Monsieur : meanings and practices of elegance, 1920-1924
Abstract
As one of the first male fashion magazines in the early twentieth century, Monsieur is a window into a milieu of elite French men. The way this milieu defined and understood elegance during the interwar period can help us understand what Frederic Godart calls the current “oligarchic structure of fashion", making up London and New York during the interwar period, but would grow to include New-York after World War II. While non-
Western cities have already become powerful key players in finance or international relations, the global fashion system still only has cities from Western civilization. Why is that the case? And how does this link to how elegance is understood and practiced in relation to colonial West Africa or what was considered the “Orient” during the interwar period ?
L'une des rares revues de la mode masculine pendant les années 1920, Monsieur - Revue des élégances, des bonnes manières et de tout ce qui intéresse Monsieur (1920-1924) offre une perspective de l'histoire du mot « élégant ». Les publicités et les articles sur l'élégance dans Monsieur montrent comment ce mot est utilisé et entendu par des dessinateurs et des intellectuels français qui dessinent l'image d'un corps élégant, sportif et svelte, lié à la modernité occidentale et à l'ethnicité, notamment en contexte colonial.
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