c. 1790 Salon: Vive la France! Behind the Scenes: Period Corsets® Salon Series

At Period Corsets® every year we design in house a few of what we call our Salon Ensembles.   We style our garments in sumptuous fabrics using a design theme to inspire and show you how our products can be used in new and creative ways. Our fans and clients are familiar with our basic white cotton coutil corsets and plain petticoats which undercover provide the Period Silhouette of the historic era they need to build their costumes over.  Add a rich dupioni silk in red shot with green to one of our petticoat shapes and you have a skirt.  Add a coordinating green silk brocade to one of our corsets, put them together and you have achieved a colorful ensemble that will need to be showcased; no longer behind the scenes!

Period Corsets® : "Viva la Revolución"
c. 1790 Salon Ensemble

The Vive la France Salon Ensemble was designed in mind of the rise of patriotism in Revolutionary France at the time this corset style was worn. It was inspired by research cartoons and fashion prints from the era. See the costume design sketch by Doris Black and research images below.



Our finished  ensemble is pictured on the left.   Our c. 1790  Marie corset is made in a wine red linen with blue lacing ribbons front and back. We combined the corset with our simple shift made in a  cream linen, accented with 2" wide cotton tatted lace trim at the neckline, hem and sleeve cuffs.  Thus the French tricolor is achieved! Red, White( natural) and Blue !  To top it off we made a feathered rosette headdress which you can see from the research was quite popular in the day.   By using our stock corset and shift shapes in fashion fabrics the whole ensemble turns out quite fancier than our plain stock products and is well suited to be seen on stage to great effect. This French partisan is patriotic down to her underwear.

Designer: Doris Black's costume sketch
for Period Corsets® "Viva la Revolución" c. 1790 Salon Ensemble

Patriotic dress

"Origin of the Cockade and Tricolore. The Marquis de Lafayette was probably responsible for inventing the red, white and blue cockade which soon became compulsory for revolutionaries in 1789."-- sited from: credit.

round gown link

1780' vs 1770s round vs wide

c. 1790 Marie Corset
too be worn under a Round Gown

Teaser: Question of the day: What are those cute duck tails at the back of this corset for? stay tuned for the answer.