Surface and Substance: Baroque Dress in Spain and France, 1600–1720

This article explores the surface and substance of elite dress in the baroque period by unpacking printed texts and images that reveal their political and economic significance in the courts of Europe. It does so by considering the nature and sources of garments and fabrics, continuity and change in their production and consumption in Spain and France, and the shaping of the modern fashion system—a system in which changes in textiles and trimmings were promoted seasonally by the state, textile manufacturers, and the nascent fashion press (Le Mercure galant) from the late seventeenth century onward. It thus underlines the local and global networks involved in the production and consumption of dress.