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To Live and Think Like Pigs The Incitement of Envy and Boredom in Market Democracies Gilles Châtelet PDF Download

Gilles Châtelet's 'To Live and Think Like Pigs' critiques the ideological underpinnings of market democracies, arguing that they reduce individuals to mere statistical averages, stripping away their individuality. The book combines Châtelet's mathematical insights with a passionate critique of neoliberalism, emphasizing the need for a politics that values individuation over individualism. Through a polemic style, it serves as both a philosophical treatise and a call to resist the dehumanizing aspects of contemporary capitalist society.

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100% found this document useful (2 votes)
110 views59 pages

To Live and Think Like Pigs The Incitement of Envy and Boredom in Market Democracies Gilles Châtelet PDF Download

Gilles Châtelet's 'To Live and Think Like Pigs' critiques the ideological underpinnings of market democracies, arguing that they reduce individuals to mere statistical averages, stripping away their individuality. The book combines Châtelet's mathematical insights with a passionate critique of neoliberalism, emphasizing the need for a politics that values individuation over individualism. Through a polemic style, it serves as both a philosophical treatise and a call to resist the dehumanizing aspects of contemporary capitalist society.

Uploaded by

mvlfyzx2652
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GILLES CHATELET (1944-1999) began Controlled violence, biti.ng sarcasm, discontent
his studies at the Ecole Normale Superieure de
Neurolivestock, the self-regulating raw material of a market as
predictable and as homogeneous as a perfect gas, a matter counted in
GILLES
CHATELET
GILLES CHATELET with the world and with oneselfin the world;
Fontenay-Saint-Cloud. During the late 1960s he the courage to hold fast, solitary, in the face of
atoms of distress, stripped ofall powers ofnegotiation, renting out their contemporary abjection-the reader will encounter
was a member of an anti-Stalinist student faction
of the French Communist Party. After 1968, a
mental space, brain by brain. To Live
and Think To Live and Think all of the above in this book, and will understand
stay at UC Berkeley brought him into contact
Like Pigs why the rage to live that animated Gilles Chatelet
with key protagonists of the Beat Generation.
He returned to France and joined the Front
Like Pigs was tempered by a terrible melancholy: the
melancholy ofseeing that we are solicited (and
Homosexuel d'Action Revolutionnaire (FHAR), THE INCITEMENT OF ENVY AND BOREDOM increasingly so) to live-and to think-' like pigs'.
and befriended Roland Barthes, Daniel Guerin IN MARKET DEMOCRACIES
From the Foreword by Alain Badiou
and Guy Hocquenghem. Meeting Michel Foucault
was an important marker in the development of his
An uproarious portrait of the evils of 'market
political thinking; as was his friendship with Felix
democracy' and a technical manual for its
Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, who played a decisive
innermost ideological workings, this is the story
role in renewing his passion for philosophy. He
of how the perverted legacy of liberalism sought
obtained his PhD in Pure Mathematics from the
to knead Ma'rx's 'free peasant' into a statistical
U niversity of Paris XI in 1975, writing his thesis on 'average man'-pliant raw material for the
differential topology. In 1979 he became Professor sausage-machine of postmodernity.
of Mathematics at the University of Paris VIII. Combining the incandescent wrath of the
Around this time he established a dialogue with betrayed comrade with the acute discrimination of
Rene Thom that continued until his death. He was
the mathematician-physicist, Chatelet scrutinizes
programme director at the College International the pseudo-scientific alibis employed to naturalize
de Philosophie from 1989 to 1995, during which the market and the 'triple alliance' between
period he published the important work Les Enjeux politics, economics, and cybernetics.
du Mobile: Mathemati.que, Physique, Philosophie. In This is crucial reading for any future politics
1994 he joined the Laboratoire Disciplinaire Pensee that wants to replace individualism with an
des Sciences, founded by Charles Alunni at the
understanding of individuation, libertarianism
Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. There, he had with liberation, liquidity with plasticity, and the
an active and influential role in the seminar, statistical average with the singular exception.
'Actuality, Potentiality and Virtuality'. Chatelet's polemic is a major contribution to
contemporary debate on neoliberalism, economics
and capitalist subjectivation.

COVER IMAGE
URB
Detail from Fluid Employment, 2012, by Sam Lewitt. ANO
Ferromagnetic liquid and magnetic elements, dimensions vary. MIC
Courtesy the artist and Miguel Abreu Gallery.
GILLES CHATELET

To Live and Think


Like Pigs
THE INCITEMENT OF ENVY AND BOREDOM
IN MARKET DEMOCRACIES
Controlled violence, biti.ng sarcasm, discontent
with the world and with oneselfin the world;
the courage to hold fast, solitary, in the face of
contemporary abjection-the reader will encounter
all of the above in this book, and will understand
why the rage to live that animated Gilles Chatelet
was tempered by a terrible melancholy: the
melancholy ofseeing that we are solicited (and
increasingly so) to live-and to think-' like pigs'.
From the Foreword by Alain Badiou

An uproarious portrait of the evils of 'market


democracy' and a technical manual for its
innermost ideological workings, this is the story
of how the perverted legacy of liberalism sought
to knead Ma'rx's 'free peasant' into a statistical
'average man'-pliant raw material for the
sausage-machine of postmodernity.
Combining the incandescent wrath of the
betrayed comrade with the acute discrimination of
the mathematician-physicist, Chatelet scrutinizes
the pseudo-scientific alibis employed to naturalize
the market and the 'triple alliance' between
politics, economics, and cybernetics.
This is crucial reading for any future politics
that wants to replace individualism with an
understanding of individuation, libertarianism
with liberation, liquidity with plasticity, and the
statistical average with the singular exception.
Chatelet's polemic is a major contribution to
contemporary debate on neoliberalism, economics
and capitalist subjectivation.
TO LIVE AND THINK LIKE PIGS
G I LL E S C HAT E L ET

To Live and Think


Like Pigs
THE INCITEMENT OF ENVY AND BOREDOM
IN MARKET DEMOCRACIES

Translated By
ROBIN MACKAY

URBANO MIC
For Patrick Baudet, Copi Damonte, Michel Cressole, Gilles
Deleuze, Daniel Guerin, Felix Guattari, Guy Hocquenghem,
who always refused to live and think like pigs.

My greatest thanks to Dominique Lecourt, for his


encouragement and his attentive reading ofthe manuscript.
Truth-andjustice-require calm, and yet they only belong
to the violent.
G. BATA I L L E

Human rights will not make u s bless capitalism. A great


deal ef innocence or cunning is needed by a philosophy ef
communication that claims to restore the society effriends,
or even ef wise men, by forming a universal opinion as
'consensus ' able to moralize nations, States, and the market.
Human rights say nothing about the immanent modes ef
existence efpeople provided with rights. Nor is it only in the
extreme situations described by Primo Levi that we experi­
ence the shame ef being human. We also experience it in
insignificant conditions, before the meanness and vulgarity
efexistence that haunts democracies, before the propagation
ef these modes ef existence and ef thoughtjor-the-market,
and before the values, ideals, and opinions ef our time.
The ignominy ef the possibilities ef life that we are Qffered
appearsfrom within. We do notfeel ourselves outside ef our
time but continue to undergo shameful compromises with it.
This feeling ef shame is one ef philosophy 's most powerful
motifs . We are not responsiblefor the victims but responsible
before them. And there is no way to escape the ignoble but to
play the part efthe animal (to growl, burrow, snigger, distort
ourselves): thought itselfis sometimes closer to an animal that
dies than to a living, even democratic, human being.
G. D E L E UZE , F. G UATTA R I , WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
First published in 201 4 by

URBANOMJC MEDIA LTD SE Q.UENCE PRESS


THE OLD LEMONADE FACTORY 36 ORCHARD STREET
WINDSOR Q.UARRY NEW YORK
FALMOUTH TRll 3EX NY 10002
UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES

Originally published in French as Vivre et penser comme des pores


© Exils, 1998

This English language translation © Sequence Press


All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
any other information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publisher.
US Library of Congress Control Number: 201494300
BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING-JN-PUBLICATION DATA

A full catalogue record of this book is available


from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-9832169-6- 4

Printed and bound in the UK by


TJ International, Padstow

www.urbanomic.com
www.sequencepress.com
CONTENTS

Foreword by Alain Badiou XI

Preface 1

1.
The Palace's Night of Red and Gold:
On the Entry of France into the Tertiary Society 11

2. Chaos as Imposture,
Self-Regulation as Festive Neoconservatism 25
3. Hobbes's Robinson-Particles:
Political Arithmetic and Mercantile Empiricism 35
4 . The Average Man as
Statistical Degradation of the Ordinary Man 45
5. Democracy as Political Market,
or: From Market Democracy to Thermocracy 55
6. Market Democracy will be Fluid or will not be
at all: Fluid Nomads and Viscous Losers 75
7. Robinsons on Wheels and Petronomads 83
8. When Good Sense Turns Nasty:
The Fordism of Hate and the Resentment Industry 89
9.The ' Becassine Memorial Lectures'
on Urban Populism 99
10.The New French Exception:
Cultural Upstarts 113

11.The Dissident Knights of Professor Walras,


or Economic Droit de Seigneur 125

12.
Towards the End or the Beginning of History:
Middle Class Yoghurt-Maker or
Heroism of the Anyone? 149

Glossary for the Reader Uninitiated in Political


Economy 159
Foreword: What is it to Live?

Alain Badiou

Controlled violence, biting sarcasm, discontent with the


world and with oneself in the world; the courage to hold
fast, solitary, in the face of contemporary abjection-the
reader will encounter all of the above in this book, and
will understand why the rage to live that animated Gilles
Chatelet was tempered by a terrible melancholy: the mel­
ancholy of seeing that we are solicited (and increasingly
so) to live-and to think-'like pigs'.
I should like here to inscribe the memory of Gilles
Chatelet in a broader context, and to respond to a ques­
tion that seems to suggest itself: How is it that a thinker
specialising in the history and the theory of the sciences,
this mathematician doubling as a philosopher, this subtle
intellectual favoured with a great talent for writing, could
be swept up in such a polemical rage against our current
terrestrial life? How could someone who in academic
language would be called an 'epistemologist'-a discipline

XI
TO L I VE A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

one might assume to b e the calmest o f all-come to foment


within himself a ferocious polemic, a sort of sacred fury?
To respond to this question, and to situate the present
book within the overall intellectual horizon of its author,
I should like to take up what I believe to be the five major
maxims of our friend's thought, and to demonstrate their
connection to the potential amplitude of the life of the
body. By indicating, in short, why Gilles Chatelet was not
at all an epistemologist: Gilles's philosophy, far from all
academicism, is a romantic dialectic since, for him, every
proposition on science can be converted into a maximfor life.
1. Firstly, a motif that is for him far more than a

speculative conviction, far more than a topos of the phi­


losophy of science; which is, I think I can safely say, an
existential, even political certainty, since it is at the heart
of his romantic dialectic: thought is rooted in the body. The
body conceived of as dynamic spatiality. Gilles Chatelet,
at the most fundamental level of his creation, maintains
that thought has a geometrical origin. All thought is the
knotting together of a space and a gesture, the gestural
unfolding of a space, even.
The maxim of life that corresponds to this motif might
be set out as follows: 'Unfold the space that does justice
to your body.' Gilles Chatelet's love of partying obeyed
this maxim. It is more ascetic than it might appear, for
the construction of the nocturnal space of pleasure is at
least as much of a duty as a passive assent. To be a pig

XII
FO R E W O R D

is to understand nothing of this duty; it is to wallow in


satisfaction without understanding what it really involves.
Q. This geometrical origin of thought is only uncov­

ered when we discern in every realisation, and moreover


in every mathematical formalization, the virtuality of
articulation that is its principle of deployment. Geometry
is not a science of extrinsic extension, in the Cartesian
sense; it is a resource for extraction and for thickening, a
set of deformational gestures, a properly physical virtual­
ity. So that we must think a sort of interiority of space, an
intrinsic virtue of variation, which the thinking gesture
at once instigates and accompanies.
In terms of life, this time it is a matter of remarking
that solitude and interiority are, alas, the intimate essence
of alterity and of the external world. Gilles Chatelet knew
innumerable people, but in this apparent dissemination
there was a considerable, and perhaps ultimately mortal,
dose of solitude and withdrawal. It is from the point of
this bleak solitude, also, that he was able to judge the
abject destiny of our supposedly 'convivial' societies.
3. The latent continuum is always more important
than the discontinuous cut; to Koyre's 'breaks', to Kuhn's
'revolutions', to the 'falsifiabilities' of Popper and Laka­
tos-apostles of the discontinuous whose unity Chatelet
perceived beyond the apparent polemics-we must oppose
another type of localisation of thought.

XIII
TO L I V E A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

For Chatelet, the history o f thought i s never ready-made,


pre-periodised, already carved up. Thought is sleep­
ing in the temporal continuum. There are only singu­
larities awaiting reactivation, creative virtualities lodged
in these folds of time, which the body can discover
and accept.
The maxim of life this time is: ' Reactivate your dor­
mant childhood, be the prince of your own unsuspected
beauty. Activate your virtuality.' In the order of existence,
materialism might be called the dessication of the virtual,
and so Gilles sought to replace this materialism with the
romantic idealism of the powers of childhood. To live and
think like a pig is also to kill childhood within oneself, to
imagine stupidly that one is a 'responsible' well-balanced
adult: a nobody, in short.
4 . Being reveals itself to thought-whether scientific
or philosophical, no matter-in 'centres of indifference'
that bear within them the ambiguity of all possible separa­
tion. This dialectical ambiguity is signalled by the rout of
spatial self-evidence, which always believes it is capable of
orienting itself and fixing its path. It is at the point of such
centres of indifference, such reversible sites, such unstable
points, that separative understanding and intuition fuse,
in a paradoxical intensity of thought. There is nothing
more revelatory, nothing that better discloses Chate­
let's elegant uncertainty, than these 'points of maximal

XIV
FO R E W O R D

ambiguity where a new pact between understanding and


intuition is sealed' .
This time we shall say: ' B e the dandy o f ambiguities.
On pain of losing yourself, love only that which overturns
your order.' As for the pig, he wants to put everything
definitively in its place, to reduce it to possible profit; he
wants everything to be labelled and consumable.
5. The higher organisation of thought is always attained
through the active combination of an axis of penetration
and lateralities which are arranged in relation to this axis,
yet are orthogonal and thus resistant to its pure linearity.
Only this arrangement (the 'straight' force of the axis and
the resistance that tends toward the lateral) can grasp the
multiple, or diversity. What is the multiple? Ultimately,
for one who thinks, the multiple is the production of a
deformation of the linear through laterality. On Grass­
mann's 'capturing' of extension, Chatelet writes as follows:

'Ihe theory ef extension proposes to master the birth ef the


continously diverse. 'Ihis diversity must not be regarded
as being like that ef blocs dispersed in extension, but must
form a system: a coherent deformation mustproduce it. This
ambiguity thus necessitates the most resolute poetic propul­
sion, that most orthogonal to transitivities, and exalts to the
highest degree the gesture that cuts out and exposesform.

xv
TO L I VE A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

As we can see: a thought i s that which masters, i n the


resolute gestural treatment of the most resistant laterali­
ties, the engendering of the 'continously diverse' . The
grasping of being does not call for an averaging-out,
or for the gathered presence of the unicity of sense; it
convokes-this is perhaps the most important word-the
irreducibility, the dialectical irreducibility, of dimensions.
In this sense thought is never unilaterally destined to
signifying organization, even if Chatelet, scrupulous
here as elsewhere, always recalls the necessity of the letter
and of pure algebra. But this is not where the ultimate
stakes of thought lie. They lie in a capacity to seize the
dimension; and for this one must invent notations, which
exceed the power of the letter.
On this point, romantic idealism teaches us to seek
not the meaning of our existence, but the exactitude of its
dimensions. To live is to invent unknown dimensions of
existing and thus, as Rimbaud says, to 'define vertigos' .
This, after all, is what we ought to retain from the life and
the death of Gilles Chatelet: we need vertigo, but we also
need form-that is to say, its definition.
For vertigo is indeed what the romantic dialectic
seeks to find at the centre of rationality itself, in so far as
rationality is invention, and therefore a fragment of natural
force. Yes, Gilles Chatelet ceaselessly sought 'these sites
where the understanding reels. At centres of indifference

XVI
FO R E W O R D

we attain the highest uncertainty, which thus calls for the


most irreversible of decisions' .
But a s we shall see i n the following text, all o f this is
taken up again, as if at once set in motion and thrown off
course, by the style of the romantic dialectic, a joyous,
peremptory, but also detailed, labyrinthine style, a sort
of fulminating abstraction.
It is a matter of discerning, or retrieving, through
polemical violence, in the contemporary commercial
space, the resources of a temporalization; of knowing
whether some gesture of the thought-body is still possible.
In order not to live and think like pigs, let us be of
the school of he for whom, however great a scholar and
great thinker he was, only one question mattered in the
end-an imperative question, a disquieting question:
The question of the watchman who hears in space the
rustling of a gesture, and calls out: 'Who 's living?' Gilles
asked, and asked himself, the question: 'Who's living?'
We shall strive, so as to remain faithful to him, to choose.

XVI I
Preface

Let it be understood, first of all, that I have nothing


against the pig-that 'singular beast'1 with the subtle
snout, certainly more refined than are we in matters of
touch and smell. But let it be understood also that I
hate the gluttony of the 'formal urban middle class' of the
postindustrial era.
Why choose the end of the 1970s as the opening scene
for these socio-philosophical sketches of contemporary
market democracies? The soixante-huitard of a certain age
must not forget that, for an adolescent reader in the Mit­
terrand era, those years seemed as far away as the Korean
War might have done from May '68; and that the reader
of 1998 was separated from Bob Dylan's first records by
thirty-six years-equal to the entire period from the end
of the Weimar Republic to the events of May.

On the pig, see Claudine Fabre·Vassas's fine book The Singular Beast,
tr. C. Volk (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) .

1
TO L I VE A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

At that time, the generous unrest o f the 6os was tailing


off into its final ripples, just as the peaks of the highest
mountains gently dwindle into foothills and hummocks
that can be prudently domesticated into pastures and
vineyards. The Night and its Tout-Paris, with its dances,
its dizziness, its gossip, allowed what was no longer
anything more than post-leftism to stagnate deliciously in
an infinitely protracted ludic transit, and even to play the
arbiter of elegance, without sinking too quickly into the
treacherous pestilence of that which, a few years previ­
ously, had put itself forward as a 'nouvelle philosophie' .
Post-leftism did not want to seem too jaded, and presented
itself as festive, 'reasonably' leftist, and attentive to what
was to become of 'universalism' . For post-leftism it was
not yet a question of systematically enclosing the terms
'imperialism' and 'monopoly' in scare-quotes, of calling
militants 'activists', or of expressing one's indignation
at the way in which Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault
and other narco-leftist paedophiles tyrannized the daily
Liberation, in league with escaped prison convicts.
At this decade's end, a veritable miracle of the Night
takes place, enabling Money, Fashion, the Street, the
Media, and even the University to get high together and
pool their talents to bring about this paradox: afestive
equilibrium, the cordial boudoir of the 'tertiary service
society' which would very quickly become the society
of boredom, of the spirit of imitation, of cowardice, and

2
P R E FA C E

above all of the petty game of reciprocal envy- 'first one


to wake envies the others' .
It's one of those open secrets of Parisian life: every
trendy frog, even a cloddish specimen, knows very well
that when Tout-Paris swings, 'civil society' will soon start to
groove. In particular, any sociologist with a little insight
would have been able to observe with interest the slow
putrefaction of liberatory optimism into libertarian cyni­
cism, which would soon become right-hand man to the
liberal Counter-Reformation that would follow; and the
drift from 'yeah man, y'know, like . . . ', a little adolescent­
hippy but still likeable, into the 'let's not kid ourselves'
of the Sciences-Po2 freshman.
The pseudo-libertarian imposture of ' chaos' and
'self-organization' deserves especial attention. A reader
surprised to find an analysis of chaos following a descrip­
tion of a night at Le Palace3 must not forget that certain
fashionable partisans of the liberal Counter-Reformation
saw in the 'Great Market' a manifestation of the 'crea­
tive' virtues of chaos, and thus sought to liquidate as
quickly as possible the providential state-that cumber­
some 'dissipative structure' inherited from the.first wave of

2 [Sciences·Po: Paris's Institute of Political Studies, a highly selective


institution specializing in social sciences, which has traditionally been
the training ground of France's political elite-trans.]
3 [Le Palace: Parisian Theatre with 1930s decor, which from 1978-1985 was
host to a notoriously hip nightclub, hosted by flamboyant impresario
Fabrice Emaer, and known for its extravagance and its cosmopolitan
door policy-see chapter 1, below-trans.]

3
TO L I V E A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

industrialization-so a s t o make way fo r the postindustrial


third wa ve- light, urban and nomadic.
They claimed to have seized Nature in mid-blink­
the socio-economic order emerges just as naturally as
the fittest species in the struggle for life-when in fact
they had merely rediscovered the English tradition of
Political Arithmetic and of a social control as cheap as
hunger, capable of domesticating the 'Ordinary Man' ,
making of him a statistical creature, the 'average man' o f
socio-politologists. An average man who emerges a s the
product of the powerful sociopolitical engineering that
succeeded in transforming what Marx called the 'free
peasant of England' into a panelist-citizen, an atomic
producer-consumer of sociopolitical goods and services.
Having advanced from cannon fodder to consensus
fodder, dough ready for moulding, is indeed 'progress' .
But this fodder spoils quickly: consensual raw material
is liable to rot, transforming into a populist unanimity
of silent majorities that is anything but harmless. Onto
this classic populism now seems to be grafted a yuppie
populism-a techno-populism-which happily advertises its
carnivorous postmodernity, ready to seek out and digest
a best-ef selection of the planet's goods and services. The
techno-populist point of view now parades itself shame­
lessly, and seeks to reconcile two spiritualities: that of the
corner grocer and accountant-'every penny counts' -and

4
P R E FA C E

the administrative spirituality (which used to be a little more


ambitious) of the Inspector of Finances. 4
These two spiritualities now march hand in hand,
confident of their entitlement, distributing ultimatums :
'What are you for? You should be ashamed to be so
abstract, so elitist' . Annoyed, exasperated even, by any
activity that cannot be circumscribed within the nar­
row horizon of the accountant and which therefore is
seen as an intolerable challenge to the poverty of the
contemporary 'pragmatism' that techno-populism likes
to claim for itself. Here we touch a raw nerve of this
hypocrisy: the fact that it feels insulted by everything
that is beyond it, and has to denounce as 'elitist' any
undertaking distanced even the tiniest bit from the bustle
of the 'man in the street', from what have been agreed
on as the 'serious things in life'-and from the vacuity
of its 'will to communicate' .
This is why, fo r we techno-populist 'democrats' , teach­
ing has too high a cost given that, in any case, cretiniza­
tion by communication replaces and improves on the
authoritarianism of yore.
And yet even a summary acquaintance with countries
such as Germany, England and France shows that the
most brilliant periods in their histories invariably resulted

4 [Traditionally, Inspe �tors of Finances are elite pubic servants drawn


from the prestigious Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) . Most French
Presidents and ministers have been graduates of the ENA-trans.]

5
TO L I VE A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

from a n ability t o accommodate spaces sheltered from


the pressures of immediate social demand and from
established hierarchies, and thus able to welcome new
talents without any class distinction; in short, to harbour
a cultural aristocracy that is not coopted by birthright
or by money.
It is not hard to guess why techno-populism flatters
the baseness and cowardice of the average man, and above
all those who belong to its techno-commercial avant­
garde, those little port thugs initiated in econometrics,
those unsavoury prototypes adored by statistical policy
thinktanks, those 'maneaters' in suvs whose critical sense
is only slightly greater than that of a tapeworm, who, as
they drive, mull over their 'let's be realistic now' and their
'celebrating difference'.
Techno-populism carefully distinguishes between two
'radicalisms': the one that it detests-which it suspects of
being the enemy of democracy, because it claims to make
an effort to subtract itself from contemporary boorishness
and impatience, and seeks to derail the socio-economic
scenarios of the World Bank-and the one whose scent it
appreciates, the heady aroma of the moral majority, the
Bogeyman and the media pillory. To those who ask it to
define the new age, it responds: 'It is the era of the Inter­
net, the family association, and the electric chair' . This is
why it loves to transfigure its Aggripinas, its Thenardiers

6
P R E FA C E

and its Tartarins into TV show Gavroches who slay the


'privileged' and gorge on Good Causes. 5
But there is worse to come: what goes for individuals
also goes for peoples; all social protection, all notion of
public service 'preserved artificially outside of the mar­
ket'-in short, all historical achievement-must be erased
and also denounced as a 'privilege'6 that threatens the
great equilibria and throws into panic the socio-economic
indicators of History promised by techno-populists the
world over. For it is only by bringing to bear its 'real'­
econo metric-weight, by resolutely rejecting all 'utopian
and Marxist' standards, that every country might aspire to
a good pupil's place at the high table of global prosperity.
It has taken the French a long time to understand
that this concerns everyone-not only the 'metics' from
the South. Which is why, since i974, techno-populism
has been uneasy: France is 'overweight' , it suffers from
symbolic obesity; and the intolerable ' French singularity'
was just a sleight of hand cooked up in the late Sos by the
young pedants of the Institut d'etudes politiques.
Well, the liberal Counter-Reformers-and many others
with them-can rejoice: France is symbolically adjusting to

5 And this is why philosophy and mathematics, which for twenty-five


centuries have been associated with a discipline totally alien to everyday
life ( 'survival' ) , are now both feared and detested targets.
6 Monsieur de Closets specializes in this kind of denunciation ( see his
book: Always More! [ Fran�ois de Closets, Toujours Plus! ( Paris: LGF,
1984)]).

7
TO L I V E A N D T H I N K L I K E P I G S

its market share-and not without many o f its intellectu­


als lending a hand. The Republic is no longer glorious. It
finally accepts a destiny better suited to its means-those
of a 'democratic' subprefecture of the New World Order7
which knows that it must prostrate itself before an opinion
over which it has less and less control; and that it must
abandon the 'Jacobin' idea that democracy is worthy only
in virtue of the excellence of the destinies it envisions ide­
ally for all and cannot just keep its eyes fixed on the com­
mon average of egoism and cowardice. It will come as no
surprise that the racist-nationalist plague has resurfaced . . . .
We have almost succeeded in transforming a great people
into a servile provincial audience rating, and a good part
of its intellectual elite into a compradore mob, a quadroon
of editorialist attendants ministering to the vast mental
latrines that the market democracies have become-kept
busy cutting up their unsavoury aggregates, the product
of the fermentation of hundreds of millions (and soon
billions) of panelist-consumer psychologi,es eaten up by envy
and the desire to corner the market as cheaply as possible.
'Be positive, and maximise with every breath ! ' -such
could be the slogan of this global middle class who
intend finally to enjoy the End of History. After all, how

7 Techno·populism has obtained some brilliant results in this operation


to 'optimise the weight' of the Republic: the output of the ENA have
learnt to manage their 'human resources' to maximum effect, with top
graduates fighting over Finance while Employment and, of course,
Education, are left to the 'also-rans'.

8
Other documents randomly have
different content
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. I3I LADY BURLEIGH.
White satin under-skirt trimmed with old lace, caught up with loops
of pearls on wire in large festoons ; tunic of large patterned brocade
with pearls and cardinal ribbon ; pointed bodice cut low ; powdered
hair ; pearl ornaments. Or, short-flowered skirt, simple striped over-
dress opening in front, gathered on to pointed squarecut bodice ;
muslin fichu inside, sleeves to wrist with frills ; high muslin cap, the
shape called Olivia. LADY COQUETTE. {See Coquette.) LADY HELP.
XlXth century. (.S^ Help.) LADY JANE {Patience). Long close-fitting
Japanese robe of dark blue silk embroidered in gold, with design of
peacock's tail and scrolls ; light blue scarf at the back. LADY OF THE
LAKE {Sir Walter Scott). White muslin dress flounced to waist ; low
black velvet bodice, with white stomacher, laced with silver ; tartan
scarf of satin fastened with Scotch brooch on shoulder; hair in curls;
light blue snood. Or, skirts and bodice of silver tissue trimmed with
water lilies and any water plant. LADY OF THE LAST CENTURY. {See
PoudrI) LAHORE, REINE DE. Train of white satin, draped with red
India cashmere, richly embroidered in gold ; headdress, a jewelled
coronet, tulle veil with gold tassels. {See Indian.) LAITIERE DE
BAGNOLET. {See Louis XIV.) LAKME {Delibes' Opera.) An Indian
dress; pointed jewelled cap with fringe of beads; many beads round
the neck. Long soft falling white dress bordered with gold ; over it a
species of Senorita jacket with short sleeves all jewelled ; gold cloak
; a scarf of many coloured Indian cashmere crossing left shoulder,
under right arm ; a jewel on the shoulder ; bracelets like serpent.
LALLA ROOKH. A rich Oriental dress. Petticoat and trousers full to
ankles, of gold tissue over pink ; green satin over-dress long; a
skirted paletot with over-sleeves trimmed with gold ; the front of
bodice pink, embroidered in gold, silver, and jewels ; pink under-
sleeves. Green satin cap with heron's plume like a fez ; gold-
spangled veil ; green^ satin boots ; the hair in two plaits entwined
with pearls ; strings of jewellery round the neck ; pointed sandals for
shoes. Or, full white
132 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED; OR, silk trousers and
vest ; bodice of chartreuse satin bordered with gold; petticoat of
silver tissue with border of gold jewelled embroidery ; girded closely
round the hips by scarves of pale orange and heliotrope silk, finished
off with tassels of pearls ; jewelled cap, an aigrette on one side,
fastened by a jewelled clasp ; fringe of pearls and emeralds round
the neck. LAMBALLE, PRINCESSE T^K {As worn at Marlborough
House). Pale blue satin over-skirt fastened to white satin petticoat
with a bouquet of roses, the front breadth sprinkled with shaded
roses. The bodice comes to the waist only ; a low, double, lace-
edged pelerine drapes the shoulders ; the sleeves are of a bell shape
; the hair turned over a large cushion and powdered ; wreath of
roses on one side, with pearls, ribbons, and veil at the back, falling
over curls. Rich velvet, satin, lace, and jewels are suitable. LANGE
Mdlle. {Madame Angot). An Oriental striped-dress with coins ;
afterwards a long beflounced creamcoloured silk with low bodice and
sleeves ; and in the duet scene a black and red-striped petticoat, a
large blue serge apron and velvet bodice, and a huge cap. LASS OF
RICHMOND HILL (1760). Blue and striped satin skirt ; bodice and
paniers of white brocade ; powdered hair; hat with streamers. For
style, see George III. LAURA {Petrarch's). Long white flowing robe,
embroidered in silver; bodice cut low, edged with gold braid, two
rows round neck, one round arm-hole and elbow sleeve ; beneath
this a red and white under-sleeve, fitting to wrist ; hair in coil ; black
shoes, pointed toes. LAUREL ROSE. Pink nun's cloth bordered with
the Greek key pattern in silver, made as a full skirt ; and low bodice
with peplum basque, a silver tassel at the corners ; cloak of green
satin arranged to form a bertha to the top of dress, fastened with
jewelled clasp ; straw hat, high, with bands of ribbons round the
crown ; white and red oleander blossoms in front, silver crook with
pink ribbons. LAVENDER, FRESH. {From C. E. Ferugini's picture).
Suitable to fair, slight girl ; a simple coloured cotton dress, with
elbow sleeves ; mob cap ; tray of lavender carried in the hand.
LAWN TENNIS AND BADMINTON. Some 
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. 1 33 times for these
only an ordinary lawn tennis dress and pouch are worn, with a bat
attached to the side. A better representation is a green satin skirt, a
bat fastening a silver net, forming paniers, pouches and balls on the
shoulders, which drape the skirt ; scarf across bodice, with lawn
tennis in silver letters; black bodice with white circles to resemble
balls ; high pointed black hat with a bat as an aigrette ; brown
stockings and shoes. Or, a short plain skirt of grass green satin,
gathered at back, trimmed round the edge with two rows of grass
fringe, headed by a flat band of white satin an inch and a half in
width, to represent the boundary of court ; six lines of the same
round the skirt at intervals ; a tennis net draped from waist, edged
with scarlet and white worsted balls ; miniature tennis bats hold up
the drapery ; bodice of green velvet, long sleeves to wrist, all
bordered with gold braid and scarlet and white balls ; epaulettes of
scarlet and white satin ribbon ; red and white satin peaked cap, with
daisies and leaves beneath the flap ; Suede gloves, and black shoes
; scarlet stockings ; ornaments, gold tennis bats ; fan like a bat, in
red. LECZINSKI, MARIE. Pale pink robe of state, the train scalloped
round and richly trimmed with lace ; fine diamond crown, and
diamond ornaments ; snuff-box carried in hand. LEMONS. {See
Oranges and Lemons.) LEONIE DE LA VILLEGONTIER. {See Ladies'
Battle.) LEONORA (// Trovatore). Satin skirt, with tunic caught up on
one side ; long low black velvet bodice, with puffings of muslin
round top ; the long all-round basque, cut in tabs ; elbow sleeves,
with treble row of lace ; ribbon bandeau in hair. LIBERTY. Short red,
white, and blue striped satin skirt, made plain, with perpendicular
stripes ; low red satin bodice, with coat-tails ; plain muslin fichu,
tucked inside, lace frill and cravat in front ; cap of Liberty, tri-colour
at one side ; leather belt ; dagger stuck in sleeves to elbow and
rolled. LIGHT OF HAREEM. (.9^^ Oriental Costume and Lalla
Rookh.) LILAC. Mauve satin dress with a front embroidered with lilac
on crepe lisse ; bunches of the flower on dress and head. A
fashionable evening gown of tulle, white and mauve, is also suitable.
134 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED; OR, LILY. Yellow shoes
and stockings ; the short white satin skirt cut in Vandykes ; green
bodice ; cap like an inverted bell with green stalk ; a full plain skirt
of white moire, draped at the back with large sash of the same ;
tablier of gold satin, covered with pearls and crystals ; square-cut
bodice, with high pearl collar, lined with gold satin ; and a large soft
white hat, trimmed with lilies and ostrich feathers. LILY {Arum). A
white satin gown draped with tulle; large white velvet arum leaves
falling on the skirt from the waist ; an upstanding ruff to low bodice
formed of the same ; arum fan ; powdered hair. LILY OF LEOVILLE.
White cambric head-dress, goffered all round, and trimmed with
falling ends at either side of gold silk ; brown velvet bodice opening
a la Breton over white chemisette, trimmed with gold braid and
beads ; Swiss belt of brocade ; lace collarette and elbow sleeves ;
blue satin skirt with bands of brown plush ; very large apron of light
blue silk bordered with insertion ; gold cross round neck. LITTLE
BUTTERCUP. {See Pinafore.) LIZARD BIRD. Yellow satin skirt, bodice
of green jet ; lizard birds on the head, and perched on the
shoulders. LOMBARDY PEASANT. {See Italian.) LORELEI. Dress of
watered silk, shot with silver, draped with green, and caught up with
water lilies, coral, and diamonds ; veil to match ; sometimes soft
muslin is draped in classic fashion ; the hair flowing ; a coronet of
silver on the head ; an old fashioned lyre carried in the hand. {See
WaterNymph.) LORN, MAID OF. White muslin dress, with scarf of
tartan of the clan. Lady Elizabeth Campbell appeared thus in the
character at the famous Waverley Ball at Willis's Rooms. LORRAINE
PEASANT. Mob cap of fine muslin, a cockade in front ; brown dress ;
bodice opening in front ; white muslin fichu ; lace ruffles. LOUIS
XIII. {temp. 1610-1643). A petticoat of satin or brocade, an over-
dress either fastened down at the side or loose and flowing; the
bodice cut in one with the skirt or pointed ; gauze sleeves, puffed
from shoulder to wrist, and pendent ones over, lined with a
contrasting colour ; the bodice
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. 1 35 high at the back,
and square in front, with either a falling collar of lace, or a ruff
supported on wire ; the hair is not powdered. The following is a
good rendering : Grey silk skirt, with flounces ; cardinal tunic,
trimmed with white lace, and caught up at side ; round bodice of
grey silk ; stomacher of gold ; tight sleeves, with epaulettes ; grey
paniers and rich cardinal sash ; muslin and lace fichu, and boa round
the throat, the ends fastened at back ; large white hat, trimmed with
cardinal satin and three white ostrich feathers, the whole costume
trimmed with gold. LOUIS XIV. (1643-17 15). In this reign ladies
wore the hair powdered over high cushions ; hoops were in fashion,
and sacques ; also patches, and very long gloves. The following is
the usual style for fancy balls : Satin petticoat, plain or quilted with
pearls, or with rows of lace across headed by tulle puffings and
roses ; a velvet, brocade, or satin train rounded in front, coming
from the waist or en sacque {see Watteau), trimmed with lace,
headed by ruchings and pearls, carried up the sides, and bodice
which should be cut as a low square ; the stomacher pointed, with
rows of ribbon across, a bow in the centre ; the sleeves to the
elbow, with ruffles ; pearls and flowers on the powdered hair. A
lady's hunting dress of this reign is made with a plain skirt, a very
deep satin waistcoat with square pockets, and a longer basqued
jacket with mousquetaire cufls and ruffles; a lace tie and frill at the
throat and a three-cornered hat over powdered hair. Laitiere de
Bagnolet. Blue short skirt embroidered round the edge ; yellow
bunched-up upper skirt ; red pointed, low, square-cut bodice,
bordered with gold, over white under-bodice ; sleeves with turn-back
cuff at wrist ; white cap with a red and yellow handkerchief tied over
it. Marquise. A red plush coat, with silver buttons and braid, showing
a vest of cream satin ; a cream satin dress ; a cloak of red plush,
lined with cream satin, fastened to the shoulders with silver cord and
tassels ; three-cornered hat of red plush, with cream feathers and
silver cord on the powdered hair ; riding gloves with gauntlets, and a
riding whip. Peasant. Short cream dress of cashmere, embroidered
with roses ; moss green apron, and white fichu crossed on the bust.
{See also Plate XIV., Fig. 56.) LOUIS XV. (17 15-1774). A similar
dress to that described in Louis XIV. 's time is worn. The following
are
136 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED j OR, pretty costumes of
the period : A Marquise. Pink silk skirt bordered with a lace flounce,
caught up in Vandykes, with pink roses and silver tassels ; long
upper-skirt of silver gauze, with strips of pink satin ribbon, and silver
tassels and roses, keeping it in its place; low stiff bodice with gilet of
silver cloth; powdered hair; blue silk skirt with lace flounces, headed
by bands of pink silk laid on in double gatherings ; pointed
stomacher of the same, with pink bands and bows across; skirt and
bodice of pink silk, bordered with the same plaiting in blue, elbow-
sleeves and ruffles ; powdered hair. Or, dress of embossed velvet
broche with bouquets of roses on a ground of oyster-grey satin, the
hips padded as worn at that period. The front of the skirt vieux rose
silk with flounces of antique point de gaze ; bouquets of variegated
roses to match the broche loop up the drapery ; bodice of the
broche trimmed with the lace ; the hair powdered ; patches. A
young girl might wear a muslin dress with silk sacque, train and
bodice. ^Waiting Maid. Short silk skirt, two flounces gathered at
edge; square bodice, and bunched-up tunic in contrast; bibbed
apron; powdered hair. Peasant Girl. Linen striped skirt, blue, red, and
white; red tunic caught together, high at the back; square,
sleeveless, blue cashmere bodice with velvet bows and trimmings ;
loo?e linen under-sleeves, flat muslin cap, black velvet bracelets, and
band round neck. Flower-Girl. Pink and blue costume, covered with
garlands of small roses, draping the Pompadour skirt ; pink tunic,
ruched with pink satin ; bodice to match ; white muslin apron with
pockets, trimmed with pink and blue ruches ; large flat basket
suspended from a garland of flowers passed round the neck and
filled with real flowers ; hair powdered ; white muslin cap ; at the
side tufts of roses and loops of blue ribbon. [See Bourgeoise.) LOUIS
XVI. (i 774-1 789). See Lamballe, Princesse DE ; Marie Antoinette ;
Elizabeth, Madame. {See also PouDRE Costumes, and Shepherdess.)
The bodices are generally low. The following illustrate the style.
White silk long skirt, and jacket of striped gold and red silk, long
sleeves and low neck, finished off with a cambric fichu, showing the
neck, a rose in front ; the jacket is cut away in front, has gold
buttons, and displays a full white underbodice with straps of red
across. The hair is powdered, and a small toque of r-ed silk bordered
with the stripe, a diamond aigrette and bunch of flowers worn on
one side. Long skirt
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. I37 and jacket of canary
silk; deep flounced basque at back bordered with a ruche of the
same. The jacket in this opens heart-shape, a musUn fichu inside,
elbow-sleeves ; hair powdered; white silk cap trimmed with black
and canary. White silk front breadth and low bodice trimmed with
rows of gold braid ; long skirt and low bodice of blue silk, falling
collar of lace, long sleeves, a puff from the elbow with turn-back
cuffs of lace, and also trimmed with gold braid ; hair not powdered.
A curious costume, d'aprh Debucoure, 1787, is as follows : Light blue
under-skirt with a flounce round the edge, blue train bordered with
gold, red bodice terminating at waist with gold belt, large blue
revers at neck ; white tie and chemisette ; tight sleeves to wrist,
blue cuff's ; enormous yellow hat with floral wreath over powdered
hair ; stick in hand. Another rendering : White satin petticoat; skirts
of white lace, pink and blue satin ; powdered hair, and feathers ;
diamond star, turquoise and diamond ornaments. Very large hats
were worn at this period. LOVE. — White satin dress with low cuirass
bodice, outlined with red velvet, displaying white hearts ; red velvet
hearts appearing on the skirt ; wings at the back ; coronet head-
dress with red heart ; the skirt is caught up with an arrow and
quiver. LOVE BIRDS. The skirt a series of scolloped green silk
flounces, with birds' plumage, tail for tunic ; the cap made to
resemble the head and beak ; the veritable birds perched on right
shoulder of bodice formed of green feathers. LUCAS (1785). Short
stufl" skirt pinked out at the edge'; large pink apron ; the bodice
striped and laced in front ; linen kerchief ; ruffles at elbow ; large
hat with pink ribbons. LUCENA, QUEEN OF THE MOON. Pale blue silk
skirt ; small tunic of fire-coloured gauze ; velvet bodice surrounded
by galon and gold stars ; diadem on head ; a band with moon and
signs of zodiac carried in the hand. LUCY {The Rivals). High-heeled
shoes, with plain buckles ; stockings, with silk clocks ; quilted satin
under-skirt ; bodice, and bunched up over-skirt ; lace tucker round
bodice ; small mob cap. Colours to be chosen to suit wearer, not
pronond. Black lace apron. LUNA. {See Moon and Lucena).
138 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED; OR, LUPI, THE INDIAN
GIRL. (See Indian.) LURLINE. Dress of frosted or silver spangled
tulle, over white or green, caught up with crystal and aquatic plants,
such as water-lilies and grasses ; a veil of tulle to match dress hangs
over the floating hair, which should be covered with frosting powder
; bodice of silver tissue ; diamond ornaments. (See Water Nymph.)
LUTIN. Short white muslin skirt with two flounces ; satin tunic,
caught up at side by bands of black velvet; corselet bodice of black
satin, embroidered with gold, double braces of the same, worn over
muslin ; under bodice open at neck, with elbow-sleeves ; cap and
mittens. LUXURY. A black or white evening dress covered with fruit,
flowers, shells, seaweed, gems, birds, &c. Head-dress of fruit,
necklace of cherries. LYDIA LANGUISH. Dress of white India muslin,
trimmed with lace ; sash and breast bows of dark violet ribbon ; hair
in curls, pearls round neck. Or, as in last scene, a silk hood, black silk
scarf, long gloves. Or, handsome red and white brocaded silk dress,
looped up over a white satin petticoat ; hair powdered. LYONS, LADY
OF. (See Pauline, and Melnotte, Widow.) MABEL (-Ro^ J^
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. 1 39 MACINTYRE, MISS
{The Antiquary). Crimson velvet bodice, flowered petticoat and
sleeves ; dress turned up d, la laveuse ; broad Brussels point collar ;
crimson stockings, with white clocks ; black shoes, with crimson
heels and bows, diamond buckles. MACONAISE {Peasant of Bourg-
eti-Brise). Brown cashmere dress, with blue silk bibbed apron ; low
bodice, with shawl and elbow-sleeves ; large black hat, round, made
on net, with a huge knob in centre, trimmed with gold cord, tassQl
and net streamers; black stockings and shoes. Or, short striped red
woollen petticoat ; red corselet bodice ; muslin chemisette ; small
red cape slung round shoulders ; round flat cap with an upstanding
tail like a rat's. MADALENE {On the Eve of St. Agnes). Skirt of white
satin, bodice blue velvet with pendent mushn sleeves; a white
chemisette, trimmed with bands of blue velvet and pearls ; a blue
girdle and aumoniere bag at the side ; the hair hanging about the
shoulders ; and a chaplet of pearls. MADAME DE MAINTENON.
(1643-1679.) Black velvet skirt, open in front, showing under-
petticoat of brocade,, trimmed with lace or plain satin, richly
embroidered ; the: bodice should be low, cut high on shoulders,
pointed in front,, sleeves to elbow, with ruffles ; gloves without
buttons ; highheeled shoes, pointed toes and diamond buckles ;
missal! hanging at side ; hair in flat curls, and head-dress of many
jewels ; veil floating at back. MADAME LE DIABLE. Blue sandalled
shoes;: short pink petticoat, bordered with band of blue, with small
black imps in applique ; low bodice over white chemisette ; white full
sleeves to elbow ; square Italian head-dress of pink and gold
fastened with pins in the form of horns. {See DiABLOTINE.)
MADEIRA PEASANT. Short striped red, blue, and white skirt; red stay
bodice embroidered all over ; a linen chemisette with turn-down
open collar at the throat ; white cap. MAD ELI N A {Rigoletto). A
short Spanish costume ; red satin skirt, with gold braid and fringe ;
blue upper skirt ; black Spanish jacket, laced across front, over white
loose bodice, K
1:40 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED; OR, which forms a puff
at the waist ; long sleeves slashed inside the arm showing white
muslin through ; gold betrimmed epaulettes ; gold net, with sequins.
MADELINE (in Belphegor, Scene 3rd). Short crimson cashmere skirt
trimmed with black velvet, tucked up over a petticoat of pale blue
cashmere ; crimson vest, with bodice of black velvet strapped over it
; small white apron, with pockets and scarlet bows ; French cap,
period of Louis XVIII. ; shoes same period ; antique French cross,
fastened round the neck with black velvet ; earrings to match. M
ADO LI NAT A {From Wagner's PicUire). Front gold brocade ; over-
dress velvet bordered with gold ; bodice low, square jewelled
stomacher; high stiff ruff standing up at shoulder ; full puffed
sleeves to wrist ; hair curled on forehead ; rolled above and
entwined with pearls. MAGDALEN MAGPIE. Miniature boating hat
with black and white streamers on powdered hair. Black silk jersey,
scarf, sash, and satin kilted skirt striped white and black, and
pompons of the same colour. Black stockings with white rosettes on
the shoes. Shield of Magdalen College, Oxford, fastened to bodice.
La Pie Voleuse has a magpie on the shoulder with a diamond ring in
its mouth. MAGPIE. Half black, half white dress ; hair powdered on
one side and not on the other ; one glove and one shoe black, one
white ; short satin skirt, with gauze tunic bordered with fringe ;
basque bodice ; gauze fichu ; satin ribbon tied in a bow at the throat
; gauze cap. All half black and half white, so that the wearer seems
on one side all black, on the other all white. A magpie on the right
shoulder. (For an original rendering, see Coloured Plate X.) The front
of skirt is striped black and white satin plaited ; the bodice cut in one
with long side revers of black, lined and turned back with white
ruching to the hem of skirt, opening down back to show full plaited
skirt. The black bodice bordered with white ; low striped vest ;
magpie on the shoulder and in hair, which may be powdered or not,
or half powdered. MAHOMEDAN LADY. Loose trousers of striped silk,
tunic of gold-spangled muslin; bodice and sleeves of crimson satin
striped with gold ; pendent sleeves hanging in front of crimson
gauze ; bangles round ankles and arms ;
The text on this page is estimated to be only 17.00%
accurate

X MAGPIE
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. I4I pointed shoes ;
many beads round neck ; pointed head-dress of gold and beads.
MAID MARIAN. A brown satin short skirt, bordered with dark fur ; a
peHsse of Lincoln green velvet, the skirt gathered to the bodice, with
revers of red satin, and red and brown on the cuffs ; the sleeves
long, bordered with fur, light brown satin ones beneath ; leather
band and knife round the waist, with quiver at back; round velvet
cap bordered with fur. This costume looks well in green satin and
black velvet. Pelisse with green revers, the green carried down front
; green cuffs and sleeves ; the velvet cap with a piece turning up in
battlements. A horn is carried at the side ; boots bound with fur ;
hair in plaits. MAID, MY PRETTY. (" My face is my fortune, sir, she
said.") Plain yellow satin skirt, antique over-dress of cream print,
pattern wild flowers ; sacque back ; bodice square in front ; bibbed
muslin apron ; mob cap trimmed with yellow ; black silk stockings
and satin shoes. MAID OF ATHENS in Greek Dress. {See Greek and
Athens, and Plate XIII.. Fig 51.) Trousers, short jacket; full skirt and
under-bodice ; girdle round waist ; cap and veil. MAID OF HONOUR
TO QUEEN MARY OF ENGLAND. Black velvet skirt with lace down
side, quilted satin front ; square low bodice of black velvet, pointed
in front, laced at back ; epaulettes trimmed with pearls ; puff of
velvet ; tight sleeves between arm and wrist, puff of white to wrist,
frill of white inside ; ruche round neck ; black velvet pointed head-
dress edged pearl. MAID OF LISMORE. Long plain skirt of satin; half-
high bodice, front fastened with pearls ; sleeves full to wrist, with
turned back cuff of lace ; Tudor head-dress of velvet and pearls.
MAID OF OLDEN TIMEl. White satin petticoat, quilted with pearls ;
paniers and bodice of brocade ; crimson roses ; old lace and pearls ;
powdered hair. MAID OF SARAGOSSA. Short blue woollen skirt
trimmed with red ; upper-skirt of red, drawn through the placket-
hole at the back ; a low bodice, made stiff and firm, K 2
142 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED ; OR, lacing across the
front, displaying a low white linen underdress ; the hair drawn from
the face, and gathered in a knot at the back, a dagger thrust
through it, and a red handkerchief wound about the head. MAID OF
THE MILL. Short dress of white muslin or silk ; muslin apron ; bag of
flour at side ; cap with windmill. MAID, SERVING. Black velvet
corselet bodice over white chemisette ; long sleeves let in a band;
high ruff; red skirt ; white lace-edged linen apron ; muslin cap. MAID
WAS IN THE GARDEN, THE. Short scarlet petticoat, with flowered
polonaise ; muslin fichu ; cap, and mittens ; clothes-pins hung on
cord round waist, basket with clothes in hand, and blackbird on the
shoulder. MAIDEN ALL FORLORN. Pretty figured cotton dress ; the
petticoat of pink and white striped print ; jacket of blue and white
print tied round waist ; sleeves rolled to elbow ; white apron all in
holes pinned to left side with gold-headed pin ; white sun bonnet ;
brown stockings and shoes ; milking stool under one arm, milk pail
on other ; hair dishevelled. MAIDENS, LOVE-SICK {Patience). Loose
flowing skirt ; half high classic bodice, with ribbon belt round the
waist, tied in a looped bow in front and forming braces at the back ;
the long drooping sleeves fasten with three buttons on the outside
of the shoulders, and spring from the fulness of the dress at the
back. The best colourings are, dark blue serge and sunflowers, white
with dafl"odils, sickly green and passion-flowers, terra-cotta with
gold, light blue and claret. Lyre in hand ; fillet round head. MAIDS,
THREE LITTLE. {See Mikado.) MALAPROP, MRS. {School for
Scandal). Brocaded sacque, caught back with bows, over quilted
petticoat ; peaked stomacher, laced with ribbons ; hair rolled over
cushion ; lace cap ; black mittens ; black velvet round neck and wrist
; high-heeled shoes ; muslin kerchief, tucked into bodice ; old-
fashioned fan. MALTESE FALDETTE. Black silk dress, touching the
ground, and a black silk head-dress made like an apron,
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. 1 43 with a piece of
whalebone, half a yard long, sewn into one side ; the gathered part
comes a little in front of left cheek, and the whalebone forms an
arch over the face. MANETTE, LUCY (Tale of Two Cities). White
muslin dress, with square bodice, single flounce on skirt; wide blue
sash; hair drawn up over cushion and curled, a la Gainsborough.
MANOLA. Dress of amber and blue satin trimmed with sequins and
gold braid ; dark blue senorita jacket and satin cap. Or, large felt
hat, trimmed with red ; grey silk skirt trimmed with scarlet ; amber
merino over-skirt embroidered ; bodice red, trimmed with grey silk,
black beads, and iace ; overskirt gold trimmed with gold silk fringe.
MARABALL {See Lalla Rookh). Rich Eastern dress. MARCH, A tulle
dress trimmed with primroses and violets, with a weather-cock in the
hair. MARCHANDE DE BALAIS. {See Buy-a-Broom.) MARC HAN DE,
LA. Yellow and red short skirt, striped ; white bibbed apron and
chemisette and sleeves, with pink corselet bodice and Normandy
cap. MARGARET, LADY {Lay of the Last Minstrel). White satin dress,
embroidered with jewels, veil at back, wimple of clear muslin
reaching to elbow ; a knot of plaid ribbons fastened on the left side ;
wreath of white roses round head. MARGARET OF ANJOU, 1422-
1461 {Wife oj Henry VI.). Hair hidden by curious head-dress of the
period, or gold coronet and gauze veil; shoes broad over instep, and
pointed and embroidered; blue velvet square bodice, filled in with
lisse, quilted with gold; front breadth gold brocade ; jewelled girdle.
MARGERY DAW. Grass green dress, made with plain short skirt ; low
bodice, large, short puffed sleeves ; round cape, with mittens to
elbow. MARGERY, MISTRESS. Petticoat of rose-coloured silk; rose-
coloured train lined with pink; bodice to correspond ; fichu of lace ;
hair powdered ; lace cap. MARGUERITE {Faust). Short skirt of
cashmere, bordered with rows of black or contrasting velvet ; long
skirt over
144 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED; OR, this, trimmed in
same way, and caught up by means of a satchel or pocket, and
girdle on left side. The skirt is sewn to a long close cuirass bodice
made of the same cashmere, coming well on to the hips, where it is
trimmed with bands of velvet or tabs of velvet. It is cut square at the
neck, over a linen chemisette ; the sleeves are made with horizontal
puffs to the elbow, where a close-fitting portion of the sleeve meets
them, and falls a little over the hand. The hair is worn in two long
plaits. Grey cashmere with black velvet ; white with blue can be
used. Miss Terry wore full white chemisette to throat, hanging
sleeves, and bodice of brownish velvet, front of dress a lighter
shade, train at back ; close cap ; satchel pocket attached at side.
(See Plate VIII., Fig. 31.) Or Marguerite may wear a dress of cream
cashmere or flannel made all in one, closely fitting, and the bodice
fastened at the back ; the skirt should be looped up with a baldric
belt and pouch, so as to show an under-skirt of warm brown-red
stuff, the sleeves being slashed with the same ; the bodice is square
cut, and filled in with a chemisette, and with a close small ruff at the
throat ; pointed brown shoes ; small coif, the same colour as skirt.
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS {Married, 1572, to Henry of Navarre,
subsequently Henry IV. of France). Long skirt of satin or velvet, of
contrasting colour to petticoat, which is trimmed with bands of gold
at the hem ; a jewelled girdle encircles waist and falls down centre
of skirt ; square bodice, trimmed to match, with a high ruff on wire
from the shoulders ; the hair turned off the face in double roll, not
powdered ; a jewelled crown ; the sleeves in longitudinal puffs to
the wrist, with bands of gold between ; lace cuffs ; feather fan ;
pointed satin shoes. (6"^^ Coloured Illustration I. — Frontispiece.)
Or, red velvet bodice and train embroidered with gold ; vest and skirt
of yellow satin, front of red and gold embroidery ; sleeves puffed
and striped with gold ; crown of red velvet and jewels.
MARGUERITE, LA. (^-^^^ Flowers.) MARIA (School for Scandal).
White muslin frock with sash ; in last act ivory satin cape and pelisse
trimmed with white-fox; a white beaver Gainsborough hat, ostrich
plumes. MARIANA (Measure for Measure), Plain flowing tulle skirt ;
velvet bodice, open, heart shape, with low chemisette ;
WHAT TO WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. 1 45 sleeves to wrist,
with puff at elbow ; fur round neck of bodice ; hair in coif of gold
and pearls. MARIE {Cinq Mars). Under-skirt of yellow satin^
brocaded in gold ; over-skirt of blue velvet, embroidered in gold ;
gold waistbelt ; hat and feathers ; bodice low, with Medici collar;
short upper sleeves, under sleeves slashed with white. MARIE
ANTOINETTE. Pale rose brocaded sacque over petticoat trimmed
with bronze and lace ; large hood ; high powdered wig, plumes of
pink feathers ; red velvet round neck and wrist. In her prison days
(after Paul Delaroche), she wears a plain, long-skirted, short-waisted
black silk dress, the sleeves short and turned up with a band of
muslin ; a long muslin scarf fichu over the neck, the ends falling in
front of the skirt ; the hair white, and tied with a black ribbon at the
back, turned off the face in front ; na ornaments ; a black bow and
band of velvet round the neck. {See Plate VIII., Fig. 32.) In the
famous picture at the Trianon (the costume worn by the Countess of
Wilton at Marlborough House) the dress is three skirts over a large
hoop ;. the first, blue brocade, embroidered in silver; the second,
white, embroidered with gold ; and the third, pink satin, caught up
with white satin bows and silver tassels ; the bodice low ; the
pointed stomacher a mass of diamonds ; a pink satin train from the
left shoulder, embroidered with fieurs-de-Hs and silver fringe and
lace ; the hair powdered, and a large bluevelvet cap with feathers
and diamonds. Another charming costume, as Dauphine (after Le
Brun's picture), has the hair powdered and turned off the face, with
a large toque of velvet, aigrette of diamonds and feathers, a rouleau
of gauze surrounding it, and hanging at the back ; the bodice is low,
and a laceedged gauze fichu is draped over it, showing the neck and
crossing in the front without ends; the tight velvet sleeves come to
the wrist, and are bordered with fur ; so is the velvet skirt, which
opens over a satin skirt ; long mittens. The dress worn at the
Trianon : A short quilted skirt ; square bodice; elbow-sleeves, and
train of brocade ; powdered hair ; large velvet hat and feathers.
Another rendering : Pale blue satin skirt, trimmed with festoons of
pale yellow lace, looped up all round with small wreaths of pale pink
'' pompon " roses ; upper skirt of pink brocaded satin, exactly
matching the roses in colour, looped rather high upon the hips a la
Watteau ; square bodice
146 FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED ; OR, of pink brocade,
richly trimmed with the same lace as skirt and pompon roses ; tight
elbow-sleeves, with falling lace and pompon roses ; hair dressed
high and powdered ; aigrette of pink roses and a mass of most
magnificent diamonds and pearle, which were also profusely
scattered over the body and other parts of this beautiful costume.
MARIE DE MEDICIS {2nd Wife, Henri Quatre). Wears full skirt of rich
brocade, just touching gound, with or without distinct embroidered
jewelled front ; pointed bodice ; stomacher jewelled and
embroidered; large upstanding ruff coming from back of shoulder ;
folds of muslin and lace laid on top of bodice, meeting in front with
brooch; sleeves to wrist in graduated horizontal puffs, cuffs of lace ;
hair turned back from face over cushion ; hair powdered, and
covered with gold dust. Or peach satin, or red velvet with silver
tissue, or gold brocade. MARIE, LA, DE VILLAGE. Short white silk
skirt, trimmed with blue and orange bows ; blue satin apron trimmed
with guipure lace ; white lace cap fastened with g(Jld pins. MARIE
STUART {7vhen wife of Francis IL, King of France). Costume worn
by the beautiful Countess of Bective at her own Fancy Ball, 1877 :
satin dress, front of gold brocade covered with jewels, high bodice
jewelled, jewelled ruff, sleeves with puffings at the shoulders of gold
brocade and red velvet ; train of ruby velvet bordered with ermine,
embroidered with fleurs-de-lis, &c. ; white satin pointed cap of the
Marie Stuart form, covered with jewels. The Princess of Wales, as
Mary Stuart, at the Waverley Ball, wore a petticoat of cloth of gold
embroidered with pearls, a dress of ruby velvet with pointlace, the
bodice made with a satin habit-shirt quilted with pearls ; the sleeves
with a puff at the shoulders coming to the WTist ; the bodice ruby
velvet, the stomacher worked with precious stones ; head-dress of
ruby velvet studded with diamonds and pearls; veil of lisse, jewelled
girdle, and fine parure of jewels. {See Plate VIIL, Fig. 29.) As
Schiller's heroine, Marie Stuart wears white. As Mary Queen of Scots,
she is generally represented in black velvet and white satin. The
velvet robe opens straight down over the satin petticoat, at a little
distance from the centre ; the velvet bodice is a low square over a
satin quilted habitshirt ; the sleeves have one puff at top, and are
straight to the
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