Incroyables and Merveilleuses
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The Incroyables (, "incredibles") and their female counterparts, the Merveilleuses (, "marvelous women"), were members of a fashionable aristocratic subculture in Paris during the
French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and r ...
(1795–1799). Whether as catharsis or in a need to reconnect with other survivors of the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
, they greeted the new regime with an outbreak of luxury, decadence, and even silliness. They held hundreds of balls and started fashion trends in clothing and mannerisms that today seem exaggerated, affected, or even effete. They were also mockingly called "incoyable" or "meveilleuse", without the letter R, reflecting their upper class accent in which that letter was lightly pronounced, almost inaudibly. When this period ended, society took a more sober and modest turn. Members of the ruling classes were also among the movement's leading figures, and the group heavily influenced the politics, clothing, and arts of the period. They emerged from the ''
muscadin The term Muscadin (), meaning "wearing musk perfume", came to refer to mobs of young men, relatively well-off and dressed in a dandyish manner, who were the street fighters of the Thermidorian Reaction in Paris in the French Revolution (1789-17 ...
s'', a term for dandyish anti-
Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...
street gangs in Paris from 1793 who were important politically for some two years; the terms are often used interchangeably, though the muscadins were of a lower social background, being largely middle-class.


Social background

Ornate carriages reappeared on the streets of Paris the day after the execution (28 July 1794) of
Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
, which brought an end to the Jacobin-era
Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (french: link=no, Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. S ...
and signaled the commencement of the
Thermidorian Reaction The Thermidorian Reaction (french: Réaction thermidorienne or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term, in the historiography of the French Revolution, for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespie ...
. There were masters and servants once more in Paris, and the city erupted in a furor of pleasure-seeking and entertainment. Theaters thrived, and popular music satirized the excesses of the Revolution. One popular song of the period called on the French people to "share my horror" and to send "these drinkers of human blood" back amongst the monsters from which they had sprung. Its lyrics rejoiced that "your tormentors finally grow pale at the tardy dawn of vengeance". Many public balls were ''
bals des victimes The bals des victimes, or victims' balls, were balls that were said to have been put on by dancing societies after the Reign of Terror. To be admitted to these societies and balls, one had to be a near relative of someone who had been guillotined ...
'' at which young aristocrats who had lost loved ones to the guillotine danced in mourning dress or wore black armbands, greeting one another with violent movements of the head as if in decapitation. A ball held at the
Hôtel Thellusson The Hôtel Thellusson was a luxurious ''hôtel particulier'' located in Paris, France, built in 1778 by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux for Marie-Jeanne Girardot de Vermenoux (1736–1781), the widow of , a Genevan banker.Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos ...
on the rue de Provence in the 9th arrondissement of Paris restricted its guest list to the grown children of the guillotined.


Clothing and fashion

The Merveilleuses scandalized Paris with dresses and tunics modeled after the ancient Greeks and Romans, cut of light or even transparent linen and gauze. Sometimes so revealing they were termed "woven air", many gowns displayed cleavage and were too tight to allow pockets. Oftentimes, the gowns were dampened in order to cling to the figure. To carry even a handkerchief, the ladies had to use small bags known as
reticule Reticule can refer to: * Reticle, fine lines in the eyepiece of a sighting device * Reticule (handbag) A reticule, also known as a ridicule or indispensable, was a type of small handbag or purse, similar to a modern evening bag, used mainly f ...
s. They were fond of wigs, often choosing blonde because the Paris Commune had banned blonde wigs, but they also wore them in black, blue, and green. Enormous hats, short curls like those on Roman busts, and Greek-style sandals were the rage. The sandals tied above the ankle with crossed ribbons or strings of pearls. Exotic and expensive scents fabricated by perfume houses like
Parfums Lubin Parfums Lubin is one of the oldest perfume houses in the world. Its early history is linked to the high society of the Napoleonic era, and its products became the imprimatur of ''haute couture'', and indicators of fashion and social hierarchy. P ...
were worn both for style and as indicators of social station.
Thérésa Tallien Thérésa Cabarrus, Madame Tallien (31 July 1773 – 15 January 1835), was a Spanish-born French noble, salon holder and social figure during the Revolution. Later she became Princess of Chimay. Life Early life She was born Juana María ...
, known as "Our Lady of Thermidor", wore expensive rings on the toes of her bare feet and gold circlets on her legs. The Incroyables wore eccentric outfits: large earrings, green jackets, wide trousers, huge neckties, thick glasses, and hats topped by "dog ears", their hair falling on their ears. Their musk-based fragrances earned the derogatory nickname ''muscadins'' for them and their immediate predecessors, a more middle-class group of anti-Jacobins. They wore bicorne hats and carried distinctive knobbled bludgeons or canes, which they referred to as their "executive power." Hair was often shoulder-length, sometimes pulled up in the back with a comb to imitate the hairstyles of the condemned. Some sported large monocles. They frequently affected a
lisp A lisp is a speech impairment in which a person misarticulates sibilants (, , , , , , , ). These misarticulations often result in unclear speech. Types * A frontal lisp occurs when the tongue is placed anterior to the target. Interdental lisping ...
, allegedly to avoid the letter "R" as in ''revolution'', and sometimes a stooped, hunchbacked posture or slouch, as caricatured in numerous cartoons of the time. In addition to Madame Tallien, famous Merveilleuses included
Mademoiselle Lange Mademoiselle (abbreviated as ''Mlle'' or ''M'') may refer to: * Mademoiselle (title), the French-language equivalent of the title "miss" Film and television * Mademoiselle (1966 film), ''Mademoiselle'' (1966 film), a French-British drama directed ...
,
Juliette Récamier Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier (; 3 December 1777 – 11 May 1849), known as Juliette (), was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Paris. As an icon of n ...
, and two very popular Créoles: Fortunée Hamelin and Hortense de Beauharnais. Hortense, a daughter of the
Empress Josephine An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
, married Louis Bonaparte and became the mother of Napoleon III. Fortunée was not born rich, but she became famous for her salons and her string of prominent lovers. Parisian society compared Germaine de Staël and Mme Raguet to Minerva and
Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...
and named their garments for Roman deities: gowns were styled Flora or Diana, and tunics were styled ''à la''
Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás st ...
or Minerva.Alfred Richard Allinson
''The Days of the Directoire''
J. Lane, (1910), p. 190
The leading Incroyable, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, was one of five directors who ran the Republic of France and gave the period its name. He hosted luxurious feasts attended by royalists, repentant Jacobins, ladies, and courtesans. Since divorce was now legal, sexuality was looser than in the past. However, de Barras' reputation for immorality may have been a factor in his later overthrow, a coup that brought the French Consulate to power and paved the way for
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
.


Representation in the arts

The fictional ''nouveau riche'' social climber Madame Angot, awkwardly wearing ridiculous Greek clothing, parodied the Merveilleuses in many plays of the period. Carl Vernet's
caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
s of the wardrobes of the Incroyables and Merveilleuses met with contemporary popular success.


Images of the period

File:charles-vernet-top-hat.jpg, Painting ''Un Incroyable'', by
Carle Vernet Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet (14 August 175827 November 1836), was a French painter, the youngest child of Claude Joseph Vernet and the father of Horace Vernet. Biography Vernet was born in Bordeaux. At the age o ...
, perhaps the first image of a top hat (1796) File:Directoire fashion caricature 1797.jpg, French caricature of ''Merveilleuse'' very thin dresses File:Boilly incroyable parade.jpg, Boilly Incroyable parade File:Barras1797.jpg, James Gillray's caricature of 1805. Paul Barras being entertained by the naked dancing of two wives of prominent men, Thérésa Tallien and Joséphine Bonaparte 1797 File:Full and half dress for April 1809 (fashion plate).jpg, Full and half dress for April 1809 File:1802-Les-Modernes-Incroyables.jpg, Les-Modernes-Incroyables, 1810 File:Lesincroyables.jpg, Les Incroyables File:Dräkt, Fransk sprätt, Nordisk familjebok.png, French dandy File:Les_Incroyables_(1795,_Loursay).jpg, Les Incroyables (
Muscadins The term Muscadin (), meaning "wearing musk perfume", came to refer to mobs of young men, relatively well-off and dressed in a dandyish manner, who were the street fighters of the Thermidorian Reaction in Paris in the French Revolution (1789-17 ...
) File:Boilly-Point-de-Convention-ca1797.jpg, Point de Convention c. 1797
File:Gerard - Madame Tallien.JPG,
Madame Tallien Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...
File:Juliette Récamier (1777-1849).jpg,
Juliette Récamier Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier (; 3 December 1777 – 11 May 1849), known as Juliette (), was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Paris. As an icon of n ...
(1777–1849) File:Portrait de madame de Verninac by David Louvre RF1942-16 n2.jpg, Portrait de Madame de Verninac File:Josephine de Beauharnais, Keizerin der Fransen.jpg,
Josephine de Beauharnais Josephine may refer to: People * Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer Places *Josephine, Texas, United States *Mount Josephine (disambiguation) * Josephine Count ...


Other meanings

* ''Incroyable'' was an 18th-century French nickname for a yo-yo, then a fashionable toy.


See also

* 1795–1820 in fashion *
1800s (decade) File:1800s collage.jpg, 420x420px, From top left, clockwise: Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French Empire and embarked on trans-European conquests, which would later on be best known as the Napoleonic Wars – a conflict that forever ...
* Ci-devant * Dandy * '' La fille de Madame Angot'' *
Jean-Lambert Tallien Jean-Lambert Tallien (, 23 January 1767 – 16 November 1820) was a French politician of the revolutionary period. Though initially an active agent of the Reign of Terror, he eventually clashed with its leader, Maximilien Robespierre, and is bes ...
* Théâtre de Paris


Notes and references


Notes


References


Bibliography


Barras, Paul; ''Mémoires de Barras, membre du Directoire (1895),'' Hachette, 1896
* Clarke, Joseph; ''Commemorating the Dead in Revolutionary France: Revolution and Remembrance, 1789–1799''; Cambridge University Press, 2007. * André Gaillot, ed. (1911
''Une ancienne muscadine, Fortunée Hamelin: lettres inédites 1839–1851''
Émile-Paul, 1911


Further reading

* Bourhis, Katell le:
The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789–1815
', Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.


External links


Merveilleuses in Fashion History


* ttp://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/archim/0018/dafanch06_n200384n00001_2.jpg Letter from de Barras accepting the post of Director
De Barras at the National Library of France
{{French Revolution 1790s fashion French Revolution French fashion Groups of the French Revolution History of fashion