Antique Fashion & Costume Plates
Part 8 - La Mode Illustrée Fashion Plates
La Mode Illustrée was first published in 1859 in Paris and of course was
in French. It is difficult to find out much about the actual publishing
history of the French magazine itself, although
Dover reproduction books
of La Mode Illustrée are well documented and available on almost every
costume website. La Mode Illustrée was one of the most important
French magazines of the late C19th that carried on well into the
twentieth century.
La Mode Illustrée 1889
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La Mode Illustrée was published weekly on Sundays,
with illustrations and description of Victorian fashions and the
latest must have accessories. There was always a fashion
plate. La Mode Illustrée set the standards for a circulation
of 20,000 fashion conscious stylish women. The fashion plates
being large are a very attractive 34cm by 27cm. For interior
display purposes they can be
made to appear larger when a mat mount is added to a frame.
The La Mode Illustrée above is one of three I have in this
timeframe. They were bought some 15 years ago in 1990 or so,
and cost me £45 for the three related plates. Prices will vary, but
you should be able to buy original plates for under £20 a piece even
today, especially at eBay or Ruby Lane. However, the more rare, unusual or pristine the condition
of the fashion plate, the higher the end cost. Antiquarian rare
book seller's donaldheald.com
sell equally rare engravings. Expect to pay about £450 for a
rare fashion plate like those of Donald Heald Georgian
hairstyle fashion plates at Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français.
I bought this La Mode Illustrée fashion plate 20 years ago at an antique
fair, long long before the days of eBay surfing. Let's look at the
differences between this antique plate and reproduction plates.
Bear in mind that La Mode Illustrée has been reprinted many times in the
C20th. Remember an antique is 100 years old or
more. How paper ephemera like this survives is down mainly to the
beauty of these items. People cannot bear to throw them
away. For the same reason people love reproduction images of these
plates too. This is just the sort of item great grandma would have
kept in a carefully stored place and brought out on occasion to show
children. On this page, I examine a genuine antique fashion plate
and on the next page a typical reproduction print.
Please DO NOT write to me asking for advice on your fashion plate
as NONE can be given.
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If you enlarge the image
below for clarity, you will notice several factors that
point to this fashion plate being a genuine antique. At first glance, I would date
it at say 1890, but it's nice that the date of 1889 is
there in the bottom right hand corner.
1. In the La Mode Illustrée enlargement you
will notice the weak fold mark which is highlighted between
the two long central arrows. It's not a heavy mark,
but it is there. Images were sometimes folded
in magazines and also of course a magazine this size would
have been folded just as we might fold a newspaper.
This fold is not very visible without study. The print is
very flat because the
fashion plate was purchased already glued to a piece of
mounting card. Removing it from the card would have
ruined it.
2. Next look at the far left side and notice
two important factors. One is the small long strip of
adhering printed material with some French writing from the attached printed page
that has remained when the fashion plate was separated from
the page directly above it.
3. Now look at the holes that have pulled
away where thread sewn to hold the publication
together. This has been removed or simply pulled away with wear
and tear. Some of these rounded holes are shown with
the small arrows running up the left side.
4. There are genuine foxing spots (brown
marks) at the top of the image. No seller would deliberately
sell a piece with foxing if they could help it, because it
does detract and make the item sell for less, especially
when the spots are on the face or occur centrally. Any
antique image with foxing on is worth much less than one
which is pristine. This is why some fashion plates at
antiquarian booksellers are hundreds of pounds or dollars
compared to much lesser amounts elsewhere. Condition
affects value even with a genuine antique fashion plate.
5. The feel of this paper is smooth and a
quality magazine
weight for a usual fashion plate from this magazine. Most fashion plates
like these are on smooth paper although earlier ones of
other plates are often made from
laid
paper which has a linear texture. Reproductions are often printed on
special art papers with texture or made to look like laid
paper or have a vellum effect.
 6. Finally the magazine publishing house has
included the address. Although some reprints do this,
many omit this bit.
Please DO NOT write to me asking for advice on your fashion plate
as NONE can be given.
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None of this of course guarantees that your
fashion plate has not been dabbed with a tea or coffee soaked
cotton wool ball to age it. However being aware of these guidelines with
those on the next
page may help you to make choices
about buying reproduction
prints.
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Although this does not apply to all
fashion plates a number in the
corner such as this may give some credibility to a
particular plate. I have chosen this plate number
to show you as it contains lots of other information
which is also important.
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©Copyright Fashion-era.com
2005-2011
These images should not
be reproduced in printed book form matter, as greetings
cards, gift wrap etc., or as part of any electronic material
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item.
Please DO NOT write to me asking for advice on your fashion plate as
NONE can be given.
This Fashion Plates Page Added 8 Oct 2005
For more about Fashion Plates
click on the title that you need:-
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Some images in this section are courtesy of eBay seller
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