French Prints Propagating French Fashion : Portrait of Catherine de Neuville, Countess of Armagnac

In the 1680s and 90s, Paris engravers produced a large number of fashion prints that combined illustrations with short texts about clothing or the wearer. They developed various strategies to promote these ‘fashions’. In the print after Dieu de Saint-Jean, an anonymous woman departs for the city wearing a new style of over-garment called a manteau. By contrast, Trouvain and Bonnart relied on the power of celebrity by featuring prominent aristocrats dressed à la mode. These are not true portraits, though; the printmakers merely paired famous names with anonymous figures.