Heavenly creatures from Paris of yesteryear

'Ladies . . . it is a great civic duty to be stylish," the editor of the Journal des Dames et des Modes declared to her readers in 1912 in what was one of the most influential Parisian magazines of la belle époque. A 100 years later, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin is exhibiting almost 150 of the journal's priceless fashion illustrations. These unique hand engravings are finely detailed and coloured. They are impressive works of art that also provide a telling insight into the spirit and tastes of the times.

Beatty’s second wife, the fashion-conscious Edith Dunn Stone, was considered one of the most beautiful women in America. She shared his passion for collecting and is generally credited with the magazine’s acquisition for the library.

It flourished for only two years, appeared three times a month and was limited to 1,200 copies. Its illustrations on expensive hand-made paper were commissioned from some of the most prominent artists and designers of the day including George Barbier, Léon Bakst and Umberto Brunelleschi.

Notable writers contributed to the magazine, which featured society columns, poetry, anecdotes, book and theatre reviews as well as fashion reports.

The early 1910s in Paris was a period of opulence and sumptuousness in dress and in culinary trends. The drawings reflect the compartmentalised lives of the leisured elite when a taste for extravagant display was part of the prevailing mood.

There were dresses for le garden party, tea dresses, mourning robes, morning dresses, visiting clothes, afternoon clothes and evening wear. Millinery reached new heights of extravagance with exotic feathers, while skunk and otter skin were used widely. The oriental influence that swept Europe at the time was evident in the rage for turbans, in costumes called “Pagode” and Japanese printed silk blouses. Irish crochet lace was also in demand by couturiers.

"One knows nothing of a society when one knows nothing of the fashions that prevailed in it," wrote Anatole France in the introduction to the first issue. Cosseted and corseted though life may have been, such extravagance was the last fling before the second World War brought it all to an end.

Costumes Parisiens, fashion plates from 1912-1914 can be seen at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, from October 11th to March 30th, 2014