First to Wear a Gainsborough

First to Wear a Gainsborough

1901

The great wheel shaped hat with plumes that during the travels of the celebrated picture which has just been recovered has been generally known as a Gainsborough or a Duchess of Devonshire was never associated in the last century either with the artist or the duchess. It was invented by Mlle. Bertin, the celebrated mantua maker to Marie Antoinette. The queen did not think it became her, but it took the fancy of the pretty and unfortunate Princess de Lamballe, who made the hat popular, and it was known in London and Paris as the Lamballe.

In The Ladies' Magazine for 1785 there is a description of this hat, in which the author described it as "wide brimmed and made of black velvet, surmounted with bunches of ostrich feathers. It is much patronized by the Princess de Lamballe, the Duchess de Polignao and Mme. de Vigier Lebrun." Mme. Lebrun is represented as wearing one of these hats in one of her most popular portraits. — Pall Mall Gazette.