Descrizione del progetto
Uno sguardo più attento alla moda francese del XVIII secolo
Il XVIII secolo non ha solo segnato «l’età della ragione», ma è stato anche un periodo contraddistinto da un crescente interesse per la moda. Il commercio legato alla moda ha goduto di una forte ascesa, trasformando in modo permanente sia le pratiche di produzione che di consumo. Tra i capricci della moda, le acconciature femminili spiccano per il loro continuo rinnovamento, mantenendo vivo il desiderio di novità in un pubblico sempre più diversificato. Il progetto AXIONOVI, finanziato dall’UE, si occuperà di studiare le innovative strategie coinvolte nella commercializzazione delle acconciature più in voga, le pratiche orientate al cliente nonché il ruolo delle agenzie governative. I risultati saranno presentati in una ricostruzione di acconciature storiche in un museo della moda. Questa metodologia di ricerca pratica, documentata in un blog, fornirà informazioni su come siano state realizzate queste acconciature.
Obiettivo
This research investigates innovatory practices and the importance of novelty in eighteenth-century France by considering the specific case of fashion in women’s coiffures. At the crossroads of cultural and material history, it will examine how the search for novelty governed the coiffures trade and how these practices contributed to shape the concept of novelty, at a crucial moment when it became a core attribute of modernity. By focussing on the innovatory strategies of the different actors involved in the creation and the commercialisation of fashionable coiffures, the research will attempt for the first time to map a field, which is still uncharted despite its importance during the Ancien Régime. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, from merchants’ account books to fashion plates and advertisements, and combining different historiographical approaches, this project will shed light on the relations between merchants in different trades, fashion journal editors, customers and government agencies. The investigation will also address the importance of novelty in global trade and foreign imaginaries, by analysing the relationship between economic and symbolic conceptions of value. This undertaking will reassess the role of fashion in the culture and economy of eighteenth-century France: through new archival research it aims to re-connect fashion with the wider philosophical and economic reflexion on the notion of novelty in the Ancien Régime The project also includes a practical component through the recreation of historical coiffures in a fashion museum. This hands-on research methodology, documented in a blog, will not only offer a better understanding of how these hairstyles were made, but it will also reflect on the utility of re-creation both in historical research and in museum exhibitions. Thus, this investigation will propose an embodied critical reflexion on the value of novelty, a timely attempt to address an issue in urgent need of historicization.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
50014 Fiesole
Italia