Image: Frick Madison, London
The Frick Collection is drawing attention to a small but vivid corner of its holdings this summer with 'Ruffles & Ribbons: Fashion Plates from the Time of Marie Antoinette,' a special installation of late-18th-century fashion plates from the museum’s Art Research Library. The presentation, highlighted in The New Yorker’s Goings On newsletter and in the Frick’s own biweekly email, focuses on hand-engraved images that documented the extravagant dress of Marie Antoinette’s age.
According to the materials provided by the museum, the installation is being shown in connection with the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Frick describes the fashion plates as works from the late 1700s, with the newsletter noting that there are 24 plates in the display. The images, created by hand engraving, depict the highly embellished styles that circulated in France at the time, with feathers, ribbons and other decorative excesses rendered in fine detail.
The Frick’s email positions the installation as part of a broader summer offering at the museum, alongside access to its permanent collection and other public programs. The museum also points visitors toward a talk on July 24, when Yifu Liu, the Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow, will speak in an exhibition talk titled 'The Queen of Fashion.' That program is described as a short, free-with-admission event exploring Marie Antoinette’s fashionable legacy.
The New Yorker framed the display as a rare chance to see original fashion plates up close. In its brief listing, the magazine described the works as early precursors to modern fashion magazines and noted that many original French examples of this kind have been lost over time. The Frick’s library holdings, rather than a loan exhibition of broader scope, are the basis for the installation.
The museum’s email also placed the show within a holiday weekend lineup that included free admission during Louis Vuitton First Fridays on July 3, as well as a series of summer programs. But 'Ruffles & Ribbons' remains the central visual focus of the announcement, part of the Frick’s effort to spotlight objects from its research collections as well as works on public view.
The installation joins other Frick materials being emphasized for the season, including a separate special display of Gilbert Stuart’s 'George Washington' in the Oval Room. The Marie Antoinette-focused plates, by contrast, look to the late French ancien régime, presenting a world of fashion that the Frick says survived in printed form through its Art Research Library and is now being brought into view for visitors to examine in detail.
