My Lovely Ladies

Sunday when I went to visit "The Cottage in the Garden". I did mention I did some shopping, right? I want to share with you these lovely ladies I purchased.

I was immediately drawn to them because of there 3D quality. Doll like, altered drawing with fabric making up the dresses, vintage.........right down my alley!

Sandra of Under the Sun With Me said "not to be creepy" but they reminded her of the ghost ride at Disneyland where the figures in pictures come alive. Well they do kinda come alive with the 3D effect. I just love them.








Half the fun of finding a treasure like these is to do some research to find out more about the items, in this case these pictures.

Good old internet (what did we ever do without it?). I started searching with a few clues from the pictures. Looking for marks, signatures, names. Seems there is quite a history behind the designer of these collages.

The first thing I find out is the paper at the back is a "fashion plate" and the "La Mode Illustree" was quite popular in the 1800's of depicting beautiful victorian women in their clothing in these "fashion plates".

From the information I have found I believe these to be reproductions from the 1950's. the earlier ones from 1800's are signed and have some different markings. Still, all and all, these were from almost 60 years ago!!!

I am having some problems differentiating Leroy (I believe the illustrator) from "imp Paris". Paris I get...not sure what "imp" is.

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 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

Wow! kinda interesting huh? Well at least I think so. I guess that's why I am drawn to thrifting and vintage shopping. I like to think of the story behind each item and where it came from and how it got there.

These pictures are framed in a chalkware type frame. There are some chips and knicks that I want to fix. Well, that's a whole other investigation and post. So off I go..........have a great day!