The ''Gazette du Bon Ton'' was a small but influential

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

published in France from 1912 to 1925.Davis
48
Founded by Lucien Vogel, the short-lived publication reflected the latest developments in fashion, lifestyle and beauty during a period of revolutionary change in art and society. Distributed by

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

, the magazine was issued as the ''Gazette du Bon Genre'' in the US.Antique Print Club, ''Gazette du Bon Ton : "Etes-vous pret?"'' (1913)
re: "''Gazette du Bon Ton ..., published by Lucien Vogel in Paris between 1912 and 1925... and distributed by Condé Nast. Distributed in the U.S. as ''Gazette du Bon Genre'', both titles translate roughly as Journal of the Good Style.''" Both titles roughly translate as "Journal of Good Taste" or "Journal of Good Style."

Elitism and arts focus

The magazine strove to present an elitist image to distinguish itself from larger, mainstream competitors like ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' and ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' in America and '' Femina'', '' Les Modes'' and '' L'Art et la Mode'' in France.Davis
50
51. It was available only to subscribers and was priced at a steep 100 francs per year.Davis
50
The magazine, published on fine paper, signed exclusive contracts with seven of Paris' top

haute couture (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...

houses – Cheruit, Doeuillet, Doucet, Paquin,

Poiret Poiret is a French language surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Jean Poiret, French author *Jean Louis Georges Poiret, former Lieutenant-Governor of Guinea *Jean Louis Marie Poiret, French clergyman, botanist, and explorer * Jeanne P ...

, Redfern, and Worth – to reproduce in luscious

pochoir Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creatin ...

the designers' latest creations. After World War I, a select group of other design firms were added to the magazine's repertoire, including the houses of Beer,

Lanvin Lanvin () is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin in Paris. It is the oldest French fashion house still in operation. Since 2018, it has been a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Lanvin Group. Lanvin Group includes Lanvin, S ...

Patou Patou, formerly known as Jean Patou or Jean Patou Paris, is a French fashion house. History The company was originally created by Jean Patou in 1914 and was eponymously named. After his premature death in 1936, his sister Madeleine and her h ...

and Martial & Armand. However, the editors' choice of designers was arbitrary, and a number of the era's most prominent couturiers never contributed to the pages of the ''Gazette du Bon Ton'', among them

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

and Lucile. The magazine's title was derived from the French concept of ''bon ton'', or timeless good taste and refinement. The ''Gazette du Bon Ton'' aimed to establish fashion as an art alongside painting, sculpture and drawing. According to the magazine's first editorial: "The clothing of a woman is a pleasure for the eye that cannot be judged inferior to the other arts."Davis
49
To elevate the ''Gazettes literary status, the publication featured essays on fashion by established writers from other fields, including novelist

Marcel Astruc Marcel may refer to: People * Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel * Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder * Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian ...

, playwright

Henri de Regnier Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * He ...

, decorator

Claude Roger-Marx Claude Roger-Marx (12 November 1888, Paris – 17 May 1977, Paris), was a French writer, and playwright, as well as an art critic and art historian like his father Roger Marx (1859–1913). He also used the pen name "Claudinet". Biography Rog ...

, and art historian

Jean-Louis Vaudoyer Jean-Louis Vaudoyer (10 September 1883, in Le Plessis-Robinson, Hauts-de-Seine – 20 May 1963) was a French novelist, poet, essayist and art historian. He was also administrator general of the Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or ...

. Their contributions ranged in tone from irreverent to ironic and mocking.

Fashion illustrations

The centerpiece of the ''Gazette'' was its fashion illustrations.Davis, 56. Each issue featured ten full-page fashion plates (seven depicting couture designs and three inspired by couture but designed solely by the illustrators) printed with the color

technique. It employed many of the most famous

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

artists and illustrators of the day, including Etienne Drian,

Georges Barbier George Barbier (), né Georges Augustin Barbier, (1882–1932) was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century. Biography Born in Nantes, France on 16 October 1882, Barbier was 29 years old when he mounted his first exhi ...

Erté Romain de Tirtoff (23 November 1892 – 21 April 1990), known by the pseudonym Erté (from the French pronunciation of his initials: ), was a Russian-born French people, French artist and designer. He worked in several fields, including fashi ...

(Romain de Tirtoff),

Paul Iribe Paul Iribe, born Paul Iribarnegaray (8 June 1883 – 21 September 1935) was a French illustrator and designer in the decorative arts. He worked in Hollywood during the 1920s and was Coco Chanel's lover from 1931 to his death. Early life and caree ...

Pierre Brissaud Pierre Brissaud (23 December 1885 – 17 October 1964) was a French Art Deco illustrator, painter, and engraver. He was born in Paris and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts and Atelier Fernand Cormon in Montmartre, Paris. His father was Dr. Éd ...

André Edouard Marty André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal ...

Thayaht Thayaht was the pseudonym of artist and designer Ernesto Michahelles (1893–1959) best known for his revolutionary design of the TuTa and his involvement with the Italian Futurist movement. Early life A mixture of British, German, Swiss and A ...

(Ernesto Michahelles), Georges Lepape, Edouard Garcia Benito, Soeurs David (David Sisters), Pierre Mourgue, Robert Bonfils, Bernard Boutet de Monvel,

Maurice Leroy Maurice Leroy (; born 2 February 1959) is a French politician who served as Minister of City Affairs under President Nicolas Sarkozy in the third government of Prime Minister François Fillon from November 2010 to May 2012. In this capacity, h ...

, and Zyg Brunner. These artists, rather than simply drawing models in outfits, depicted them in various dramatic and narrative situations.

Footnotes

Works cited

*Davis, Mary E. ''Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism.'' University of California Press: 2006. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazette du Bon Ton 1912 establishments in France 1925 disestablishments in France Defunct women's fashion magazines published in France Defunct French-language magazines Magazines established in 1912 Magazines disestablished in 1925