On leaving Versailles for the last time (October 6th, 1789), Marie Antoinette distributed among her suite all that remained of her fans and laces.
The arrangement of the lace lappets was still preserved by rule. "Lappets to be pinned up"—lappets to be let down on grand occasions.[[533]] Later Madame de Staël, like a true bas-bleu—without speaking of her curtsey to Marie Antoinette, which was all wrong—on her first visit of ceremony to Madame de Polignac, in defiance of all etiquette, left her lace lappets in the carriage.
The democratic spirit of the age now first creeps out in the fashions. Among the rich parures of Du Barry[[534]] we find "barbes à la paysanne"—everything now becomes "à coquille," "à papillon."
Even the Queen's hairdresser, Léonard, "qui
"Portait jusques au ciel l'audace de ses coiffures,"
did not venture to introduce much lace.
The affected phraseology of the day is very "precious" in its absurdity. We read of the toilette of Mademoiselle Duthé in which she appeared at the opera. She wore a robe "soupirs étouffés," trimmed with "regrets superflus"; a point of "candeur parfaite, garnie en plaintes indiscrètes"; ribbons en "attentions marquées"; shoes "cheveux de la reine,"[[535]] embroidered with diamonds, "en coups perfides" and "venez-y-voir" in emeralds. Her hair "en sentiments soutenus," with a cap of "conquête assurée," trimmed with ribbons of "œil abattu"; a "chat[[536]] sur le col," the colour of "gueux nouvellement arrivé," and upon her shoulders a Médicis "en bienséance," and her muff of "agitation momentanée."
In the accounts of Mademoiselle Bertin, the Queen's milliner, known for her saying, "Il n'y a rien de nouveau dans ce monde que ce qui est oublié," we have little mention of lace.[[537]]
"Blond à fond d'Alençon semé à poix, à mouches," now usurps the place of the old points. Even one of the "grandes dames de la vieille cour," Madame Adélaïde de France herself, is represented in her picture by Madame Guiard with a spotted handkerchief, probably of blonde (Fig. 85).
Fig. 85.