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Starting from the regency of Louis XV, a new architectural and artistic style emerged in France: Rococo, the more refined sibling of the Baroque style. Its name probably comes from the fusion of two French words, namely “rocaille” (small rocks) and “coquilles” (shells), emphasizing its love for small ornaments and lavish decorations. 

 For a woman of this historical period, two garments were fundamental: the bodice, which aimed to support the wearer’s spine, lift the bust, and accentuate the female figure, and the panier, a rigid under-skirt made of metal hoops held together by lightweight fabric, which could reach a circumference of 5-6 meters. Over them was worn an over-garment called a manteau, a skirt, and finally a triangular V-shaped stomacher; this type of dress was known as the “robe à la française.” On the feet, they wore shoes with squared soles, featuring a curved heel and a strap over the heel.

The colors of the clothes often had bizarre names, such as the gray “gazelle's belly” or the green “leaf color”.

In the eighteenth-century wig, hairstyles that politely followed the contour of the head were decorated with dragonnes (long locks that fell onto the neck), small flowers, gems, or even birdcages. Wheat or rice flour was highly prized as a perfumed powder, so much so that over five kilograms were squandered in a year for the hair and face of a single madame. It thus became fashionable to have a large collection of wigs to change your head several times a day. The record for this trend belonged to Madame de Pompadour (the famous mistress of Louis XV), who owned more than five hundred, including her night ones.

Moving on to makeup, white lead (a derivative of lead) was applied to the face as a sort of foundation that was never washed off and was even taken to bed; however, applying too much led to the loss of facial hair and hair on the scalp, and to solve this problem a rather disgusting solution was invented: the skin of a dead rat was cut into a crescent shape and glued onto the skin as 'eyebrows 2.0.' Rouge, that is a kind of archaic version of our blush, was applied to the cheeks. 

With the need to hide signs of smallpox, pimples, or other skin imperfections, fake moles were born: pieces of black fabric that were cut into various shapes and then attached to the skin. Their positions had very precise meanings: for example, a mole on the forehead was called 'la majestueuse' and symbolized majesty, or one placed on the chest was called 'l’assasine' and symbolized that one was a heartbreaker.

Noblewomen fed on large quantities of sugar, which was a sign of prosperity. Eating too much led to the loss of teeth and the sagging of the round shape of the cheeks; as an extreme remedy, the ladies would keep balls of cork or wax between their gums and the inside of their cheeks: the plumpers, which however gave their speech a constant lisp.

The "Minister of Fashion" Rose Bertin

Marie-Jeanne Bertin, called Rose, was a French milliner and designer. She was born on July 2, 1747, in Abbeville into a rather modest family: her father was part of the military corps of the maréchaussée and her mother took care of sick people. The young Marie-Jeanne received a basic education and, after the death of her father Nicolas, began an apprenticeship with her aunt, who was a seamstress.