Rococo Week continues as I play connect-the-dots between modern Lolita fashion and late 18th century Versailles. If I may be fustian, the appropriate word is “palimpsest”. Loli designs draw from the Ancien Regime but without historical comment; a lace-layered, corset-stitched dress is worn simply because it is beautiful.

Compare the Sweet/Hime dresses by Justine and Juliette (left) to the portraits of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (right). Her gauzy, intricate outfits evoke a “vie en rose” – much like the one Momoko (of Kamikaze Girls) yearns for.

Every lace trim and lush bow is brought out by François Boucher’s brush. He was appointed first painter to King Louis XV in 1765, and both loved and hated for his extravagantly sensual works. His harshest critic, Denis Diderot, had to admit of his art: “c’est un vice si agréable.” (It’s such an agreeable vice.)

His success was greatly facilitated by his patron, Madame de Pompadour, the cunning and beautiful mistress of Louis XV. She commissioned Boucher to paint her portrait several times, usually set against an idyllic and pastoral landscape. Her sweet features and charm are in full display here (and I love the cameo bracelet that matches the rosy bow of her capelet.)

Back to our palimpsest layers. We have the decadent court of Versailles dominated by Madame de Pompadour… Boucher’s sensual and semi-fantastical depictions of his patroness… Justine et Juliette’s Lolita dresses that draw upon the fiction and reality of the Rococo age. What a shame that courtly fashion has been shuffled away into museums – but Lolita designers are re-kindling the flame and crying out (in the words of Adele): “It’s high time we had a bit of decadence!”

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Art + Design, Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.