The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) has contributed nearly 100 images of early 20th century French fashion plates from La Gazette du Bon Ton to the Artstor Digital Library.

Published from 1912-1925, La Gazette du Bon Ton chronicled contemporary developments in fashion, lifestyle, and beauty, advancing commercial illustration to a new level of refinement and sophistication. Each of La Gazette du Bon Ton‘s 70 issues contained ten unbound, high-quality, hand-colored pochoir prints produced by notable artists and illustrators such as Georges Lepape, Pierre Brissaud, Georges Barbier, and Bernard Boutet de Monvel. Many of the prints depicted the latest haute couture designs from Parisian fashion houses, such as Doeuillet, Doucet, Paquin, Redfern, and Worth. Additionally, a few prints in each issue presented wholly fanciful designs invented by the illustrators. The Gazette illustrations are a unique visual record of fashion and high society in early 20th century France, from the last years of the Belle Epoque to the dawn of the Art Deco era.

Allan Kohl, Visual Resources Librarian, has selected and digitized these images from issues of La Gazette du Bon Ton housed in the Special Collections of the MCAD Library.