Milliner

The profession of a fashionista existed in the XVIII — XIX centuries.

Models created and decorated headdresses for ladies, sewed simple cut clothing, such as simple-style dresses, aprons , capes, caps, scarves and mantilla. In the manufacture of dresses of a more complex cut, the moderators used the services of tailors, who created the basis for further decoration. The tasks of the modist included the decoration and decoration of clothes, for which a variety of ribbons, lace, braid, fringe, embroidery, precious stones, fabric flowers, scarves and scarves, fans , etc. were used. Often modesty reworked and gave the "second life" to worn things, altering and decorating them.

Models, who own large establishments with a wide range of clients, sometimes employed up to 100 employees. For the fulfillment of orders, artisans were attracted - tailors, seamstresses, lace makers, embroiderers, manufacturers of hats and gloves, as well as artificial flowers, fijm , corsets , feathers, fans, and so on.

The modemists were a prototype of modern fashion designers and fashion designers.

France

In France, the modistas were called "fashion merchants" fr. La Marchande de Modes . In this profession, mostly ladies worked, as a rule, wives and daughters of fabric and haberdashery merchants. In 1776, according to a government decree, the women’s moderators were separated from the sellers of textiles and haberdashery and were able to create their own guild ^[1] .

The legendary personality of the Louis XVI era was Rosa Bertin (1747–1813) - the fashion mistress of the French queen Marie Antoinette , who went down in history under the nickname “Minister of Fashion” fr. La ministre des modes ^{[2] [3]} , which modern researchers call one of the first French designers. At various times biographical publications devoted to the life of a moderator were published.

Rosa Bertin was sociable and had the talent of an entrepreneur, which helped her to open her own business. Customers of her shop "Great Mogul" fr. Grand Mogol , opened on October 24, 1773 on Rue Saint-Honore Fr. Rue Saint-Honoré , were representatives of noble families of France, England, Sweden, Spain and Russia ^[3] . As a result of the Great French Revolution, Bertin was forced to emigrate to England in 1792, where she continued her activities. She returned to France only in 1800, but soon retired.

At one time, Bertin mistakenly attributed the origin of the catchphrase “The new is a well forgotten old,” which she supposedly said when she renewed the old dress of Marie-Antoinette ^{[4] [K 1]} .

The works of Rosa Bertin are preserved in portraits of the wife of Louis XVI, for whom the dressmaker created outfits from 1774 until the overthrow of Marie-Antoinette in 1792.

Russia

In Russian, the term “modista” appeared only in 1803 ^[5] .

In the cities of the Russian Empire, there were women’s vocational schools for girls, as well as professional communities for ladies' tailors and dressmakers.

In many women's magazines there were headings and sections devoted to various types of needlework, but professional publications for fashionista appeared only in the last quarter of the 19th century. So, at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries in St. Petersburg there were published the “Fashion herald for fashionistas” and the monthly illustrated magazine “Modest” ^[6] with models of hats, headgear and jewelry. The latter was the Russian edition of the Paris fashion magazines "La Modiste Parisienne" and "Le Journal des Modistes".

In the Unified Tariff Qualification Reference Book of Work and Professions of Workers of the All-Russian Classifier of Professions of Workers, Employees and Tariff Discharges , the profession “headgear dressmaker” is given (Basic group 7443. Professions of garment industry workers).

Images of the modistas are found in art, film and literature:

• Models at work are depicted on the canvases of such artists as Bush , Degas , Manet , Toulouse-Lautrec , Renoir , Lemmen , Gonzalez , Israel , Breslau .
• Rosa Bertin - actress Sophie Demara played the role of the modist queen Marie-Antoinette in Sasha Guitry ’s movie “ If we were told about Paris ” (1956). The personality of Rosa Berten is also dedicated to the historical novel of Émile Langglad La Marchande de Modes de Marie-Antoinette. Rose Bertin ”published in French in 1911.
• Verka-modista - Ludmila Davydova's film-like character in the five-episode TV movie “ The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed ” (1979).
• The French Modist is performed by the actress Olga Volkova in the film “ A Cruel Romance ” by Eldar Ryazanov (1984).
• The Modista is a vaudeville in one act, composed by a member of the society of Russian dramatic writers and opera composers O. N. Sventsitsky.
• “Polinka” - the story of A.P. Chekhov , which takes place in a haberdashery shop, tells about the conversation of the moderator’s daughter and the clerk in love with her.
• "He can not miss a single vile modisty" - Mikhail Bulgakov " Heart of a Dog. "
• “[Anna] gave the dressmaker three dresses for the alteration” - L.N. Tolstoy “ Anna Karenina ”.

Comments

Sources

• Karnovich, E. P. On the Development of Female Labor in St. Petersburg. Public reading E. P. Karnovich . - St. Petersburg: Bezobrazov Typography and Comp, 1865.
• Daul A. Female labor as applied to various branches of industrial activity: Essays on 600 crafts and occupations / A. Daul; Per. by ed. Pn Tkachev. - St. Petersburg: Trubnikova and Stasova, 1869. - T. 1. - 320 p.
• Tatyana Rudenko. Fashionable shops and fashionistas of Moscow in the first half of the XIX century. - M: Tsentrpoligraf, 2015. - 351 p. - ISBN 978-5-227-05132-5 .
• Bolshakova N.V. Portnova Art in Russian Literature in the Late 18th-19th Centuries: Texts: Poetry, Prose / Bolshakova N.V. - M: Fairytale road, 2016 [t. e. 2015]. - 558 s.

• A.P. Chekhov "Polinka" (1887)

• Cutter
• Tailor