Journal des Dames et des Mode, September 15, 1806.
“Costume d’un Jeune Dame à la Campagne.”
This Paris publication was published 6 times a month, every 5 days, and included a fashion print in each issue, with two prints in the issue on the 15th of the month. This seems to have been a very popular magazine among British ladies as well, or at least British publishers. All the major British magazines for ladies “borrowed” prints from this French publication.
I love this print. It is so deliciously French. No British fashion plate would ever be this blatantly sexy. There is nothing much left to the imagination with this thin, white, probably muslin dress. And the look in the model’s eye is rather provocative, too.
Note that she wears over-the-elbow gloves. We generally think of long gloves as an evening accessory, but in both French and British prints, whenever a day dress is shown with short sleeves, it is almost always worn with long gloves. Perhaps arms were considered a particularly sexy or intimate part of a lady’s anatomy and needed to be covered. Or perhaps it was just a matter of showing too much skin. In any case, gloves were always worn when leaving the house, whether for church, shopping, or a simple walk. Short gloves were worn with long sleeves. Long gloves were worn with short sleeves.
Also take note of the hat the lady in the print is holding. This style of bonnet with the long, flat brim (which looked like a tunnel when worn, almost completely obscuring the face, and obscuring peripheral vision) was only seen in 1806-1807. A very quirky style that was mocked in caricatures and was, thankfully, short-lived.
The print is signed on the bottom near the center by Jeanne Deny, an artist and engraver. Her signature on prints in this magazine is most often signed on the left, where the artist typically signs, and accompanied by the engraver’s signature on the right. Perhaps her single signature near the center here indicates she both designed and engraved the print.
