Jane Birkin and George Harrison at the Cannes Film Festival, 1968
Textile Sample Book (French, circa 1840-50).
Woven wool and silk fabrics on paper.
Images and text information courtesy The Met.
Theย Incroyablesย (French:ย [ษฬkสwajabl], "incredibles") and their female counterparts, theย Merveilleusesย (French:ย [mษสvษjรธz], "marvelous women"), were members of a fashionable aristocraticย subcultureย in Paris during theย French Directoryย (1795โ1799). Whether asย catharsisย or in a need to reconnect with other survivors of theย Reign of Terror, they greeted the new regime with an outbreak of luxury, decadence, and even silliness. They held hundreds of balls and started fashion trends in clothing andย mannerismsย that today seem exaggerated, affected, or even effete. They were also mockingly called "incoyable" or "meveilleuse", without the letter R, reflecting their upper class accent in which that letter was lightly pronounced, almost inaudibly. When this period ended, society took a more sober and modest turn.
^Picture fromย Les Franรงais sous la Rรฉvolutionย by Augustin Challamel & Wilhelm Tรฉnint
Ornate carriages reappeared on the streets of Paris the day after the execution (28 July 1794) ofย Maximilien Robespierre, which brought an end to the Jacobin-eraย Committee of Public Safetyย and signaled the commencement of theย Thermidorian Reaction. There were masters and servants once more in Paris, and the city erupted in a furor of pleasure-seeking and entertainment. Theaters thrived, and popular music satirized the excesses of the Revolution.
Many public balls wereย bals des victimesย at which young aristocrats who had lost loved ones to theย guillotineย danced in mourning dress or wore black armbands, greeting one another with violent movements of the head as if in decapitation.[n 2]ย A ball held at theย Hรดtel Thellussonย on theย rue de Provenceย in theย 9th arrondissement of Parisย restricted its guest list to the grown children of the guillotined.
^Painting Un Incroyable, by Carle Vernet, perhaps the first image of a top hat (1796)
The Merveilleuses scandalized Paris with dresses and tunics modeled after the ancient Greeks and Romans, cut of light or even transparent linen and gauze. Sometimes so revealing they were termed "woven air", many gowns displayedย cleavageย and were too tight to allow pockets. In some caricaturized representations, the gowns were dampened in order to further cling to the figure.[3]ย To carry even a handkerchief, the ladies had to use small bags known asย reticules.[4]ย They were fond of wigs, often choosing blonde because theย Paris Communeย had banned blonde wigs, but they also wore them in black, blue, and green. Enormous hats, short curls like those on Roman busts, and Greek-style sandals were the rage. The sandals tied above the ankle with crossed ribbons or strings of pearls. Exotic and expensive scents fabricated by perfume houses likeย Parfums Lubinย were worn both for style and as indicators of social station.ย Thรฉrรฉsa Tallien, known as "Our Lady of Thermidor", wore expensive rings on the toes of her bare feet and gold circlets on her legs.
^Paris Ladies in their Winter dress (1799). English caricature by Isaac Cruikshank
The Incroyables wore eccentric outfits: large earrings, green jackets, wide trousers, huge neckties, thick glasses, and hats topped by "dog ears", their hair falling on their ears. Theirย musk-based fragrances earned the derogatory nicknameย muscadinsย for them and their immediate predecessors, a more middle-class group of anti-Jacobins. They woreย bicorneย hats and carried distinctive knobbled bludgeons or canes, which they referred to as their "executive power." Hair was often shoulder-length, sometimes pulled up in the back with a comb to imitate the hairstyles of the condemned. Some sported large monocles. They frequently affected aย lisp, allegedly to avoid the letter "R" as inย revolution, and sometimes a stooped, hunchbacked posture or slouch, as caricatured in numerous cartoons of the time.[5]
Mihรกly Munkรกcsy (Hungarian), The Music Room, 1878, oil on canvas.
