This week, we will continue with our fashion history session by taking a look at the fashion of the 1690s. Given the narrower mantua and the taller fontange headdress, women’s clothing in the 1690s had an even more vertical appearance.
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The overall silhouette is well illustrated by a fashion print featuring the daughter of the Duke of Orleans.
The long-trained mantua was accentuated by the tall fontange lace hat, creating an extraordinarily vertical and linear appearance for ladies in the 1690s.
Many people credit Madame de Maintenon, King Louis XIV’s hidden wife, for having an impact on the more subdued jacket-style mantua bodices.
The Duchess of Modena is dressed in a similar striped silk brocade mantua and petticoat. The above includes the striking horizontal fringe and lace Brown noted.
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Occasionally, mantuas and petticoats were still made of contrasting materials; for instance, look at a portrait of the Comtesse de Mailly from 1698. Mantuas had either long trains or short trains.