Performance Costume in 18th-Century France

Louis-René Boquet Between Tradition and Reform

Petra Zeller Dotlacilová

Using Louis-René Boquet (1717–1814) - the leading costume designer of the French court and the Paris Opera – as its lens, the book traces the development of costume reform from an aesthetics of propriety, defined by strict conventions, to an aesthetics of truthfulness, more open to ideas and inspiration from the visual arts and from real life.

Full of rich primary source material in the form of newspaper articles, letters, plays, librettos, drawings and images of garments, and illustrated in full colour throughout, the author shows how playwrights, theatre managers, designers, tailors and performers all contributed to the changes in the design and conception of costume during the 18th century.