basis for a style that sang the praises of Turkey. In Europe and in Russia, such a style was
known under the French word "turquerie". Turkish chambers designs, those of Queen Marie Antoinette and the Count d'Artois were a frequent occurrence in the upper echelons of society. For women's dress, the Turkish influence was expressed in special robe à la turque dresses. The base of such a dress was made by the haberdashery of a manteau different in colour from the sleeves, corsage, underskirt, which was long and with a trend. At the level of the skirt, the manteau did not fit at the front, making it look like the Duchesse de Pompadour's flared dress.
Sometimes the manteau was sewn with a seam around the neckline like a dressing gown. In the biweekly magazine Cabinet des modes, in which Parisian women could read about fashion, the January 1786 issue wrote the following about the Turkish dress: "Frenchwomen, fundamentally in the capital, which was the centre of taste, began to imitate even the costumes of all nations. From robes à la française to robes à la polonaise, from robes à la lévite to robes à l'anglaise and robes à la turque. In the latter, the beautiful woman achieves a triumph more precise and pleasing than the women in the harems of Constantinople. And there is not a single sultan who will not envy her elegance, grace, and the honours bestowed upon her" [1, 34]. Such dresses were accompanied by special head-dresses which were called "nakara". The Turkish dress required a special headdress, which looked like a turban with a big knot of ribbons. A feather or egret was attached to the centre of the turban. The corset and underskirt were made of the same coloured material, often white satin, sometimes with flowers.
The turban from a French Turkish gown, which caught the end of the reign of King Louis XVI, passed into the fashion of the Empire period. For Baroness Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, daughter ofJacques Necker, Minister of Finance of the royal regime, the turban was part of the recognizable image (Il. 1).
A publicist and owner of a literary salon, Germaine de Stael was able to become one of Napoleon's
most frequently cited opponents in terms of her politics and views on the administration of the state. Her influence on French fashion was not as great as that of Empress Joséphine in France. To Europe, Baroness de Stael looked like a prisoner of the regime which persecuted her, restricting her freedom of movement and action. "It was said in social circles of the time that if Napoleon persecuted Madame de Stael, it was not so much for her liberal way of thinking and oppositional spirit - that he could still excuse, but for the fact that she was intelligent and well-read, a quality which he believed unbecoming of women, something he could never forgive" [2, 152]. Given that de Stael's turbans were part of her image for many, they had a political role to play.
Figure Il.1 Marie-Éléonore Godefroid Portrait of Anne Louise Germaine Necker, Baroness de Stael-Holstein. 1810. canvas, oil, 119 x 83 cm. Palace of Versailles. Paris
Unlike French women who wore small hats or turbans, Baroness de Stael chose large turbans for her portraits. In the portraits that show de Stael at various periods of her life, the turban is a major part
of her attire, sometimes theatrical. In addition to the turban, Eastern influences included the shawls brought back by the French from the Egyptian campaign at the end of the eighteenth century.
Until Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801, cashmere shawls were not in fashion in Europe. Shawls made from the fine wool of cashmere goats were common in Asia, mainly in India. The first shawls in France were brought in the 1790 s by Napoleon's generals and officers commanding troops in Egypt as trophies for their wives. While still in Egypt, Napoleon gave shawls to Joséphine, who became one of the first fashionable women in France to wear shawls. In the 1790s, Joséphine's attitude to shawls was neutral. In her letters to Eugène de Beauharnais she wrote: "I received the shawls. They may be of the highest quality, and so expensive, but they are rather unsightly. Their only advantage may be their lightness. I doubt if they can ever come into fashion" [3, 73].
In Antoine-Jean Gros's portrait Joséphine, shown standing full-length, wears two shawls: a white unbleached wool shawl and a red shawl. The first ecru shawl from which the dress was made echoes the red shawl in motifs along the hem. The second shawl is tied by Joséphine at the waist and left on her left shoulder. Gros was able to show the length of the red shawl that lies behind Joséphine's back, which speaks to the large size of the individual shawls in the Empire style period. Behind Joséphine, the artist shows a part of the shawl that resembles a dress trend. The portrait is symbolic and when viewed in detail gives an idea of the Empress. In a vase decorated with "J", which was the symbol of the Empress, the artist shows several hydrangea blossoms, alluding to the name of her daughter Hortense. At the level of Napoleon's wife's gaze is a bust of her son Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy, Napoleon's stepson. The portrait clearly shows the short sleeves as well as the undershirt under the fringe of a white cashmere shawl. With the density of cashmere shawls, the dresses that were made from them were not worn without undershirts (Ill. 2).
Figure Il.2. Antoine-Jean Gros's Portrait of Empress Joséphine, 1809, canvas, oil, Musée Massena
Figure Il.3. Illustration from the Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien
Shawls could be of different colours, allowing dresses to be made with a variety of colours, which could be lilac, pink, green. The trend for shawl dresses continued until 1815, as seen in the pages of the Journal des dames et des modes. The dresses were sewed of two sections of shawl without decorative elements, however, there were some exceptions (Il.3).
A dress with a cut-off bodice and crossbars connecting the dress in the centre and sleeves. These dresses were very costly to make, as the pieces of detail cut out of the shawl had to be fitted to each other (Ill. 4).
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Figure Il. 4. Illustration from the Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien
Given the lightness of cambric dresses, such shawl dresses became an option for warming a woman's body. In 1810 an interesting variant of a dress cut appeared on the pages of the Journal des dames et des modes. The shawl dress was presented as a redingote. It had elements of a redingote, as well as a collar that had never been used for dresses. Similar collars were used for men's tailcoats, trench coats,
but not for women's empire style dresses. The dark shades indicated practicality and that such dresses were worn for outings (Il. 5).
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Figure Il. 5. Illustration from the Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien
To summarise, a shawl dress could be an alternative to a gown, but not a shawl. In 1806, dresses that resembled gowns with a belt were in fashion. From the waist to the hem of the dress the gown diverged in two parts in the middle, which allowed for a silhouette that extended to the bottom. Dresses with short sleeves were worn with long gloves, contrasting with the colour of the dress. Shawls of pale shades were suggested to complement the dress, preferably light shawls similar in shape to stoles.
Excess shawls were used by Josephine to create dog cushions for her pets on the sofa and bedspreads for her personal use [4, 171]. In addition to dresses and shawl cushions, Josephine's individual tailors, like Leroy, could create mantos [5, 190].
It is truly difficult to determine the extent of fashion for shawls and turbans. They appeared in all
the fashion magazines as well as in many portraits. could find: carmine red, amaranth colour, colour
Besides cashmere shawls, large embroidered shawls of Egyptian earth, indigo blue, canary yellow, red-
from Smyrna in gold thread were also in vogue. The brick, colour of field poppy. Oriental reminiscences
marchands of fashion were not limited to one kind were a reflection of Napoleon's policy with his wars
of shawl or stole with oriental motifs. In the co- in the East and his desire to consolidate the public's
lour palette of fashion goods brought to France one perception of the greatness of France.
References:
1. Cabinet des modes, ou les Modes nouvelles, décrites d'une manière claire & précise, & représentées par des planches en taille-douce, enluminées.- Paris. 15 janvier. 1786.- 46 p.
2. Тарле Е. В. Наполеон.- М.: Азбука, 2012.- 512 с.
3. Латур А. Волшебники парижской моды.- М.: Этерна, 2012.- 440 c.
4. Rémusat A. Mémoires sur les relations politiques des princes chrétiens, et particulièrement des rois de France, avec les empereurs mongols.- Imprimerie Royale, 1822.- Т. 1.
5. Foulkes, Quality Always Distinguishes Itself, Paris, 1999.- 190 p.
