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Ladies Fans
During the 1780s, a fan was an important fashion accessory for any well-dressed French lady. She could communicate subtle messages across a ballroom of theatre by the way in which she held or manipulated her fan. Beginning with the first flights of 1783, ballooning scenes emerged as one of the most popular decorative motifs for ladies fans. Made of painted paper or silk, a few examples surviving to today are too fragile to display, and are reproduced here as photographs. |