You have now entered the first room of the Grand Gallery.
Protected from light and dust, the costumes you are about to discover tell the story of fashion in Arles since the 18th century.
In front of you, five silhouettes from the 1770s and 1780s, the peak period of activity for the Raspal sisters’ dressmaking workshop.
Notice how women of the Third Estate in Arles wore headpieces that protected their hair and framed their faces. It was at this moment that they created a unique, recognizable fashion that distinguished them from other towns in the region and beyond.
As there was no textile manufacturing in the city, they sourced their fabrics elsewhere. Each year, the Beaucaire fair offered the necessary variety and quantity. At its temporary stalls, one could find fabrics from Avignon, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, or Nîmes, but also from Lyon, Jouy-en-Josas, Mulhouse, Geneva, the Levant, the Orient, or even India.
Catherine and Thérèse Raspal, local fashion merchants, mastered these textiles brilliantly, drawing inspiration from the court fashion of Marie-Antoinette. Observe the parallels between aristocratic clothing and that of Arles women.
Move on to the next two display cases: they illustrate the changes in fashion before and after the French Revolution.
Political opinions were displayed in colors and symbols. The First Empire introduced a breath of novelty, particularly in women’s dress, with high-waisted gowns giving them the appearance of antique priestesses.
The return of the monarchy, with Louis XVIII on the throne from 1815, again influenced fashion. The women of Arles, attentive to stylistic changes, recreated a distinctive and recognizable costume. Symbols of the Ancien Régime reappeared, transformed and modernized: the Maltese cross, the gold bracelet known as coulas, or the droulet, an emblematic garment resembling a bolero when seen from the front, with long rolled-up sleeves and four back panels floating over the skirt.
In the 19th century, artists fell under the spell of Arles women. They produced numerous portraits: sometimes brunettes with dark eyes, sometimes blondes with light eyes, reflecting the diversity that had marked the ancient city through the centuries.
Visiting Arles to study its Roman monuments, they filled their sketchbooks with drawings and descriptions. Some captured these faces forever on canvas, providing us with precious sources for the history of costume.