Now head towards the small courtyard to discover the video work of artist Charles Fréger.
On your way, you pass an unfinished painting by Antoine Raspal, a painter from Arles. It shows one of the models posing for his sisters’ dressmaking workshop. This canvas illustrates the care Arles women took in their appearance, as well as the distinctive gestures that made them recognizable and identifiable.
These gestures, linked to hair and clothing, evolved with fashion trends up until the early 20th century.
Take a seat now in the projection room.
In his work, Charles Fréger reveals, in backlight, the contemporary gestures of 21st-century women from Arles.
With meticulous precision, these women comb their hair around a structuring comb, then wrap a ribbon around the headdress and fasten it with pins. Once their hair is arranged, they put on, piece by piece, the elements of the costume in a perfectly mastered ritual: petticoats, corset, padded supports (faux-culs) for the skirt, and a bodice called the aise.
Over this bodice, several more pieces are layered: a stomacher front, a guimpe, a delicate neckerchief in gauze or pleated tulle, and finally an ornate shawl.
Everything is held together solely with pins: a true architecture of folds, composed for a single use, the span of a day or a performance.
It takes about an hour and a half to prepare an Arlésienne. Charles Fréger and his models took on the challenge of revealing the secrets of this preparation… in just a few minutes.
These gestures are inherited from women of Arles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At that time, in simpler versions, such costumes were worn daily by most of the local population.
To continue your visit, retrace your steps and follow the arrow to the left, through the small gallery.