Fashion and Costume Plates

I mentioned in "Vogue History/Origins of fashion magazine" about Fashion plates, I never really went into what they are or what I meant by fashion plates. So for this article I'm going to explain what fashion plates and costume plates are briefly.

 

(image from community.livejournal.com/lamodeillustree/332462.html)

A Fashion Plate is an illustration of what is currently in fashion, and is used mainly to promote and publish possible future fashions. A Costume Plate illustrates what was once worn in the past.

 

(image from www.fashion-era.com)

Fashion plates first appeared in "The Lady's Magazine" in 1770 and became very popular towards the 19th century. The plates were printed in magazines aimed at women of the time. The illustrations themselves were hand colored by various artists employed by the magazine. The artists were given free range to color them however they wanted, sometimes leading to there being major differences in other copy's of the same magazine.

 

(image from www.fashion-era.com)

British and American fashion magazine's couldn't keep up with the creative flare of the French fashion plates, leading American and British magazine's to start importing copies of the French fashion plates to place into their magazines. This lead to British and American women being six to nine months behind in current fashion trends and styles of the time.

(image from zimmer.csufresno.edu/~monicaf/)