Le Vrai et le Faux Chic, Musée des Erreurs, Page 15

Fifteenth 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, showing a side-portrait of a head, wears a red headdress with a point above the forehead, decorated with black and gray feathers. The second figure, shown in full-figure, wears a maroon coat with flowing skirt, bordered with black fur, over a maroon Hobble skirt, a gray "cloche" hat with feathers, a gray fur muff covering her hands, and black heels. The third woman wears a fancy gown made up of a yellow blouse and several layered round skirts, decorated with crystals around the neck, in the first two layered skirts, and the sleeves, and with an orange belt decorated with a rose around her waist, orange shoes, pearl earrings and necklaces, and her hair colored with green.

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.