Background:

These colorful prints are from a history of French men's fashions from the Middle Ages through the Second Empire "Fops".  The prints include styles of clothing for adults and children in each period, as well as accessories such as jewelry and hats.

The other periods represented in this work include the Renaissance, Louis XIII-XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Revolution, First Empire, Revolution, and Restoration.  The period for each print is shown below the print image..

A legend appears at the bottom of the print providing further information on the designs shown.

These fashion prints were produced through the pochoir process, a stenciling technique common in the 1920s and early 1930s for printing color work.  Pochoir is similar to today's silk screening technique.