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Saturday, March 12th

11 am- 5 pm [LA]
exhibit: 'Fashion: The Court of Louis XIV'
LACMA (5905 Wilshire Boulevard; Los Angeles)
info: 323-857-6010; publicinfo@lacma.org
detail: This exhibition—consisting of rare bound books, costume accessories, and extraordinary textiles from LACMA’s permanent collection—focuses on a new acquisition, an exceedingly important folio of 190 colored engravings, Bonnart et Berain, Recueil des modes de la cour de France, dating from 1678-1693. Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) and his finance minister, Colbert, authorized fashion plates to promote French luxury goods and French culture. The images from the LACMA folio, which are among the first fashion plates, represent men and women from the court of Louis XIV as “trend-setters” wearing the latest fashions and determining the most current taste in clothes. To put the folio into historical context, the images will be compared with three additional rare folios illustrating an intellectual curiosity about foreign or exotic dress and the shift to the conscious quest for fashion novelty. The exhibition also puts the engravings into material context with about twenty related textiles and accessories, including LACMA’s important 17th-century satin mantua (a fashionable style of gown worn during the last part of the 17th century) completely embroidered with gold metallic threads. Through June 26th.