- Chronicle
Fashion plates
In the 17th century, fashion trends started at the Tuileries Garden. Journalists would come here to comment on the latest creations worn by the ‘high-society ladies’ sitting on wooden benches and walking the ‘Horseshoe’ ramps.
The first publication made for the sole purpose of imparting ‘precise and prompt information regarding new attire and finery’ (often seen at the ‘Thuilleries’), the Cabinet des Modes saw the light of day in 1785. Soon after, the invention of lithography – to which colour was added in 1837 – enabled the development of specialised press.
Do the bloggers taking pictures in the garden and the guests at Dior’s fashion shows atop the octagonal basin know that they are continuing a very old tradition?
Découvrez les
Chroniques du Jardin
- Chronicle
Washington Irving, ‘A Contented Man’, 1837
[American writer Washington Irving (1783–1859) is best known for his Tales of the Alhambra and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
A chronicler during the reign of Louis XV
Louis-Dominique Bontemps (1738–1766) was first valet to King Louis XV and governor of the Tuileries Palace and Garden. In 1760, he decided that wooden rental chairs would join the existing stone benches – and the proceeds of this activity were to be given to his mistress, Paris Opéra dancer Marie Allard!
Henri Pol, bird charmer
During the Second Empire, bird charmers appeared in the Tuileries Garden.
Through the eyes of painters and photographers
Artists have always found the Tuileries Garden appealing.
