Beginning April 1, The Frick Collection in New York City will present “Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette” in the Cabinet Gallery. Organized by Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow Yifu Liu, the exhibition features 24 hand-colored engravings, known as fashion plates, that illustrate French dress in the late 18th century. Liu notes that the exhibit “brings to life the rapid expansion of the French fashion industry, revealing how global trade, colonial expansion, and cross-cultural exchange sparked a wave of creativity that established Paris as the fashion capital of Europe.”
Parisian Plates
The exhibit features meticulously rendered prints from the Frick Art Research Library’s copy of “Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français” (1778–1787), the most celebrated fashion plate series of its era. Created by Parisian designers and engravers, the publication includes more than 400 large-format prints.The series captures the evolution of French fashion through finely detailed engravings and precise descriptions of hairstyles, garments, footwear, and accessories. One print portrays a woman wearing a formal court dress, the habit de cour, described as crafted from “cherry satin,” with a neckline adorned with white diamonds, pearls, and ribbons. Another plate, devoted to hairstyles, describes a coiffure as a “bun tied in three parts, topped with a bonnet and kerchief.”
