Le Plaisir à la Mode (Evening Coat in Bianchini Fabric)

This hand-colored pochoir print from the luxury fashion journal Gazette du Bon Ton depicts a woman in an ornate evening coat patterned with red roses and gold foliage, attended by two male servants. The composition frames fashionable consumption as theatrical spectacle—the figure presented like merchandise beneath an archway. Derived from the European tradition of satirical prints (Hogarth, Gillray, Daumier), early 20th-century fashion illustration retained that genre's focus on social hierarchy and desire. Here, the servants' pale, interchangeable faces emphasize their status as mere props to the woman's display of wealth. The print reflects both Art Deco aesthetics and a world of leisure available only to the affluent, a visual language that would influence comic illustration through its bold line work, flattened space, and narrative framing.