Mademoiselle Alexandre (d. ''after'' 1779), was a French fashion merchant (''

Marchandes de modes Marchande de modes was a French Guild organisation for women fashion merchants or milliners, normally meaning ornaments for headdresses, hats and dresses, within the city of Paris, active from August 1776 until 1791. It played a dominating role wit ...

''). Mademoiselle Alexandre came from a family of dressmakers. In 1740, she opened a fashion shop at the Rue de la Monnaie in Paris. She foremost sold accessories and trimmings, which was, at the time, the most important items within fashion, as the models of dresses where always the same in the period of 1740–1770 and fashion trends were expressed by accessories and trimmings. She had a successful career and reportedly supplied fashion products to the aristocracy for forty years. She eventually supplanted

Marie Madeleine Duchapt Marie Madeleine Duchapt, also known as only La Duchapt (d. ''after'' 1761), was a famous French fashion merchant (''Marchandes de modes''). Active from the 1730s to 1760s, she succeeded Françoise Leclerc as the most fashionable fashion merchant ...

, known as "La Duchapt", who had been the leading fashion merchant in the 1730s- and 1750s. During the last years of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, Alexandre was described as the top fashion merchant in Paris alongside

Le sieur Beaulard Jean Joseph Beaulard, known as ''Le Sieur Beaulard'' (''d. after'' 1775), was a French fashion merchant and fashion designer. He was one of the four top fashion merchants alongside Rose Bertin, Madame Eloffe and Mademoiselle Alexandre during the ...

, and Sébastien Mercier in ''

Tableau de Paris Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to: Arts * ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled ''Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV'' * ''Tableau viv ...

'' described her and Beulard and the two rulers of fashion. Her fame gave her international clients, and she was able to import and export her fashion products. She had clients within the ladies-in-waitings of the royal court, and was given the assignment of providing the French wardrobes of the princesses

Marie Joséphine of Savoy , title = Countess of Provence , image = Portrait de Marie-Joséphine-Louise de Savoie, comtesse de Provence (1786)1.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Boze, 1786 , birth_date = , birth_place = Royal Palace of Turin, Tur ...

and Maria Theresa of Savoy when they married into the royal house in 1771 and 1773. She also became the regular dressmaker of the two princesses after their arrival. In the late 1770s, she was replaced in her position as fashion leader by

Rose Bertin Marie-Jeanne Rose Bertin (2 July 1747, Abbeville, Picardy, France – 22 September 1813, Épinay-sur-Seine) was a French milliner ('' Marchande de modes''), known as the dressmaker to Queen Marie Antoinette. She was the first celebrated French ...

, and the competition with Bertin reportedly resulted in her bankruptcy.Langlade, Émile. Rose Bertin: Creator of Fashion at the Court of Marie Antoinette (London: John Long, 1913).

References

{{reflist * Ariane James-Sarazin et Régis Lapasin, Gazette des atours de Marie-Antoinette, RMN, Paris, 2006, p. 11. * De Adolphe de Fontaine de Resbecq, Ligaran,
Voyages littéraires sur les quais de Paris
' French fashion designers French milliners 18th-century French businesswomen Year of birth missing Year of death missing French women fashion designers