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I. Perception et réception des matériaux noirs

Back to Black: A fashionable colour from Worth to Chanel

Retour au noir : une couleur à la mode de Worth à Chanel
Alessandra Ronetti
p. 62-71

Résumés

Alors que le noir a principalement dominé la mode masculine tout au long du xixe siècle, les nouvelles couleurs aussi vives qu’éclatantes des teintures à l’aniline ont influencé la mode féminine, reléguant le noir à une tendance de fond. Le présent article traite de l’essor du noir en tant que tendance de la mode féminine, depuis la vogue des soies noires impériales du Second Empire et le retour du noir dans les tenues de soirée de la culture fin-de-siècle jusqu’à la petite robe noire moderne de Chanel (1926), interprétée comme l’ultime et définitive opposition en réaction aux couleurs criardes héritées de la révolution chromatique du xixe siècle. L’étude aborde par conséquent le noir en tant que couleur en vogue liée aux cultures matérielles, populaires et visuelles, et examine la notion de « noir artificiel » qui prend plus généralement naissance dans la culture visuelle du xixe siècle.

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Notes de l’auteur

The research presented in this article has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (CHROMOTOPE – grant agreement No. 818563).

Texte intégral

  • 1 The little black dress is described as “sober”, “simple” and “elegant”. Anonymous (Vogue France), 1 (...)
  • 2 Especially evening black silk flapper dresses, like the one in the collection of The Museum at FIT (...)
  • 3 Morand, 2008, p. 58.
  • 4 Anonymous, 1926a, p. 69.

1In 1926, Vogue published a drawing of Gabrielle Chanel’s iconic little black dress, which inaugurated the trend of black as a “chic” colour for the modern woman (fig. 1)1. Chanel popularized an idea that was in the spirit of the times. Paul Poiret, in the same years, created other fashionable interpretations of the black dress2, but the difference was that Chanel “imposed black3” as “a sort of uniform for all modern women of taste4”.

Fig. 1. Chanel’s little black dress, drawing, Vogue France, November 1926, p. 9

Fig. 1. Chanel’s little black dress, drawing, Vogue France, November 1926, p. 9
  • 5 Moyse Ferreira, 2022, p. 119-136.
  • 6 Meyer (ed.), 2016.
  • 7 See the EU-founded project CHROMOTOPE. The 19th century chromatic turn (Sorbonne Université, CNAM, (...)

2The use of black for elegant clothes had already reappeared as a trend at the end of the 19th century, on the other hand, the mourning industry had increased the production of black for daily clothing, since the beginning of the 20th century, growing particularly during First World War I5. The little black dress is often interpreted as a symbol of the cultural transformation of black from a mourning colour to the nuance of elegance and sophistication6. However, to truly understand the new perception that is attributed to black during the 20th century, we need to consider the phenomenon in a dialectical relationship with the chromatic revolution of the second half of the 19th century, in which the mass production of colours transformed the fashion industry of the time7.

  • 8 For exemple Taine, 1872, p. 24-25 and Foveau de Courmelles, 1896, p. 9.
  • 9 Morand, 2008, p. 58. In another famous quote, she said: “When I find a colour darker than black, I’ (...)

3The return to black – which was brought to its maximum consequences by Chanel – could be considered as a counter-revolution against the spread of artificial colours in 19th-century fashion. The synthetic dyes contributed to creating a new coloured sensorium and gradually transformed colour in fashion into a matter of mass culture, triggering a phenomenon of saturation with respect to the level of intensity of the nuances. Artificial colours made possible levels of brightness and boldness never seen before, but with it the effects of over-stimulation and nervous fatigue also multiplied; many sources of the time described a real sensory shock caused by these gaudy colours and criticized their spread in fashion and urban experiences8. In one of the famous quotes on black attributed to Gabrielle Chanel by her biographer Paul Morand, she reminiscences about her reaction to the gaudy colours of women’s dresses during a spectacle at the Opéra after 1920: “All those gaudy, resuscitated colours shocked me; those reds, those greens, those electric blues… made me feel ill… These colours are impossible. These women, I’m bloody well going to dress them in black9.”

  • 10 Cornu, 1911.
  • 11 The perception of black is caused by the absorption of all the colours of the visible spectrum. It (...)

4The search for darker colours went in the opposite direction to the chromatic intensity of the most popular colour trends shaped by the impact of artificial dyes on fashion, from mauve to blue, from green to red (fig. 2). Black represented, in this sense, a high fashion response to bright colours, which, by the end of the 19th century, had assumed a widely popular appeal. The colours, observed by Gabrielle Chanel at the Opéra, were also the result of a revival of gaudy colours in fashion during the 1910s, mainly represented by Paul Poiret’s orientalist creations. Poiret’s designs were captured in colourful photographs, which were published for the first time on Art et decoration in 1911, enabling the colour mediatisation of fashion10. Elegance, simplicity and modernity became associated instead during the 1920s with black, which, as the darker colour, embodied ideally the absence of brightness11.

Fig. 2. Toilettes de la Maison Gagelin, hand-coloured plate, La Mode illustrée, 43, 1862

Fig. 2. Toilettes de la Maison Gagelin, hand-coloured plate, La Mode illustrée, 43, 1862
  • 12 He employed natural dyestuffs such as indigo and cochineal. Grossiord (ed.), 2017.

5Moreover, other reactions to artificial colours had spread at the beginning of the 20th century: various designers, such as Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny, experimented with a return to natural colours by proposing to a wealthy clientele clothes based on a savoir-faire prior to the industrial revolution12. Although black symbolized in the 1920s a form of manifest reaction to the gaudy colours of the 19th century, it remains true that these colours established themselves as fashionable in a complex relationship with the history of black. The black trend took on different meanings in the context of the rainbow effect that the chromatic revolution produced on women’s fashion. It is impossible to think of black, from the late 1850s, without considering it in comparison with the other colours, because the chromatic revolution changed also the perception of black in fashion.

Artificial black

  • 13 For an account of the chemical and industrial history of artificial dyes, Travis, 1993.
  • 14 Radau, 1874, p. 904.
  • 15 Garfield, 2001.

6Modern chemistry had focused on the production of artificial colours whose main potentials in terms of marketing were their glowing effect and a small price13. Brightness was the element buyers were looking for, even at the expense of colour stability; the challenge in chemical terms was to find colours that were particularly vivid and bold, but also sufficiently stable to dye fabrics14. Black didn’t escape this request for brightness, even if it’s apparently the opposite of a bright colour. In the same years in which William Henry Perkin discovered mauveine in England, the first synthetic dye, patented in 1856, other chemists experimented to find a synthetic black with a vibrant effect15.

  • 16 Starting in the 1840s, Gillet worked on a shimmering black (noir au chatoiement) for dying silk (to (...)
  • 17 See, for example, the Afternoon dress in black and light green silk, designed around 1874 by Worth (...)
  • 18 “Those who wish for a superior make of silk should purchase the imperial black silk of Messrs. Chap (...)

7The chemical research on dyes conducted during the 1850s and 1860s by François Gillet and Charles Lauth in France and by John Lightfoot in England allowed the spread of a new artificial black in Second Empire fashion16. This sparkling black, considered to be unparalleled, is referred to as “imperial black”. Due to its deep and intense quality, it was particularly suitable for dyeing silk. The black silk fabric became one of the symbols of this trend thanks to the applications made by silk factories, especially by Claude-Joseph Bonnet in Lyon, and the first couturiers such as Charles Frederick Worth and Émile Pingat17. “Imperial black silk” fabrics, manufactured in Lyon, were specifically promoted in fashion and textile magazines for women. For instance, Chapman’s shop for patterns in Notting Hill was advertised in 1871 as the only place in London to find the renowned “imperial black silk” manufactured in Lyon (fig. 3)18.

Fig. 3. Chapman’s Imperial Black Silks, advertising, The Illustrated London Almanack Advertiser, 1872, p. 69

Fig. 3. Chapman’s Imperial Black Silks, advertising, The Illustrated London Almanack Advertiser, 1872, p. 69
  • 19 On black in menswear, Harvey, 1995, p. 195-224.
  • 20 For an account of fashion trends, Challamel, 1875, p. 195-321.
  • 21 Challamel, 1875, p. 215. The translation is mine.

8While menswear remained mainly dominated by black throughout the 19th century, the vivid colours of aniline dyes influenced women’s fashion, relegating black to a background trend19. Purple, green and red were the fashionable colours during the 1860s and the 1870s20. However, many magazines and handbooks on fashion mentioned a preference for black – especially black velvet and silk satin – in womenswear around 1871, as a consequence of the social struggles in France, the Paris Commune and the “death” of the Second Empire: “after so many sad events, black remained the order of the day; only the ladies had, not mourning dresses, but fancy black dresses, which were adorned little by little with light shades, to lessen its severe appearance, as the months passed21.”

  • 22 Anonymous, 1871, p. 34.
  • 23 Blanc, 1875, p. 16, 93.

9Following French fashion trends, The Englishwoman’s domestic magazine explained in 1871 to Victorian women how “black still predominates in French dresses” and recommended “a tunic of black grenadine” – which was “coquettishly looped up at one side” with “the corsage open in front and the sleeves wide and open” – as a “very useful adjunct to a female wardrobe22”. A hand-coloured fashion plate published in La Mode illustrée in 1872, to accompany an account on fashion in the aftermath of the Paris Commune, shows a woman dressed with a black velvet and satin dress, with wide open sleeves, testifying of the black trend described above (fig. 4). The velvet and the satin silk together created respectively a mix of matte and brilliant blacks. This combination of blacks was frequently adopted at the time to produce a contrast of darkness and brilliance, as pointed out by Charles Blanc in L’Art dans la parure et dans le vêtement, written in 187523.

Fig. 4. Jupon de satin noir, hand-coloured plate n. 2, La Mode illustrée, 1872

Fig. 4. Jupon de satin noir, hand-coloured plate n. 2, La Mode illustrée, 1872
  • 24 Schivelbusch, 1998.
  • 25 Audsley, Audsley, 1875. Yellow, for example, was considered one of the best colours to wear in arti (...)
  • 26 On fashion, textiles and the technology of light, Leclercq (ed.), 2001.

10The culture of the second half of the 19th century is considered the civilization of artificial lighting, thanks to the introduction of gaslight in the 1830s and then to the popularization of electric light during the 1880s24. In this context, exposing a coloured dress, especially if tinted with dark hues, to daylight or artificial light represented a sort of test of the quality of the dyes used in textiles and also a way to instruct women on the most favourable colours to use based on the lighting conditions25. The perception of colours in fashion depended on the quality, the texture, and the weaving of the textile materials; it was measured particularly in terms of sheen and brilliance26. Silk satin was the most renowned fabric for black garments, because thanks to its shiny quality, once dyed, it created an even richer nuance of black with more reflections that stand out in the light.

  • 27 Among the different types of black aniline, we find in fact experiments with black aniline with blu (...)
  • 28 Blanc, 1875, p. 201. The translation is mine. On “bluish-black” and “crow black” (noir corbeau) in (...)

11Dyeing handbooks insist on the blue shades created on black dresses and on how difficult it was to obtain black dyes that could still shine once exposed to artificial light-ing27. Charles Blanc described this effect in 1875, when he wrote that “black doesn’t escape the action of artificial lights” and “the bluish-blacks (noirs bleuâtres), those beautiful blacks which are so aptly called crow’s wing (aile de corbeau), stay flat and deaf, because they don’t retain the blue glazes that gave them playfulness and depth28”. Édouard Manet’s La Parisienne, painted around the same period of Blanc’s essay, shows a well-dressed woman in a black sheen garment, portrayed on a background composed of greyish blue and beige nuances (fig. 5). The light comes from the right, even if it is not clear whether the source is artificial or natural. Manet decided to paint the glowing effect of blue shades, created by the black fabric, adding large brush strokes of light-greyish blue to the right side of the dress, probably capturing the ambiguity of the physiological perception produced by the bluish-black dress when exposed to lighting. In Manet’s painting, La Parisienne is clearly presented as a symbol of modernity thanks to the reference to the black sheen dress, which was popular in Parisian fashion since the 1870s.

Fig. 5. Édouard Manet, La Parisienne, 1883, oil on canvas, 192 x 125 cm, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum

Fig. 5. Édouard Manet, La Parisienne, 1883, oil on canvas, 192 x 125 cm, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum

Photo. E. Cornelius/Nationalmuseum. CC BY-SA.

  • 29 Elcott, 2016.

12The rise of black as a fashion trend involved discourses and practices related to material, popular and visual cultures. The notion of “artificial black” is clearly related to material culture, when we consider the ways in which black dyes are enhanced by modern chemistry in order to create shining nuances to dye different textile materials. This notion is not separated, however, from a more general consideration of how the perception of black changed in 19th-century visual culture because of the introduction of artificial lighting. New social experiences linked to artificial light reformulate the epistemological status of black and more generally the perception of darkness which was redefined in relation to new spectacular practices (optical spectacle, illuminated advertising, window-shopping, color-light projections) that shaped the modern urban landscape, especially at night29.

Black as night

  • 30 See, for example, a fashion plate (n. 27) in La Mode illustrée (1871) showing a “toilette de deuil” (...)
  • 31 Rosier, 1848; Baucheron, 1872.

13Mourning dress was one of the few exceptions in which black was not just an option, but also a prescription for daywear during the 19th century. Women in mourning were expected to wear matte and dull black outfits (especially in wool or silk crepe and with little adornment), which, in any case, were adapted to fashion trends, and to the different silhouettes in vogue in magazines30. The dullness of mourning dress, which could not reflect light, was in contrast with the fashionable sheen and reflection of the silk dresses popular at the time. Many handbooks explained the rigid fashion rules associated with the several stages of mourning based on the relationship with the deceased: for how long it was necessary for a widow to wear a completely black outfit and gradually after how much time it was possible to introduce black in combination with purple, which was considered the colour of the half-mourning (demi-deuil)31. The rigidly prescriptive dress code of the mourning tradition created a strong association during the 19th century between the idea of wearing black in daily wear and widowhood. However, starting from the 1880s, black in fashion was progressively flourishing as a trend, offering a sophisticated alternative to bright colours for eveningwear.

  • 32 For example, Babbitt, 1878, p. 52 and 365.
  • 33 Babbitt, 1878, p. 366.

14Besides signifying mourning, black was also an option for certain times of the day, like afternoon and evening, and for specific occasions, such as social visits, dinners, concerts or other experiences associated with nightlife. There are several reasons for this trend, which would make black emerge more and more as one of the symbols of the fashionable Parisian woman, regardless of her social class. One of these reasons is related to the hygiene of colour in dress. Handbooks on colour and chromotherapy published during the 1870s and 1880s advised against the use of black as a daytime colour in clothing as it was considered a colour that does not let light filter in, since black fabrics absorb the sun’s rays32. The skin, therefore, would supposedly not benefit from the healing action of light, and the prolonged use of black during the day could cause damage to the skin due to little exposure to the healing rays of the sun. Furthermore, the fact that black absorbed the sun’s rays made it a more suitable colour for the winter season and, of course, for late afternoon and eveningwear33.

  • 34 Raymond, 1883, p. 8.
  • 35 Raymond, 1883, p. 7-8. Black was also common in daywear as uniform for working-class women.
  • 36 Perrot, 1994; Miller, 1981.

15Black had become a popular colour for winter, not only for its ability to absorb and retain heat, but also for a reason related to a principle of “economy”, as explained by Emmeline Raymond, the director of La Mode illustrée, in Le Secret des Parisiennes. This manual, published in 1883, outlines the modern iconography of the “Parisienne”, giving style advice especially to the petite bourgeoise woman34. The reason, adduced by Raymond, was that black, as a neutral colour, was a good choice for those women who did not have the opportunity and the means to constantly renew their wardrobe in order to follow fashion and colour trends that changed quickly from season to season35. Furthermore, fashion was already democratized then, thanks to low-cost dyes and to the spread of department stores that often offered bargain sales on fabrics36. For example, in October 1877, the Bon Marché in Paris advertised a sale of “black silk cloth” (“drap de soie noir”), selling the fabric discounted by forty percent (fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Drap de soie noir, textile sample, Au Bon Marché, Exposition publique des nouveautés de la saison, commercial catalogue, Bon Marché, Paris, October 1877

Fig. 6. Drap de soie noir, textile sample, Au Bon Marché, Exposition publique des nouveautés de la saison, commercial catalogue, Bon Marché, Paris, October 1877

© Ville de Paris/Bibl. Forney.

  • 37 Raymond, 1883, p. 28.
  • 38 Raymond, 1883, p. 71-72.
  • 39 See, for example, the fashion plate (n. 49) in La Mode illustrée (1881), showing a “toilette de vis (...)
  • 40 See especially three oil portraits made by Chase: Lady in black, 1888, The Metropolitan Museum of A (...)

16In the 1880s, Raymond described black silk dresses, especially in taffeta, as indispensable for women’s wardrobes and they were considered suitable for an afternoon outfit for social visits (“toilette de visites”), or for evening spectacles at the theatre37. These kinds of black outfits, which could be adorned according to the occasion38, were reproduced in many fashion magazines from the early 1880s until the end of the century, as an afternoon dress signed by the House of Worth and published by La Mode artistique in 1896 attests39. The lady in black’s portrait appeared also to be a favourite genre painting during the same years; a painter like William Merritt Chase reinterpreted this theme in various portraits, while even Gustav Klimt experimented with this genre, completing a Portrait of a Lady in Black in 1894 (Belvedere Museum, Vienna40).

  • 41 The silk dinner dress (1877-1880), in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York (...)
  • 42 The gown, in black silk velvet and white silk satin, was created for the Countess de Greffulhe and (...)
  • 43 See also the plate n. 433 published in Les Modes parisiennes on April 1, 1881.

17In addition to afternoon outfits, black became a popular colour for eveningwear due to a revival of black in fin-de-siècle culture, connected also with the new nightlife shaped by artificial lighting. There are many surviving examples of black evening dresses, such as a silk dinner dress made by Émile Pingat41 or The “Lily” evening gown, designed by the House of Worth in 189642. This type of evening gown, especially in silk satin and velvet, was reproduced in fashion magazines. In 1881, La Mode illustrée published an example of these dresses, especially for dinner and concerts (“toilette de dîners et concerts”) (fig. 7). The black satin dress is draped and embroidered with red flowers and embellished with white lace and completed by a garland of artificial flowers that recalls the adornments on the skirt. Black established itself as a trend for evening-wear, sometimes in addition to other colours or decorative elements such as artificial flowers, which were coloured with synthetic dyes. The flowers added a touch of colour to these black outfits, which often were matched with long gloves, so the sleeves were shortened, as in the case of the 1881 illustration43.

Fig. 7. Toilette de dîners et concerts, hand-coloured plate n. 50, La Mode illustrée, 1881

Fig. 7. Toilette de dîners et concerts, hand-coloured plate n. 50, La Mode illustrée, 1881
  • 44 A similar dress is also represented in Berthe Morisot’s painting Woman in Black (Before the Theater (...)
  • 45 On Madame X, Sidlauskas, 2001. The painting was also criticised for the pale colour of the skin and (...)

18The same trend appeared also in fashionable portraits at the end of century. A painting, After the Ball, made by Alfred-Philippe Roll in 1886 (Nantes, Museum of Art), shows a woman who had just returned from a ball and is undressing in her room with the help of a servant. The dress, which is shown from the back, is in black silk with white lace, short sleeves, embellished with light-pink roses, a model similar to those described in fashion magazines at the time44. In 1884, John Singer Sargent had already reinterpreted the trend of the black evening gown with a plunging neckline and short sleeves in his enigmatic Portrait of Madame X. The painting caused a scandal at the time, and the dress was compared to a sort of lingerie garment, because Sargent exaggerated its sensual characteristics, challenging the boundaries of black evening-wear45. The same year, Paul-Aimé-Jacques Baudry painted Madame Louis Singer (Petit Palais, Paris), portraying a similar dress, but in a less provocative version than the one presented by Sargent at the Paris Salon. Sargent originally painted one of the thin shoulder straps of the gown falling down the arm in the first version of the picture, and then, after being harshly criticized, he retouched the detail, but at that point the painting had already become the object of caricature (fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Albert Robida, “Le Salon Comique”, plate n. 229, Caricature, May 17th, 1884, p. 165

Fig. 8. Albert Robida, “Le Salon Comique”, plate n. 229, Caricature, May 17th, 1884, p. 165
  • 46 Moyse Ferreira, 2022, p. 141-146. Salvador Dalí collaborated on the design.

19Fin-de-siècle revival of black as the colour of evening-wear, in association with the new urban and artificially illuminated landscape of nightlife, played a part in the process of transformation of black from the colour of mourning (and deathliness) to a fashionable colour, that took place during the 1920s, thanks to Chanel’s little black dress. “Imposing black” in fashion as “a sort of uniform” not only embodied at that point a kind of counter-revolution to gaudy colours, but it also embraced the idea of “economy” represented by modern Parisian women who always stay in style with black, beyond any fashion trends. Moreover, the mourning dress tradition was symbolically brought to its paroxysm when Elsa Schiaparelli, not without dark humour, designed in 1938 her iconic Surrealist Skeleton Dress, a long minimalist black evening dress in silk crêpe, which dressed the body like a second skin, showing the skeletal structure with a three-dimensional effect46. Women could finally wear an elegant gown that also mimicked death and the mourning dress tradition, symbolically liberating them from the rigid etiquette they had been tied to for so long. The Skeleton Dress embodies a satirical reinterpretation of the ultimate transformation of the 19th-century status of black as a fashionable colour, becoming in a way the last step in establishing black both as an emblem of “chic” and as the colour of modernity.

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Notes

1 The little black dress is described as “sober”, “simple” and “elegant”. Anonymous (Vogue France), 1926b, p. 9. The same drawing was also published a month before in American Vogue, 1926a, in which the sobriety of Chanel’s dress was compared to Ford’s mass-produced black car model T.

2 Especially evening black silk flapper dresses, like the one in the collection of The Museum at FIT in New York (2007.31.1).

3 Morand, 2008, p. 58.

4 Anonymous, 1926a, p. 69.

5 Moyse Ferreira, 2022, p. 119-136.

6 Meyer (ed.), 2016.

7 See the EU-founded project CHROMOTOPE. The 19th century chromatic turn (Sorbonne Université, CNAM, Oxford University) (2019-2024). On the chromatic revolution, especially in fashion, Lee Blaszczyk, 2012, p. 1-44; Matthews David, 2015.

8 For exemple Taine, 1872, p. 24-25 and Foveau de Courmelles, 1896, p. 9.

9 Morand, 2008, p. 58. In another famous quote, she said: “When I find a colour darker than black, I’ll wear it. But until then, I’m wearing black.”

10 Cornu, 1911.

11 The perception of black is caused by the absorption of all the colours of the visible spectrum. It is literally the result of the absence of light.

12 He employed natural dyestuffs such as indigo and cochineal. Grossiord (ed.), 2017.

13 For an account of the chemical and industrial history of artificial dyes, Travis, 1993.

14 Radau, 1874, p. 904.

15 Garfield, 2001.

16 Starting in the 1840s, Gillet worked on a shimmering black (noir au chatoiement) for dying silk (to be employed in Lyon textile manufactures) and then, during the 1860s, he started to introduce in his work artificial colours. Lightfoot discovered aniline black in 1862, followed by Charles Lauth in 1865. For a history of artificial black, Travis, 1994; Lightfoot, 1871; Gouillon, 1872.

17 See, for example, the Afternoon dress in black and light green silk, designed around 1874 by Worth in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), 1975.259.2a,b.

18 “Those who wish for a superior make of silk should purchase the imperial black silk of Messrs. Chapman, of Notting-hill [...]. These guaranteed silks are manufactured by noted Lyon’s houses among them are C. J. Bonnet, Tapissier fils, C. M. Jeallard, Jaubert, Lions, Andras and Cie; these names alone are a guarantee of the splendid quality of the silks”. The Silkworm, 1871, p. 110.

19 On black in menswear, Harvey, 1995, p. 195-224.

20 For an account of fashion trends, Challamel, 1875, p. 195-321.

21 Challamel, 1875, p. 215. The translation is mine.

22 Anonymous, 1871, p. 34.

23 Blanc, 1875, p. 16, 93.

24 Schivelbusch, 1998.

25 Audsley, Audsley, 1875. Yellow, for example, was considered one of the best colours to wear in artificial lighting, because it was enhanced by it.

26 On fashion, textiles and the technology of light, Leclercq (ed.), 2001.

27 Among the different types of black aniline, we find in fact experiments with black aniline with blue reflections, such as the black-blue made by Jean-Théodore Coupier. Radau, 1874, p. 904.

28 Blanc, 1875, p. 201. The translation is mine. On “bluish-black” and “crow black” (noir corbeau) in the textile industry, Gouillon, 1877, p. 246.

29 Elcott, 2016.

30 See, for example, a fashion plate (n. 27) in La Mode illustrée (1871) showing a “toilette de deuil” composed of a black wool plissé dress with fringes, a fashionable element at the time. For a history of mourning dress in general, Taylor, [1983] 2010.

31 Rosier, 1848; Baucheron, 1872.

32 For example, Babbitt, 1878, p. 52 and 365.

33 Babbitt, 1878, p. 366.

34 Raymond, 1883, p. 8.

35 Raymond, 1883, p. 7-8. Black was also common in daywear as uniform for working-class women.

36 Perrot, 1994; Miller, 1981.

37 Raymond, 1883, p. 28.

38 Raymond, 1883, p. 71-72.

39 See, for example, the fashion plate (n. 49) in La Mode illustrée (1881), showing a “toilette de visites” in black velvet, and the fashion plate (n. 22) in La Mode artistique (1896).

40 See especially three oil portraits made by Chase: Lady in black, 1888, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (91.11); Portrait of a Lady in Black, ca. 1895, Detroit Institute of Arts (43.486); Portrait of a Lady in Black (Annie Traquair Lang), 1911, Philadelphia Museum of Art (1928-63-4).

41 The silk dinner dress (1877-1880), in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York (C.I.60.6.9).

42 The gown, in black silk velvet and white silk satin, was created for the Countess de Greffulhe and also photographed by Nadar in 1896 (Palais Galliera, GAL1978.20.1).

43 See also the plate n. 433 published in Les Modes parisiennes on April 1, 1881.

44 A similar dress is also represented in Berthe Morisot’s painting Woman in Black (Before the Theater), 1875, in the coll. of the National Museum of Western Art – Tokyo, Japan.

45 On Madame X, Sidlauskas, 2001. The painting was also criticised for the pale colour of the skin and the artificial pose.

46 Moyse Ferreira, 2022, p. 141-146. Salvador Dalí collaborated on the design.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Fig. 1. Chanel’s little black dress, drawing, Vogue France, November 1926, p. 9
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 960k
Titre Fig. 2. Toilettes de la Maison Gagelin, hand-coloured plate, La Mode illustrée, 43, 1862
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 908k
Titre Fig. 3. Chapman’s Imperial Black Silks, advertising, The Illustrated London Almanack Advertiser, 1872, p. 69
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 276k
Titre Fig. 4. Jupon de satin noir, hand-coloured plate n. 2, La Mode illustrée, 1872
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,1M
Titre Fig. 5. Édouard Manet, La Parisienne, 1883, oil on canvas, 192 x 125 cm, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum
Crédits Photo. E. Cornelius/Nationalmuseum. CC BY-SA.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-5.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,2M
Titre Fig. 6. Drap de soie noir, textile sample, Au Bon Marché, Exposition publique des nouveautés de la saison, commercial catalogue, Bon Marché, Paris, October 1877
Crédits © Ville de Paris/Bibl. Forney.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-6.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 580k
Titre Fig. 7. Toilette de dîners et concerts, hand-coloured plate n. 50, La Mode illustrée, 1881
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-7.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 1,2M
Titre Fig. 8. Albert Robida, “Le Salon Comique”, plate n. 229, Caricature, May 17th, 1884, p. 165
URL http://journals.openedition.org/techne/docannexe/image/18504/img-8.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 376k
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Alessandra Ronetti, « Back to Black: A fashionable colour from Worth to Chanel »Technè, 56 | 2023, 62-71.

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Alessandra Ronetti, « Back to Black: A fashionable colour from Worth to Chanel »Technè [En ligne], 56 | 2023, mis en ligne le 14 mars 2025, consulté le 10 novembre 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/techne/18504 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/techne.18504

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Alessandra Ronetti

Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the ERC Project Chromotope, Sorbonne Université (2021-2023) – Doctor in Art History and Research Associate, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (HiCSA) (alessandra.ronetti[at]gmail.com).

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