“Feather Muffs of all Colours”
The end of the Seven Years’ War (1763) and the acquisition of the fur trade in Canada had an unexpected consequence in British fashion. Despite the increased access to and availability of furs by British furriers, the newspapers noted with disgust that, under the influence of French milliners who ha...
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2022
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openedition-oai:revues.org:apparences_3713 https://doi.org/10.4000/apparences.3713 urn:doi:10.4000/apparences.3713 https://journals.openedition.org/apparences/3713 2022-02-11T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9wk6 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ “Feather Muffs of all Colours” Apparence(s) IRHiS-UMR 8529 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1954-3778 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/apparences Gernerd, Elisabeth manchon de plumes accessoires plumes dix-huitième siècle mode patriotique feather muffs accessories feathers eighteenth century patriotic fashion The end of the Seven Years’ War (1763) and the acquisition of the fur trade in Canada had an unexpected consequence in British fashion. Despite the increased access to and availability of furs by British furriers, the newspapers noted with disgust that, under the influence of French milliners who had already adapted to their loss of fur supplies, British women of fashion had no taste for furs, only for feathers. The feather muff became the target of the press’s vitriol, an unpatriotic symbol of French sycophantism that was designed to undermine Britain’s victory for which the brave General Wolfe fell.Despite the weighted and charged connotations surrounding the feather muff, its position in eighteenth-century dress and fashion has never before been explored in depth. This article aims to amend that oversight and contextualise the feather muff’s problematic status alongside its material lifecycle and understand the muff as an accessory that could bridge not only the Channel and the globe, but also the disparate worlds of fashion and natural history. Beginning with its notoriously charged appearance in the early 1760s, this article examines the lifecycle of the feather muff in mid eighteenth-century Britain. It first explores the feather muff’s perception in the press as a sartorial French intruder in British fashion. It then establishes how the feather muff was a product of the feather trade, exploring its make and manufacture. Finally, considering the symbolic and emblematic nature of the feather, it places the feather muff within wider narratives of British feather culture, female sociability, and the natural world. La fin de la Guerre de Sept Ans (1763) et la mainmise des Anglais sur le commerce canadien de la fourrure qui en a découlé ont eu une conséquence inattendue sur la mode britannique. Malgré l'accès et la disponibilité accrus aux fourrures ainsi permis, les journaux se lamentent que, sous l'influence des modistes français qui s'étaient déjà adaptés à leur perte d'approvisionnement en fourrures, les élégantes britanniques délaissaient les fourrures pour s’enticher désormais de plumes. Le manchon de plumes devint la cible des attaques de la presse, un symbole antipatriotique de flagornerie française destiné à saper la victoire de la Grande-Bretagne pour laquelle le courageux général Wolfe était tombé.Malgré la place importante qu’il occupe dans les signes de l’élégance au XVIIIe siècle, le manchon de plumes n'a jamais été réellement étudié. Cet article vise à corriger cette omission et à contextualiser cet accessoire tout au long de sa vie matérielle, pour le voir comme un objet qui liait non seulement la Grande-Bretagne au reste du monde, mais aussi les mondes apparemment distincts de la mode et de l'histoire naturelle. En commençant par son apparition controversée au début des années 1760, cet article examine le cycle de vie du manchon de plumes dans la Grande-Bretagne du milieu du XVIIIe siècle. Il explore tout d'abord la perception du manchon de plumes dans la presse britannique où il est vu comme une importation inopportune venue de France. Il s’agit ensuite de se pencher sur sa fabrication et de le lier au commerce de la plume. Enfin, compte tenu de la nature symbolique et emblématique de la plume, l’article resitue le manchon dans les contextes plus généraux du statut des plumes en Grande-Bretagne, de la sociabilité féminine et des sciences naturelles. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
manchon de plumes accessoires plumes dix-huitième siècle mode patriotique feather muffs accessories feathers eighteenth century patriotic fashion |
| spellingShingle |
manchon de plumes accessoires plumes dix-huitième siècle mode patriotique feather muffs accessories feathers eighteenth century patriotic fashion Gernerd, Elisabeth “Feather Muffs of all Colours” |
| description |
The end of the Seven Years’ War (1763) and the acquisition of the fur trade in Canada had an unexpected consequence in British fashion. Despite the increased access to and availability of furs by British furriers, the newspapers noted with disgust that, under the influence of French milliners who had already adapted to their loss of fur supplies, British women of fashion had no taste for furs, only for feathers. The feather muff became the target of the press’s vitriol, an unpatriotic symbol of French sycophantism that was designed to undermine Britain’s victory for which the brave General Wolfe fell.Despite the weighted and charged connotations surrounding the feather muff, its position in eighteenth-century dress and fashion has never before been explored in depth. This article aims to amend that oversight and contextualise the feather muff’s problematic status alongside its material lifecycle and understand the muff as an accessory that could bridge not only the Channel and the globe, but also the disparate worlds of fashion and natural history. Beginning with its notoriously charged appearance in the early 1760s, this article examines the lifecycle of the feather muff in mid eighteenth-century Britain. It first explores the feather muff’s perception in the press as a sartorial French intruder in British fashion. It then establishes how the feather muff was a product of the feather trade, exploring its make and manufacture. Finally, considering the symbolic and emblematic nature of the feather, it places the feather muff within wider narratives of British feather culture, female sociability, and the natural world. |
| author |
Gernerd, Elisabeth |
| author_facet |
Gernerd, Elisabeth |
| author_sort |
Gernerd, Elisabeth |
| title |
“Feather Muffs of all Colours” |
| title_short |
“Feather Muffs of all Colours” |
| title_full |
“Feather Muffs of all Colours” |
| title_fullStr |
“Feather Muffs of all Colours” |
| title_full_unstemmed |
“Feather Muffs of all Colours” |
| title_sort |
“feather muffs of all colours” |
| publisher |
Apparence(s) |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/apparences |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/apparences.3713 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/apparences/3713 |
| _version_ |
1877293291481858048 |