The Art of Parisian Chic (2025)

Had a lovely conversation about my new book with Miranda Melcher for the @NewBooksNetwork podcast. You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: newbooksnetwork.com/the-art-of-p...

Book spotted in a bookstore!

So thrilled to share this research with everyone at last!

The Art of Parisian Chic Using artworks by Berthe Morisot, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and others, The Art of Parisian Chic explores how women and artists in Imp…

Order now! www.bloomsbury.com/us/art-of-pa...

Redheaded woman in black dress stands holding book with the same cover as the painting behind her, which depicts a woman in a 19th c. black dress staring out.

🎉Publication Day! *The Art of Parisian Chic* is now available in softcover, hardcover and ebook formats. Paperback is only $28!

Jeanne Duval, a Black woman seated dressed in full skirt with hanging belt, bonnet with large bow tied at her chin. On the other page a fashion plate image of a seated woman in a similar dress with a woman in white standing beside her.

Here’s a sneak peek!

Woot! My advance copies have arrived and they’re beautiful! 150 full color images 😍

bust-length carte de visite photograph of white woman with velvet bodice, white collar and bouffant hair.

5/ an American banker and one of the founders of Banque de Paris et Pays-Bas; they had a son together in 1877 and eventually married in 1885, after which Stern legitimized their son. More on how the painting was received in the coming days!

Same white woman standing in black riding dress, holding a crop, wearing a top hat in front of a painted backdrop, leaning on painted fence.

4/ She was said to have a “mad passion for riding and horses.” Off-stage, Croizette lived in a lavish mansion at 7 rond-pont des Champs-Elysées, where she hosted a regular salon frequented by prominent aristocrats, politicians, & financiers. She was in a long-term relationship with Jacques Stern...

White woman in black riding habit atop a chestnut horse standing on the edge of the sea at low tide.

3/ In At the Seaside, Carolus-Duran depicted Croizette, on horseback on the beach at low tide near the resort town of Trouville. Like Bernhardt, Croizette appeared frequently in the press and was photographed many times, including in riding dress... #arthistory #academicsky #19thc

The Art of Parisian Chic: Modern Women and Modern Artists in Impressionist Paris by Justine De Young. (Bloomsbury 2025). White woman in black dress standings against a gray wall, staring out at the viewer while she pulls off one of her gray gloves. Yellow rose on her hat, red bud at her breast.

2/at the Comédie-Française. The photo is undated but I'd guess it's from the early 1870s. She was a celebrated beauty & the sister-in-law of the artist Carolus-Duran, who painted her as an amazone (equestrienne) in an 1873 painting I discuss in the book. Her sister Pauline Croizette is on the cover!

Oval bust photograph of young woman with her hair in an updo accented with a daisy. Dress bodice ornamented with jet. A. Liébert the photographer.

reverse of the photograph, printed in blue "Photographie Americaine" with Eagle US seal. A. Liébert (81 rue St. Lazare) Pres la Chassee d'Antin. Au 1er étage. Paris. [Sophie Croizette rivale de Sarah B. in later pencil]

1/Given everything it has seemed frivolous to post about my forthcoming book, but I’ve learned it’s being printed this week and so to celebrate I thought I’d post a #19thc carte de visite that just arrived yesterday too. It’s of the lovely Sophie Croizette, a great rival of Sarah Bernhardt...

Jeanne de Marsy with same hair and outfit as previous card. Bodice covered in sequined arabesques. Sheer cape ornamented with sequins. Skirt embroidered with stripes of simple flowers. More pearl jewelry and a white feather fan.

2/Only some of which made it into the book. The rest I hope to share in a public lecture at the Getty (@gettymuseum.bsky.social) when the book is out. The BNF has alternate shot from the same sitting with Nadar.

#AcademicSky #theatrehistory

Small pink album with two cartoon eyes on it with a postcard resting on top

Jeanne de Mary by Nadar. Bust profile photo of white woman draped in many strands of pearls including a choker, around her neck, over her shoulder and in her hair which is half up. Low cut bodice tinted aqua seems covered in sequins. Pink lipstick and burgundy flowers in her hair; chest faintly skin tone. Postcard otherwise B&W

1/Very happy with my cute new carte de visite album. Also the new postcard of Jeanne Demarsy (the model for Manet’s Jeanne). Here she’s playing a harem role in “Mon Oncle Barbassou,” an 1891 Gymnase production. I discovered a lot about Demarsy’s career as an actress and cocotte,

#19thc #arthistory

White woman in black satin day dress stares out like a sphinx, her left hand to her chin. Large gold pendant earrings. She sits on a gold sofa.

Oh the pain of realizing you should have written more about a painting you only mention in passing in your proofs. Jeanne de Tourbey I am so sorry I left your story out (though my editor is doubtless pleased as this chapter is already 68 pages 😅).

#19thc #fashionhistory #arthistory #academicsky

Going to be a bit quieter over the next two weeks as I have final page proofs to review (and an index to assemble!). Keeping two of the women in the book close as inspiration. ❤️ Wish me luck!

#academicsky #fashionhistory #19thc #arthistory #France

Cover of The Art of Parisian Chic by Justine De Young (white woman dressed in black staring out at viewer)

8/ For more on this story and other scandals, you’ll have to read the book (available for pre-order now)!

www.bloomsbury.com/us/art-of-pa...

7/ This was treated in the press as an act of seduction by Regnault and of gallantry on the part of Boldini, with Le Voltaire joking: “Let he who has never let himself be conquered and convinced by the eyes of a pretty woman throw the first stone.”

6/ Regnault sued arguing the portrait was legally hers and that Boldini should not have the right to sell her likeness without her consent. This assertion of image rights never actually played out in the courts, as a month later Boldini capitulated and gave the work to Regnault.

Caricature of woman riding a horse through knee deep mud

5/ was such that the Journal amusant caricature of the portrait played on the dispute, showing Regnault’s horse knee deep in mud with the caption: “Miss Alice Regnault bogged down by Mr. Boldini. (25,000 francs. It’s for nothing.)”

#arthistory #caricature

4/ Regnault protested that that was not their agreement and offered to buy it rather than see it sold. Boldini then demanded 25,000 francs for the small picture; Regnault (and the newspapers) were shocked, as one critic remarked, “the leap from homage to sale is rude!” The coverage of the scandal

white woman riding horse side saddle with white dog chasing

3/ in scale—only slightly more than two feet tall, but the drama it caused was far grander. After the Salon opened, Boldini is said to have written a note to Regnault informing her that since she was not satisfied with the portrait (how he came to believe this is unclear), he would sell it.

2/ subject, Boldini begged Alice Regnault, an actress at the Théâtre du Gymnase, to pose as an amazone (equestrienne) for him. She agreed with the understanding that the portrait would then be hers for only the “price of a smile.” The resulting portrait of Regnault riding in the Bois is quite modest

Boldini self-portrait standing in black suit holding small canvas

1/ Now for a story that I do discuss in the book: In the late 1870s, Giovanni Boldini, a young Italian modern-life painter was enjoying an “early rise to fame,” as one contemporary critic put it. Eager to couple the beauty and celebrity of an actress with a fashionable

#19thc #fashionhistory 🧵

This time a thread on Alice Regnault in a saucy Horse Guard uniform. I'm bad at posting so I forgot to indicate it's a thread, but do click through for many more images.

#19thc #France #theatrehistory #academicsky

White woman standing in horse guard uniform with short skirt

Notably Carnavalet has another photograph of a Horse Guard that they also label as Alice Regnault, but which is definitely another woman. It’s taken by a different photographer (Valérien M Ostroga) and the skirts are different lengths.

www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-car...

Row of women in Horse Guard uniforms mounted on sticks

Gallica also has a caricature by Stop in Le Journal amusant that emphasizes the visual impact of the Horse Guard chorus line (and relies on the common visual trope that transformed contemporary women into dolls).

gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...

White woman standing in horse guard uniform with short skirt

Gallica has a (notably simplified) costume sketch of Alice as Julia.

gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...

White woman standing in horse guard uniform with short skirt

Carnavalet also an alternate view that emphasizes how short her skirt was.

www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-car...

White woman straddling chair in horse guard uniform with short skirt

Musée Carnavalet has a copy of my carte. Regnault here daringly adopts a pose more frequently seen in men’s carte de visites. In her role on the stage she wore white stockings, but they don’t seem present here.

www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-car...