Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Court Dress



Speaking of corsets, Catherine Delors gives a description of ladies' attire at Versailles. Share

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This dress in the photo looks like a wedding cake! :)

elena maria vidal said...

Doesn't it!

Catherine Delors said...

I agree!
Next week I will be posting about regulat ladies' attire.

Brantigny said...

You know, the word corset is a mid to late 19th century word, Women of that time called them stays.

de Brantigny

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, they had whalebone stays.

Catherine Delors said...

In English, yes, but in French "corset" (from "corps," body) is attested from the late 13th century.

I had the same problem with the word "restaurant." It appeared in English in the mid-19th century, but dates from the 18th century in French.

So would my heroine Gabrielle have used it in 1815 England? Certainly! After all, French was her native language, and she would have used words that sounded exotic in English (I do it all the time myself.)

elena maria vidal said...

I am glad to have that clarified, Catherine, since I used the word "corset" in "Trianon."

MyLittleSaloon said...

Omg. I has always been facisnated of the big hair and dresses! Love Them...