French Costume Practices

The costume of 17th century France was really a fashion show. All costumes (for both comedy and tragedy) were highly fashionable at the time of performance. In 1727 they adopted court dress for the tragic roles and there came to be a sort of competition as to who would appear in the most lavish of costumes. To use costumes that would have been realistic to the time and circumstances of the plays being presented was seen as being "too English". It would appear that the French looked down upon that. After 1760 we see this view being reformed. Instead of art idealizing life it now began to represent life as it was.