Starting April 1, The Frick Collection in New York City will present Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette in the Cabinet Gallery, displaying twenty-four hand-colored engravings, known as fashion plates, depicting French dress in the late eighteenth century. This marks the Frick’s first gallery presentation drawn entirely from the Frick Art Research Library’s holdings.
Organized by Yifu Liu, the Frick’s 2024–26 Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow, in conjunction with the special exhibition Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture, the installation showcases a selection of captivating prints from the Frick Art Research Library’s set of Gallerie des modes et costumes français (1778–87), the largest and most influential fashion plate series of its time. The plates offer rare insights into the world of clothing and accessories during the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. French designs as captured in the prints were circulated across Europe and its colonies, setting the latest styles, like those seen in Thomas Gainsborough’s contemporaneous portraits of British society figures.
Commented Axel Rüger, Anna-Maria, and Stephen Kellen, Director of The Frick Collection, “This project reflects exceptional scholarship and collaboration, marking the first time works from the Frick Art Research Library will be shown in a dedicated exhibition in the museum’s galleries. We commend Yifu Liu, Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow, whose thoughtful selection and research illuminate the broader cultural significance behind these extraordinary plates. We are also grateful to Aimee Ng, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, for conceiving and guiding the exhibition and publication, and to Stephen J. Bury, former Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian of the Frick Art Research Library, under whose stewardship the Gallerie des modes set was acquired.”