Robe truly à l'Anglaise, without trimming, sleeves en Pagodes with Amadis sleeves, the front of the Gown simply turned back, forming a robing. (1784)
"It is to avoid being confused with courtesans of all types and overall with their company that women have created the new terms for society such as
grand genre,
meilleur ton, and the
très excellente compagnie. These words, pronounced very seriously by the
comme il faut people, by the
roués, by the
agreeable people, were invented to establish a total separation, an immeasurable space between the societies where the greatest crime that can be committed in the world would be to dare to say
that they could take to everyone, to be equal in agreement, an appalling proposition that one could not imaginably offer to an adorable woman. It would be best to deny everything that was more evident to the world: the charm of
irony, the beauty of
caricatures and the sublimeness of
banter. What, suspect that the house next door could argue that where you are? What blasphemy! ..."
Sébastien MERCIER,
Tableau de Paris.
