Le Vrai et le Faux Chic, Musée des Erreurs, Page 8

Eighth 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 illustrations of three female figures: The first wears a black Hobble skirt and matching jacket, a large, brown fur scarf and matching muff, and a blue headdress with long, black feathers. The second wears a red Hobble skirt and matching jacket, over a white shirt, a dark brown fur muff, a brown cane, and wears a black hat with long, black feathers. The third woman wears a black Hobble skirt with a light blue pleated over-skirt with green Grecian scrolls and black tassels on the border, and with red semi-abstract flower motifs, a black jacket with green sleeves and bow on the back, green high-heeled boots, a large black hat with blue feathers, a large, brown fur muff on one arm, and a black cane under the other.

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.