La esencia del estilo. Historia de la invención de la moda y el lujo contemporáneo

by Joan DeJean

La esencia del estilo o de cómo los franceses inventaron la alta costura, la gastronomía y los cafés. Esto es, la elegancia, la sofisticación y el glamur. Así sintetiza la autora la tesis principal de su investigación, que no es otra sino exponer cómo las claves del estilo de vida y del ocio europeo tuvieron su origen en la Francia de Luis XIV.

¿Por qué los seguidores de la moda son capaces de pagar una pequeña fortuna por un accesorio de diseño (un bolso de marca, por ejemplo)? ¿Por qué todo el mundo piensa que hay que descorchar una botella de champán para que una ocasión resulte especial? ¿Y por qué tal acontecimiento se vuelve más señalado si la botella es Dom Pérignon? Una de las más destacadas autoridades de la cultura gala del siglo XVII proporciona las respuestas a estas y a otras fascinantes preguntas: en un brillante momento de su historia, durante el reinado de Luis XIV, los franceses establecieron los estándares de la sofisticación, el estilo y el glamur que todavía hoy gobiernan nuestras vidas. Porque un atractivo y carismático joven rey con un inmenso sentido del buen gusto y aún mayor de la historia decidió hacer legendarios su país y su real persona. Sus súbditos se convirtieron en los árbitros absolutos en materia de estilo y gusto en todo el mundo occidental, y el país comenzó un dominio comercial en el mundo del lujo que pervive desde entonces.

DeJean nos transporta al nacimiento de la alta cocina, a la aparición de los peluqueros célebres, los cafés de moda, la vida nocturna y el cambio de temporada, extendidos después más allá de los limitados confines de los círculos cortesanos. París se convirtió en la ciudad que concitaba todos los deseos, el destino soñado de viajeros procedentes de toda Europa.

Narrado con ingenio, estilo y pasión por una escritora que conoce esta sorprendente historia real mejor que nadie, La esencia del estilo va destinado tanto a los aficionados a la historia en general como a los interesados por la historia de la cultura, la gastronomía, la moda, el diseño, el márquetin, el protocolo y el estilo de vida contemporáneo.

Genres: Fashion, History, Nonfiction, France, Sociology, Art, Historical

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Joan DeJean has been Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania since 1988. She previously taught at Yale and at Princeton. She is the author of eleven books on French literature, history, and material culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including most recently How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City (2014); The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual--and the Modern Home Began (2009); The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (2005). She lives in Philadelphia and, when in Paris, around the corner from the house where, in 1612, this story began.

Reviews

[Alice Verberne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This University of Pennsylvania grad has also taught at Princeton and Yale and done her research. DeJean read old newspapers from the time of Louis XVI in order to compile her book. It is written in an engaging style that clearly links marketing trends that are still used (and abused) today in order to get people to desire something that they really do not need. I find the psychological innovation of marketing enthralling. DeJean is a Francophile who tends to credit the French with innovating luxury trade. I, in fact, believe that Italy lead the way. DeJean admits in her text that France did, in fact, rip off many of their luxury items from Italy (and the orient) by first importing items and laborers, then discarding/banning imports once their trade secrets were replicated in France.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Properly belongs in the pop-literary genre that can loosely be identified as "the social history of concept/food item/technology/etc.". DeJean's writing is from the school of annales meets cosmo, peppered with phrases like "bling-bling" and repeated references to Carrie Bradshaw and Manolo Blahnik. Her repeated attempts to create parallels between the 17-18th century and recent currents events are alternately amusing and lame.

The combination of writing styles makes this book a lighter read then one might expect. Would be easy to read hanging from a subway strap or on the beach, a couple of pages at a time. People working in certain industries(fashion, publishing, p.r.) might find some of the quotables or anecdotes useful at work/play.

The basic idea is that Louis XIV birthed modern ideas of "style" by his example/expenditures as king of france. Not a particularly sophisticated thesis (the desire of non-nobility to emulate nobility is barely discussed, except in passing), but servicable enough as a framework for DeJean to pump her "everything new is old" idea with plenty of hilarious period details (illustrations are included}.

Not a great scholarly work, but better then reading "the Devil Wears Prada".

[liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sub-title of this book is "How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour." However, "How Louis XIV Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, etc" would be more appropriate. And it's true, mostly; a lot of these things exploded as a direct result of how Louis XIV [say it with me now: ka-TOHRZ] ran things during his reign. One of the really interesting things was how many of them were introduced to protect French industry and the French economy. What was really interesting was being able to recognize how some of these things extended beyond France's borders as a result of France being one of the first European countries to standardize its language. That sub-title, though, kind of pissed me off. It's not about how "the French" invented all of these things; it's really about all of the innovations that Louis XIV introduced and popularized during his reign. And, as influential as Louis XIV was, there are so many other historical figures and situations that have done much more to create modern France. So, interesting, but not what I was expecting. Still good, though, if you know what you're in for.

For the first time in Western cooking, a radical separation beween sugar and salt went into effect. Before the birth of haute cuisine, sweet dishes were part of every course. The new French chefs allowed salt and pepper to dominate until the end of the meal and gradually moved sweet dishes to the last course, which began to be called le dessert. They also redefined sweetness: sugar, readily available in France for the first time because of its New World colonies, replaced honey in recipes.

And another interesting little fact (surprised me):
Versailles may well have been the original theme park. Far from being the exclusive preserve of the court and official visitors, the château and its gardens were always open to the public: visitors had to be suitably dressed, and they had to get an entrance pass before leaving Paris.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

DeJean’s thesis is that the modern luxury market originated from the reign of Louis XIV, “The Sun King.”

She backs up the idea beautifully chapter by chapter, showcasing how today’s luxury goods and services from champagne to fine dining to lattes to fancy hair styles to floor length mirrors all had their origins in his reign.

And not just they happened to develop in that time period – but that his main political/economic goal for his administration was to make France dominate in the luxury markets, and that he put his money where his mouth was, paying for all sorts of imported goods to create demand and then sponsoring bringing those trades into France, selling the idea to the French and the rest of the world that the place to buy diamonds, mirrors, high heels, champagne, etc., was France.

He was the Sun King both in appearance as he sashayed around Versailles wearing clothes studded with hundreds of diamonds, but also a true center of a new solar system of high priced consumerism.

I loved this book – it was like a history version of window shopping along the Champs-Élysées!

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this cleared the first and most important hurdle in nonfiction in that it was highly readable, I also found this book to be extremely disjointed. It never read like a whole book: one chapter didn't build to the next. DeJean kept re-explaining every chapter what "The Gallant Mercury" was, and who Colbert was, and it got very tiring to have all this basic info repeated so often. It felt like this book rested heavily on repetition, which could make it tiring to read.

That said, it was definitely interesting, and I learned a lot of new things from it. This is one where if the topic genuinely intrigues you I say go for it. If not, you're not missing out by passing.

[Cynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was women who started style. No--King Louis XIV did!
Some things I enjoyed: The description of an upscale French Market, the description of Cafe patrons.
What I did not enjoy was the complete sirface-level treatment of the topic, I often scanned a page, read an occassional sentence.
And I appreciate knowing how cafes and perfumes and umbrellas came from.
Still overall less than meh. So 2☆

[Andreas Bodemer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I know more about King Louis XIV than I ever wanted to.

And it turns out a lot of innocent craftsmen died when the French tried to steal 18th century Venetian glass mirror technology. Yikes.

[Taksya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saggio sulla nascita dell'alta moda, del culto dell'alta cucina, dei caffé alla moda, dello stile e della raffinatezza necessarie per distinguersi. Siamo a metà del XVII secolo, in Francia o, meglio, a Parigi e Luigi XIV, il Re Sole, sembra pilotare i gusti e le creazioni non solo della propria corte, ma di tutta Europa, nobili, borghesi e popolani.
Joan DeJean ci racconta come, grazie alle innovazioni introdotte dalla corte di Re Sole (non solo per mano del monarca, ma anche grazie alle sua favorite più famose e ad alcuni oculati ministri del tempo), noi possiamo godere cose che diamo scontate come i negozi di moda, che siano abiti o scarpe o accessori non importa, le profumerie e la vendita al dettalio di prodotti legati al glamour e alla bellezza.
Colpa di Luigi se mangiamo i dolci a fine pasto (sembra che ai suoi tempi, vuoi per la carenza di dolcificanti che non fossero il miele, i dessert non avessero molto spazio), se possiamo mangiarci una fetta di torta e prendere un caffé in un locale, un po' come già facevano i maschietti nei pub, e se mangiamo con le posate e se ci ripariamo con ombrelli impermeabili quando piove.
Per non parlare dell'invenzione dello champagne, degli specchi a tutta persona, dell'illuminazione stradale, dello shopping in negozio, della moda che cambia ad ogni stagione, dei cataloghi e riviste di moda, della definizione del diamante come pietra più preziosa delle altre... tutto sembra essere stato inventato dal buon Luigi e da pochi amici scelti.
Credo che quanto la DeJean ci racconta non debba essere preso per oro colato (sicuramente inventato da Luigi), altri scenari di innovazioni di moda e stile si sono probabilmente sviluppati in altre corti eurepee, oltre che a Versailles. Ma, nella visione Luigicentrica e Parigicentrica, tutto ciò che ha generato il mondo moderno di moda e alta cucina (oltre a tutto il resto) è nato a Parigi durante il regno di Re Sole.
Lettura comunque interessante, anche se un po' ripetitiva. Descrive bene la società francese e parigina di metà/fine XVII secolo, soprattuto quella nobile o dell'alta borghesia.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this should probably be renamed "How Louis XIV--," because basically each essay circled back around to how he majorly/even slightly influenced each industry. It was an interesting read, especially as you consider how these concepts are still reflected in modern society. In particular I was struck by the original "aspirational" fashion illustrations which incorporated settings & activities, making me wonder what the author would have thought of Pinterest or lifestyle blogs...

[Simone Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!! This book was a total pleasure to read. I have such a greater appreciation for style now, and really enjoyed the great detail to which the author went to explain the emergence of different trends and styles. This book carried me through a long weekend family reunion AND three days at the Chinese consulate. Not bad!!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was great! Joan deJean did her homework and I am sure a lot of that information was not easy to find. If you ever want to know the origin of practically everthing we do read this!!!

[Ruthmarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stylish, fun, educational . . . what a way to see how what's old is new again (or never went away). History is alive in every page and illustration. For me, a deeper understanding of Louis Quatorze, Madame de Sévigné, the Duc de Saint Simon, and others. Thank you, Joan DeJean!

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We learned about the "Sun King" in grade school. Our teachers certainly did not enlighten us on his business sense. If they did I missed that part. It certainly was a model that has withstood the test of time. I found it very interesting all the fists.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick summary: Louis XIV was almost singlehandedly responsible for creating fashion and style as we know it today! This book is lots of fun.

[Kia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for marketing majors. How did France get to be the big dog known for style?
MARKETING!

[Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. The chapters were very well done and the information was engagingly written.

[Oana Popescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un livre vraiment époustouflant, j'en veux encore! Allez, venez vous cultiver!

Je pense tout simplement que ce niveau de recherche prodigieux ne peut être obtenu que par un intérêt porté à cette influence merveilleuse qu'a eue le Roi Soleil sur la société française de son temps. Un vrai partisan du progrès politique, social, économique qui prend soin de s'entourer des meilleurs conseilleurs et qui, avec Colbert, a changé la façon de vivre du peuple français, ainsi que d'autres peuples qui ont rêvé d'en faire autant.

Mes chapitres préférés portent sur l'évolution de la haute cuisine et sur le remplacement des ingrédients qui définissent la cuisine française, la culture des cafés chics et la nouvelle habitude des gens de sortir et de jouir des soirées avec des amis, en buvant quelque chose de chaud. En outre, l'invention du champagne a une histoire remarquable, comportant les efforts de Dom Pérignon de contenir les bouteilles sous pression. De cette façon-là, j’ai appris ce que mousser veut dire.

Au cas où vous vous intéressez à l'évolution des bijoux et des diamants, vous allez apprendre leur parcours jusqu'à ce que nous voyons aujourd'hui dans les magasins, pourquoi on porte attention aux métaux et aux pierres précieuses, bien des curiosités sur la manière de polir un diamant, sur sa valeur et l’importance des dimensions à l’époque. Si vous utilisez un miroir, peut-être vous souhaiterez savoir plus sur les intrigues politiques et historiques qui ont mené aux miroirs - un objet si souvent retrouvé dans nos maisons – ou comment les maîtres ont risqué leurs vies pour exécuter leurs œuvres et pour gagner leurs vies.

À part cela, vous saurez comment La Ville Lumière a reçu son surnom et vous pourrez expliquer l'évolution de la modernité de Paris et d'autres villes, y compris l’apparition des boulevards, où et quand les gens faisaient des achats et bien sûr, l’émergence d’un nouveau phénomène, le tourisme qui commence grâce à cette magnifique ville.

Enfin et surtout, s'il y a un objet auquel on ne pense presque jamais, c'est le parapluie. Il a son propre histoire, centrée sur Jean Marius, on nous explique les différences entre le parasol et le parapluie, les mots qui ont été empruntés à d'autres langues et, curieusement, le fait que ce qu'on nomme parapluie aujourd'hui et ce qu’on utilise lorsqu’il fait moche est en fait très semblable à l'invention de Jean Marius.

[False · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the foremost authorities on seventeenth-century French culture provides the answers to her account of how one glittering moment in history, the French under Louis XIV set the standards for sophistication, style and glamour that still rule our lives today.

We say diamonds are forever, but they were insignificant gemstones until in 1669 Louis XIV fell in love with them and purchased a blue stone now known as the Hope Diamond.

No one leaves the house without looking in a full-length mirror, but this became possible for the first time at Versailles in 1682.

Crème brulee is the most frequently ordered dessert in top restaurants today, A French cookbook published the first recipe in 1691.

People everywhere think that coffee deserves to be drunk in stylish surroundings. The original trendy café, in which coffee and pastry were paired for the first time opened it's doors in Paris in 1675.

...and more about fashion and shopping and champagne and nightlife (and the lighting of cities) and hair and shoes and even the fashion press. This book covers these topics and so much and more.

[sanjoseca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lulusan University of Pennsylvania ini juga pernah mengajar di Princeton dan Yale serta melakukan penelitiannya. DeJean membaca koran bekas dari zaman Louis XVI untuk menyusun bukunya. Buku ini ditulis dengan gaya menarik yang dengan jelas menghubungkan tren pemasaran yang masih digunakan (dan disalahgunakan) saat ini untuk membuat orang menginginkan sesuatu yang sebenarnya tidak mereka perlukan. Menurut saya, inovasi psikologis pemasaran sangat memikat. DeJean adalah seorang Francophile yang cenderung memuji Prancis karena inovasi perdagangan barang mewah. Faktanya, saya yakin Italia memimpin. DeJean mengakui dalam teksnya bahwa Prancis, pada kenyataannya, mengambil banyak barang mewah mereka dari Italia (dan negara-negara Timur Tengah) dengan terlebih dahulu mengimpor barang dan pekerja, kemudian membuang/melarang impor setelah rahasia dagang mereka direplikasi di Prancis. regard :https://sanjoseca.shop/

[Douglas Summers-Stay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where did high fashion come from? Why was cuisine synonymous with French cuisine? Where did the whole idea of "in fashion" come from?
The answer is very simple: Louis XIV did it. The whole book is about how the styles of Louis XIV's court, deliberately and personally supervised by the king himself, brought about all those other things. It all started in the late 1600s (along with finance, science, industry, novels, and the rest of the modern world.)
There's a lot more details than that, but I checked it out so I could learn the answer to that question, so after that I just kind of skimmed.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. The title is misleading: this is distinctly a history focused on late 17th aristocratic Parisian society and the influence of the then-new Court of Versailles on contomporaneous western European mercantile and cultural trends (and the reverberations of that time frame into our own). I happen to find this particular period fascinating. Just don't expect this to be a treatise on fashion development through the ages or an exploration of why, say, 50s musicals set in Paris carried such a whiff of glamour, and it's a good read.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mostly solid, albeit dry, reference guide about the history of seventeenth century French culture and the creation of haute couture, cuisine, and all things elegant.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solidly enjoyable! Thanks Kristin!!

[Janene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating despite the cover and title

[Kera4d · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this article, thank you brother, also read the best Kera4d twerk article

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love LOVE Joan DeJean’s books. The most impeccable research. Engaging prose. Fascinating subjects. The Essence of Style is no exception.

[Cecelia Song · Rating 4 out of 5]

I opened the book with the anticipation of it being another you-know-nothing-about-fashion-so-lemme-tell-ya book, but closed it (yup, the writing is so engaging that I read it almost in one sitting) with solid knowledge on when, by whom and how Paris became what we now think of when someone says “Paris”. The book gives a detailed account on how Louis XIV made Paris, and France in general, the synonym of elegance and style, from haute couture to haute cuisine, from fine jewelry to fine wine. It is packed with savory anecdotes that are fun to read. It is very useful as well, if you have every wondered why a champagne cork pops at almost every special occasion today. Main takeaway? Lowis XIV led the most extravagant market campaigns of which the ROIs are not bad at all, considering all the income from all its luxe brands and tourism. Brand value is king here. The French knows about marketing.
A good read for a fashionista, a foodie, a marketer, or a Francophile.

[Silvia Pato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estamos ante un ensayo histórico donde la moda y el lujo actúan como eje vertebral de su desarrollo, pero en el que la historia de los usos y costumbres de la sociedad del siglo XVII ejerce como tema central desde un principio.

De tal forma, DeJean nos descubre cómo la corte de Luis XIV fue origen de muchos de los convencionalismos que todavía conservamos en la actualidad, desde brindar con champán en las celebraciones hasta el establecimiento de las boutiques, convirtiendo la Francia de la época en el país por antonomasia del diseño, el turismo, la moda y la gastronomía.

Más información: http://blogs.culturamas.es/librosdefo...

[Liriope · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone said, this book should've been called "The Essence of Style: How Louis XIV Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, ..."

you get the picture. The thing is, I think the book could've been a lot better if it had focused on other people's impact as well. It felt like there was a lot of book padding because she limited herself to things in Louis XIV's reign. Why? There have been plenty of other people throughout time who contributed to France's reputation and creations.

A chapter on umbrellas? Come on!

[Tammy]

Average book. Not sure what I was expecting, but a bit boring. Would have been better if the chapters didn't read like stand-alone essays, so that information presented in one chapter was again introduced and explained in another as though you'd never seen it before. The author also makes a few too many conclusions without any stated support. Since she's a professor of French history and culture, I'm sure she knows what she's talking about, but the reader shouldn't have to take that on faith.