Theatre De La Mode

 (images from enchantedvintageclothing.com and blogs.starbulletin.com)

During the aftermath of the Second World War, French Couturiers struggling to survive gathered together to bring couture fashion back to the public. These couturiers created the Theatre De La Mode, a touring exhibit of hand crafted fashion dolls made from wire with plaster heads and hands.

 (images from enchantedvintageclothing.com ) 

They sent abroad an estimated 200 handcrafted dolls all over Britain and the United States. These dolls were all dressed in the latest fashions, and were all posed together in front of little miniature sets like modern day editorials. These dolls had incredible amount of details put into their little outfits, they all had proper lining and included all the details you see in life sized garments. Theatre De La Mode raised money for war victims and promoted French couture fashion overseas.

  (images from enchantedvintageclothing.com ) 

for more on Theater De La Mode pleases vist the following blogger.

Using an artist’s mannequin and our research from the week before on the culture sign post youth culture, we were asked to create our own mini Theatre De La Mode doll. I created a little gathered skirt with lining and a wrap around top with beading for decoration, inspired from Harajuko girls of Japan.

 

 

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/)

Vogue and the History/Origins of Fashion Magazines

The history and origins of fashion magazines goes back hundreds of years, the very first magazines where created for men by men. The very first female orientated magazine appeared just over 300 years ago in London called “Ladies Mercury”. It was founded by English publisher and journalist John Delton in 1693.

(image from www.bl.uk)

In Delton’s first address to his readers, he openly declared that his magazine will respond to the most appealing and entertaining issues related to love, marriage, behaviors, fashion and women’s humor. It also featured the very first "questions and answers" column, where the reader would send a letter to the editor and discuss everyday problems.

Soon after magazines aimed at women took Europe by storm, with Germany releasing "Gournal des Luxus und des Moden", followed by Britain with "The Lady's Magazine" and "Gallery of Fashion" and France had as many as four fashion magazines. All of them included illustrated fashion plates depicting the latest’s fashions in great detail.

(image from wikipedia.com)

But enough about the past let’s now talk about one fashion magazine that is considered a recent creation: Vogue. Vogue’s very first issue was released in 1892 (119 years ago), and was founded by Arthur Baldwin Turnure. Vogue started as a weekly publication for New York socialites but became a mass-market magazine over time. 

Vogue 1892

(image from thefashioninsider.tumblr.com )

Vogue 1900

(image from rlv.zcache.com)