Costumes Parisiens at The Chester Beatty Library
Writing in the Journal des Dames et des Modes, (issue no.11 on 10th September 1912), Lucie Delarue-Mardrus noted: “if it were simply a matter of clothing oneself, fashion would certainly not exist. But it is above all a matter of attiring oneself, and whoever says attire says ornament, and whoever says ornament says art… So, ladies, be stylish. It is a great civic duty. Though Notre-Dame is a cathedral, it is nonetheless une dame. May your exterior be also the cathedral of your soul.”
The Chester Beatty Library has a wonderful exhibition celebrating this Parisian fashion magazine. Running until March 30th, Costumes Parisiens has almost 150 of the Journal’s unique fashion illustrations. The exhibition is a vivid record of Parisian culture and fashion in the last years of the Belle Époque.
And bringing us bang up to date is Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring Summer 2014 Haute Couture show in Paris, where he described his inspiration as: “Life is a butterfly! So all the collection is that!”