Those who have some knowledge of French history probably know that the "red heel" symbolizes the aristocracy under the old system, and the "culottes" refers to the lower masses during the Revolution, especially the urban commoners. Words derived from clothing are endowed with political and social meanings, which also enables us to capture the clues of social changes in the development and evolution of modern French clothing fashion.

Court of Versailles: birthplace of French fashion

Since the time of Louis XIV, the French have enjoyed great prestige in the field of clothing fashion. The Sun King is good at enhancing his public image with exquisite clothing, thus adding to the glory of the throne. He once wore a jacket studded with 1,500 carats of diamonds, which had 123 buttons, each made of diamonds. Under the old system, the button itself was a sign of male power, as women and children were expected to fasten their clothes with pins and straps. Louis XIV loved diamonds, and he believed that sparkling diamonds represented the nobility of the throne more than any other jewel. It was through the court of Versailles that diamonds became famous in Europe. Louis XIV also preferred high heels. Some historians believe that the Sun King was short, so high heels were introduced at court to compensate for his lack of height. The heel was made of cork and wrapped in red (red dye was expensive at the time) leather, and wearing red-heeled shoes was the privilege of the French aristocracy until the Revolution. People of humble origin are therefore known as "pied plat" (flat soles), and it is from the end of the 17th century that the French word "pied-plat" has come to mean a vulgar, humble person.

Louis XIV was not only obsessed with the beauty of fine clothes, but also hoped that the ladies and courtiers of Versailles would have the same fashion taste as himself. During a royal celebration in 1697, the king looked over everyone's outfits with interest and praised the extravagant costumes and whimsical designs he saw. The court of Versailles was not only the residence of the royal family, but also gathered about three or four thousand court nobles. This was actually a ploy by the Sun King to bring local and powerful nobles into the palace to serve the king in order to contain them. The nobles gathered not only had a struggle for power, but also competed for beauty in dress, and they did not spare a lot of money to buy ribbons, clothes on the trinkets and various wigs. It was at Versailles, the court of the Sun King, that French fashion began to conquer the world, enthraling trendsetters from London to St. Petersburg. "Fashion is to France what the gold mines of Peru are to Spain," crowed Corbert, the minister. Both the Sun King and his mistress, the Marquise de Montespan, were trendsetters.

In the 18th century, the fashionable figure driving the development of fashion at the court of Versailles was undoubtedly Marie Antoinette, Queen of Louis XVI. The Queen has an average of 150 dresses made for her every year, at a cost of 200,000 livres. In the mid-to-late 1770s, the Queen and her female designer Rose Bertin created a new fashion every season that aristocratic women rushed to emulate. At that time, there were 7,000 tailors and seamstresses making clothes in Paris, and Bertin's craftsmanship and the lavish spending of queens and ladies further established Paris as a leader in the international fashion industry.

Fashion should also be matched with a fashionable hairstyle, which can be called the court woman's first priority. The updo, which was popular at the end of Louis XIV and on the eve of the Revolution, consisted mainly of wigs, feathers, hair clips and flowers, and its exaggerated shape made women's faces almost "in the middle of their bodies". Exaggerated or not, French hairstyles enjoy absolute dominance in the fashion world. Fashion puppets, fashion prints and fashion newspapers of the 17th and 18th centuries blew the fashion wind of Versailles to the whole of Europe and even the New World.

Clothing fashion and the transformation of hierarchical society

The charm of fashion lies in imitation, the bourgeoisie imitating the aristocracy, the provincials imitating the citizens of Paris. However, under the old system, the appearance shaped by clothing was also a sign of rank status, and the government repeatedly used laws to protect the appearance of the nobility to prevent imitation of clothing and confusion of rank status. From 1485 to 1660, there were 18 anti-luxury decrees on dress and decoration, prohibiting the common people from wearing the clothes of the nobility, stipulating the order of colors, and leaving the right to wear silk to the nobility. The prohibition was repeated several times between 1660 and 1704, when Colbert banned contraband items in clothing, such as English and Dutch lace, for the protection of national industry. Interestingly, the ban on luxury, which preserved the appearance of nobility, actually stimulated the development of fashion. Such decrees led to a strong awareness of the importance of clothing as an instrument of aristocratic identity, prompting the French artisans to constantly innovate in dress to meet the needs of the aristocracy. The expansion of fashion eventually broke through the prohibitions on luxury, which had become ineffective in practice in the 18th century, and commoners were free to imitate what the nobility wore. The revolutionary government of the second year of the Republic declared that no man or woman could be restricted from dressing in a particular way; Everyone has the right to wear what he likes.

In addition, with the rapid development of the textile industry in the 18th century, the output of textiles increased significantly and became cheaper, and the clothing consumption of all classes increased significantly. At this time, the variety of fabrics and styles of clothing are increased, and the colors are more bright. Before this, the vast majority of people in clothing consumption are relatively frugal, favoring those strong, durable fabrics, such as suede. In the Age of Enlightenment, people preferred lightweight clothing materials, at this time suede and wool materials significantly reduced, cotton, silk increased, soft satin, taffeta, Persian silk, Nanjing cotton is popular. As the fabric is thinner, the clothes are no longer so dull and bulky, but are becoming more comfortable and flattering. However, the cost of lightness is that the material is not as strong and wear-resistant, so you need to buy more clothes, which increases the consumption of clothing. From the point of view of color, the dark color is replaced by blue, yellow, green, pink and other bright colors, you can imagine how colorful the streets of Paris in the age of Enlightenment! These changes affected all classes, and even the lower class of Parisian women were able to wear decent full-length dresses.

It can be said that the people of the Louis XVI period were more similar in dress than the Louis XIV period, so that it is difficult to judge the social class to which people belong at a glance from clothing. Aristocratic women sometimes pursued a more folksy, natural look, while working-class women also carried some aristocratic air. Queen Marie Antoinette dressed as a milkmaid at the Petit Trianon Palace in Versailles to experience the pastoral life of a village woman; The dairywomen began to wear silks and jewellery. Women of all classes wore silk stockings, and the dress of the shopgirls could also be mistaken for that of high society ladies. Even the wives of rich peasants in the countryside could own a few luxurious clothes. In the same way, the male world has also experienced identity confusion due to changes in clothing. Footmen sometimes strut about in the same fine dress as their masters, and government dignitaries roam the streets in the most fashionable civic garb. Some elegant people even changed into trousers to imitate the working people. Under the old system, trousers were originally worn mainly by sailors, groomsmen, street vendors, and apprentices, and upper class men were traditionally expected to wear knee-length shorts under stockings (the so-called "pantless man" can also be translated as "pantyman", meaning a worker who did not wear shorts). It can be seen that fashion spreads not only from the top down, but also from the bottom up. The bourgeois wished to pose as an aristocrat, the servant aspired to imitate his master. At the same time, some fashionable people in the upper class are willing to change into the clothes of the lower class, so as to obtain the novel experience of replacing status.

From the development of costume culture, it can also be seen that the image of the king is no longer so sacred, and people can imitate it at will. Louis XVI and the courtiers around him wore fashionable knight coats, and outsiders could no longer tell who was the king from the clothes alone. Louis XVI also wore clothes with black and white stripes, which caused a crazy imitation in the fashion industry, whether it was a coat or a waistcoat, and for a time, Parisian men of all ages were covered with stripes. In the late years of the old regime, even the lily, the symbol of the French monarchy, was casually affixed to the gloves and boots of the common people. Through the change of clothing fashion, we see that a once tightly walled hierarchical society has become blurred and tends to disintegrate.

After the baptism of the Great Revolution, France in the 19th century achieved a more profound transformation, and the bourgeoisie became the mainstay of society, and such great changes naturally also affected the clothing culture. At this time, men's clothes are no longer colorful, but instead advocating black, white and gray, while also removing lace, frills, jewelry and other decorations, this simple and even some stereotypical clothing actually reflects the bourgeois decency, modesty, diligence, decency and other moral values in the rising period. In the 19th century, men's clothing became simple and monotonous, but women's clothing remained elegant and beautiful. The wife's dress becomes a window into the husband's power and status. At this time, the rapid development of textile and garment manufacturing industry and the emergence of department stores made the fashion of bourgeois clothing widely spread. However, this does not make people's costumes identical; the way they are worn and the fine details can create differences and highlight taste.