Le Vrai et le Faux Chic, Musée des Erreurs, Page 1

First page of illustrated section, "Musée des Erreurs" (Museum of Errors), of book with color lithography illustrations, titled "Le Vrai & le Faux Chic" (The True and False Chic), written and illustrated by SEM [Georges Goursat], and published in Paris in 1914. The page contains an illustration of two extravagantly dressed women, wearing large gowns with fur accessories, colored with shades of brown and green, and large head accessories adorned with feathers, colored with shades of purple and gray, and an outline of a figure of a male photographer who is taking a picture of the women, while telling them their pose is "parfait" (perfect). Under these figures is a close-up of a female face wearing a large, brown hat with a black feather, and a smaller standing female figure, dressed with a Hobble skirt, and wearing male-inspired shirt, vest and jacket, and a headdress, all colored with shades of brown and black.

The set of illustrations titled "Musée des Erreurs" (Museum of Errors) provides a number of examples of the "false chic" that SEM criticizes, through caricature in both the written commentary and the illustrations, in his book, which consists of a title page, 2 leaves with advertisements, 40 pages text and illustrations (17 pages compose the illustrated section "Musée des Erreurs"), and 2 leaves with advertisements, not bound and kept in a blue slip case with the original white paper covers, embossed and gilded. SEM argues that disorder that reigns the fashion industry of the time. Fashion, he argues, is no longer reserved for specialists, and appeals for the collaboration of painters, artists and writers alike. It is an "eminently French" phenomenon, which lives especially in Paris, although it has become a sort of vice by the time he writes: fashion has become disorganized and ever-changing due to the influence of a group of people who lack discipline and control. This has led to a number of extravagances that reflect on the irrational choices in the costumes and headdresses of women and the complicated and excessive outfits worn by Parisian women.