In France, La Galerie des Modes was a pioneer in fashion plate publication. [8] Encompassing over 400 prints, this series was issued sporadically by the print merchants Jacques Esnauts (or Esnault) and Michel Rapilly between the years 1778 and 1787 and paved the way for the distribution of popular magazines such as the Magazin des Modes Nouvelles Françaises et Anglaises. [5] The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “1800-1866, Plate 079.”Gift of Leo Van Witsen. https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll12/id/11916 The market for women’s periodicals was changing, new ones emerging with more practical content to appeal to the burgeoning middle-classes, alongside the magazines of fashion and leisure for wealthier readers. Over a hundred new titles appeared in Europe from the 1840s-1860s alone, bringing the latest styles to a much wider public. Some magazines lasted only a few issues, some for decades; some were wholly devoted to fashion though most included it among a range of educational and entertaining topics. The early magazines - and plates - were small, but they generally increased in size during the second quarter of the century. Plates were usually accompanied by descriptions of the outfits shown to enable them to be copied accurately, and by lengthy discussions of the latest modes in London and Paris.

Confronted by advances in printing and photographic technology and the easy availability of the conventional graphic image, in the early twentieth century the artistic avant-garde retreated to the craft technique of pochoir (stencil) printing and hand coloring, producing formal, modernist, faux naives fashion plates in exotic or romantic settings reminiscent of the early nineteenth century. The genre was pioneered by Paul Iribe for Poiret's 1909 collection in Les Robes de Paul Poiret, 1909, and by Georges LePape in Les Choses de Paul Poiret, 1911. Their work and others of the group, such as Charles Martin and George Barbier, was brought to a wider public by the publisher Lucien Vogel, who launched the elitist Gazette du Bon Ton in 1911, the precursor of several similar art and fashion magazines. The general public became aware of the style and technique through prestige advertising, such as Art Gout Beauté, 1920-1936, published by the textile firm Albert Godde Bedin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Children 1800-1849, Plate 017.” Gift of Woodman Thompson. https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll12/id/2044/rec/17a b Nevinson, John L. "Origin and Early History of the Fashion Plate" . Retrieved November 10, 2011. The most prestigious early nineteenth-century British contribution to the art of the fashion plate was Heideloff's Gallery of Fashion, 30 aquatint plates, 1797-1801, published by subscription to an aristocratic clientele. Focused on fashions worn by anonymous noble ladies, it also included the creations of named dressmakers. With the aquatint plates of British popular venues crowded with fashionable men, women, and children, published by London tailor Benjamin Read between the 1820s and 1840s, the fashion plate was decisively democratized. Prints and full-scale patterns were sold through Read's establishments in London and New York, where American versions soon appeared.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Les modes,1917-1918.” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/821934 The increasing popularity of photography in the early 20th century spelled the end for fashion plates, as photos offered a realistic portrayal of fashionable styles. [4] [12] The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Régime." Translated by Jean Birrell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p. 476 Are Fashion Plates Accurate? - The Costume Rag". The Costume Rag. 2018-01-31 . Retrieved 2018-02-03. Clothes began to be collected as soon as the idea of a museum for London became reality in 1911. Until around the 1960s mainly garments from earlier periods were added with the exception of the two World Wars when contemporary collecting took place. The early curators of the museum were aware of the importance of clothes to bring history to life and in 1933 the museum was the first in Britain to publish a catalogue of its costume collection.It is the ability to convey the soul of the garment as well as the seams, the ambience and the dynamic of fashion, and the essence of its modernity, which keeps the fashion plate an element of publishing in the early twenty-first century. By the 1880s, hand-coloring was out and mechanical color-printing was in. However, photography, which had begun earlier in the century, was developing into an even more popular medium and in the 1890s, fashion plates began to decline as photography grew. Publications took fashion plates a step further by utilizing a popular method called pochoir, a type of stenciling printing style that was “used to reproduce the work of renowned Art Deco illustrators, including George Barbier, Robert Bonfils, Paul Iribe, and Georges Lepape.” [1] A similar style of art can also be seen on the cover of twentieth century issues of the American magazine, Harper's Bazaar,usually with illustrations by the artist and designer, Erte (a personal favorite of mine). These illustrations step away from the traditional eighteenth century fashion plate by creating fantastical scenes in which to showcase the latest styles. The malleability of copper meant that these plates could only produce a limited amount of images. The combination of hand-coloring and the limited number of plates being produced meant that these fashion plates were costly and were typically reserved for members of the aristocracy and the wealthy bourgeoisie class.

By the 1830s, U.S. magazines began to include their own fashion plates, although these were often derived from imported French originals. The most popular magazines of the antebellum period, including Godey's Lady's Book and its competitors, particularly Graham's Magazine and Peterson's Magazine, boasted about the quality of their fashion plates. Publisher Louis Antoine Godey claimed in January 1857 that his fashion plates - hand-colored by a corps of 150 women colorists - "surpass all others." [9] [10] Godey also made sure his readers were aware of the considerable cost of his fashion plates, and indeed, some readers removed them from the magazine and displayed them as art. [10] Illustration of popular styles of clothing Fashion plate, 1860 V&A Museum no. E.267-1942 1942 fashion plate from Argentina.Gazette du bon ton: arts, modes et frivolities,1912–15 and 1920–25, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Victoria and Albert Museum. “One Hundred Years of Fashion Photography.” http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/o/one-hundred-years-of-fashion-photography/

a b Laudermilk, Sharon H.; Hamlin, Teresa L. (1989). The Regency Companion. Garland. p.33. ISBN 978-0-8240-2249-5.

The Nineteenth Century

Clothing by London-based couture houses and designers including Lucile, Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Victor Stiebel, Mary Quant, Katharine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood.