Liberty, Equality, Frivolity! An Italian Critique of Fashion Periodicals

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Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
2004
Liberty, Equality, Frivolity! An Italian Critique of
Fashion Periodicals
Catherine M. Sama
University of Rhode Island, [email protected]
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Sama, Catherine. “Liberty, Equality, Frivolity! An Italian Critique of Fashion Periodicals.” Eighteenth‐Century Studies 37, no. 3 (2004),
389‐414.
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Frivolity!
iBERTY,Equality,
of Fashion
An Italian Critique
Periodicals
Catherine M.
Sama
In the January 1777
Caminer
journalist Elisabetta
issue of the Giornale
Venetian-born
enciclop?dico,
Turra reviewed a book that had been translated
into Italian by a woman
from Vicenza.
for
intellectual
translator
her
accomplishments:
Caminer
from French
mous
She has
she
result,
make
her
a foreign
language,
to sit at a writing
table
learned
how
knows
herself
real
the desire
inspires
to her
useful
that
nation
or pleasures
advantages
knows
how
rather
than
is rare
in women,
as a
of
seeing her
can bring
that
the anony
and
toilette:
that
works
by translating
. . -1
a pen,
to wield
at her
praised
the contrast between the writing
table and the toilette?between
By highlighting
a useful life of intellectual work and a frivolous
life focused on one's outward
underscored her belief that the demands of the toilette were
appearance?Caminer
and intellectual challenge for women.
directly at odds with a life of independence
that a life of the mind could make women useful to
She made clear her conviction
their nation
and, significantly,
bring
temporaries
as an "exception"
to her sex. When
them personal pleasure and advantage.
Caminer knew well the "real advantages or pleasures" of which she wrote.
She could have been describing
herself in this passage,
since by 1777 she was
an
active
in
the
of
Letters
and
well known by con
already
participant
Republic
she had
Venetian
explores
the network
Carriera,
the poet/playwright
sical
M.
Languages
thology
and
is Associate
this review
in the Department
of Italian
of Modern
and Clas
at the University
of Rhode
Island
and the author
of an an
Caminer
Turra:
Elisabetta
Selected
(in translation),
Writings
of an 18th-Century
Woman
Univ.
current
of Chicago
Her
research
Press,
2003).
of Letters
(Chicago:
Catherine
Sama
she published
Professor
Literatures
of Venetian
Luisa
women
Bergalli
Eighteenth-Century
shaping
Gozzi,
culture
and
the
Studies,
and
journalist
vol.
on
focuses
37,
the painter
Elisabetta
no.
3
(2004)
This content downloaded from 131.128.70.27 on Thu, 26 Sep 2013 09:33:02 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Rosalba
Caminer
Pp.
Turra.
389-414.
390
Studies
Eighteenth-Century
37/3
the direction of the Giornale
This literary and philo
enciclop?dico.2
was
in
sold
and
nineteen
cities across the
periodical
published
biweekly
just assumed
sophical
Italian peninsula
in Lugano.3
It offered its readers reviews, extracts, or an
nouncements
of the latest literary, scientific, philosophical,
and historical works
across
It
also
readers
with
information
about
Europe.
being published
supplied
In addition to
the activities of local and foreign literary and scientific academies.
and
Italian readers with direct access to new (Italian and Transalpine)
ideas,
providing
as
a
for
the Giornale
functioned
readers
who
could
discerning guide
enciclop?dico
afford to purchase books for themselves?a
valuable service in the V?neto region
of Italy, which
the
century boasted one of the richest book
during
eighteenth
in Europe.4
markets
As
its title suggests,
drew inspiration from the
enciclop?dico
In the fly
French philosophes'
the Encyclop?die.
great Enlightenment
project,
in the periodical
under her direction,
sheet announcing
the upcoming
changes
Caminer explained
that her goal was to "gather and present together diverse cog
nitions which,
and she under
scattered, would be largely unknown,"
remaining
scored her belief
cal, "a repertory
peoples," would
the Giornale
to happiness,"
then her periodi
contributes
... a union of the diverse
thoughts of cultured
to readers.5 Caminer
and pleasurable
recruited
that if "knowledge
of such cognitions
be both useful
to con
from the Italian peninsula
to her periodical.6
In addition to writing her own
translations
of reviews from French periodicals
original reviews, she published
She relied on
such as the Mercure
de France and the journal
encyclop?dique.
the most
men
renowned
reviews
tribute book
of letters and science
and essays
to keep her readers informed about books to which
these periodicals
primarily
she herself did not have access, but also to provide the Italian public with selec
the Giornale
tions from foreign periodicals.
Under her direction,
enciclop?dico
became
Italy:
principle
the most
of
authority
from
journal,"
... on
the slavish
influence
Enlightenment
progressive
a "combative
as one
all
fronts
scholar
has
. . . from
theology
of the colonial
economy,
politics
in the V?neto."7
feudal lords and big landowners
in the V?neto
it, that
described
to
powers
law,
region
challenged
from
literature
to the arrogance
of
"the
to
of
As one of Italy's first female journalists,8 Caminer
enjoyed the privilege
on
from the
in and monitoring
debates
contemporary
everything
to
to
in regeneration,
the status
capital punishment,
experiments
of participating
latest scientific
to participate
language and literature. She also used her periodical
the
in the centuries-old
des
years of
twenty-eight
femmes. Throughout
querelle
of books by, for, and about
reviews and announcements
her career she published
on a wide range of issues: women
women
and
in her periodical.
She commented
should
literature
(whether or not mothers
(as object and as author); childcare
of the Italian
or not they should follow Lady Mary Montagu's
suggestion of
small
power hier
pox); religion (forced vow-taking;
against
inoculating
of women
health
and
duties
the
the
archies within
(dowries;
clergy); marriage
care for
women
to
social institutions
about to marry);
(houses established
by
nurse,
or whether
children
in Eastern or New World
cultures as com
or orphaned
children); women
women
or
women
and
in
and
to
of
those
education;
history;
Europe;
Italy
pared
fashion publications
for women.
poor
Sama / Liberty,
One
have women
would
career
most
of Caminer's
to a life of the mind.
was
convictions
fervent
391
Frivolity!
that women
had a right
she called the "prejudice
[that]
against what
unreasonable
her
limits,"9 and throughout
in which
she held up as models
the literary and
She chafed
within
confined
she published
Equality,
reviews
of female intellectuals,
both contemporary
and histor
accomplishments
a review in which
the age of eighteen Caminer published
she proclaimed
that itwas
openly that there was "no reason for us [women] to hide ourselves,"
to find satisfaction
"most reasonable"
in seeing themselves
for women
"as good
as men at everything."10
to "claim exclu
She inveighed against men who wished
scientific
ical. At
the right to teach in universities,"
sively for themselves
despite the "good number
women
at
most
of
who held posts and taught classes
the
celebrated universities,"
in
and she proudly described her female compatriots
from Bologna, highlighting
most
counts
"the
celebrated
Madame
Laura
who
her
Bassi,
among
particular
disciples many of the most renowned professors who came out of her school and
illustrious academies
of Italy."11 Thus the young
joined the ranks of the most
not
to
Caminer
for women's
receive a solid education,
she
only advocated
right
their ability and their right to deliver
championed
from the university podium.
an education
as professionals
Caminer's convictions
about women's
intellectual capacities?and
about
to the development
her society's obstacles
of these capacities?were
fundamental
in shaping her opinions
about the fashion periodicals
that appeared
for women
for the first time in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. In the flysheet to the
she informed readers that she would
address the topic of
enciclop?dico
in the periodical
she
how
because,
many times do fash
exclaimed,
"Oh,
"12
ions reveal the character of heads!
But the first issue of the Giornale
enciclop?
Giornale
fashion
dico
under
her direction
clearly indicates
the character of
was
if Caminer
that
interested
in the
she was also vitally con
way fashion "revealed"
individuals,
cerned with its power to shape character and influence lives, especially for wom
en. In the review mentioned
issued a cautionary
above, Caminer
plea to her fe
male readers.13 In what was clearly a personal digression
from the book at hand,
she warned
them
the
about
so many
dangers
women
faced
in choosing
the
toilette
over
the writing
she believed affected all women.
She exhorted
table?dangers
her peers to understand
the irony and the peril of mistakenly
that they
believing
were
in a position
over
power
... a
consolation,
a translation
done
It [is]
about
men's
courting
talent
and
apparent
bonds
of
injustice,
sense
common
homages,
which
keep
ourselves
men:
for a woman
to be able to speak
especially,
of that sex, which
by a member
[while]
seems
to willingly
renounce
its own portion
ill-founded
us ever more
to be receiving
to receive
in order
tributes
praises,
bound
and
a frivolous
as we
go
exchange
adulations
dangerous
in slavery
even
along
and
as we
proud
of
of
futile
believe
of our
empire.14
Caminer's
of "the fair sex" is evi
personal
struggle with this issue as a member
in her oscillation
as
women
between
"that sex" (and "its" tal
speaking of
ents) and identifying herself as part of a collective group of women
subjugated by
dent
men
("us,"
"we,"
"ourselves").
Her
own
accomplishments
and
her
lifelong
com
392
Studies
Eighteenth-Century
37/3
con
literary, scientific, and philosophical
to her profound
faith in women's
innate capabilities
and
in their right to be considered
the equals of men. Yet there is a sense in this pas
of women who forfeited the develop
sage that she felt betrayed by the majority
to publicizing
bear witness
mitment
tributions
ment
their
of
talents?or
other women's
even
the
use
of
common
their
return
sense?in
a
for
false "empire" of superficial adulation offered to them by men. The direct conse
quence of such behavior was that it allowed men to retain their superior position
in the gender hierarchy of society. The significance of such behavior, for Caminer,
was that itmade women
in their own subjugation.15
complicit
was writing
in Europe were
Caminer
when
women
century
during the second half of the eighteenth
an important new sector of readers
fast becoming
economic
interest group
industry. This burgeoning
(and writers) for the publishing
was primarily composed
of women
women
were
who
from the aristocracy
women
educated;
exceptionally
who
and the middle
were
classes:
literate
moderately
and had some leisure time; and women who were unable to read but had access to
the texts because their family or friends read to them. Female readers came to be
as
viewed
texts
a new
for,
by,
and
consumer
about
group,
women:
and
novels,
all
over
Europe
etiquette
there
manuals,
was
moral
an
explosion
tales
for
of
the
of young girls, scientific tracts adapted for women,
essays on marriage
and almanacs,
and
and the duties of future brides, religious treatises, periodicals
In an era when for the first time women had such
catalogs of illustrious women.16
at their disposal, Caminer
a plethora of reading materials
it both an
considered
education
and a responsibility
opportunity
to
educate
themselves wisely.
and
for women
to take advantage
of the situation
accessible to eighteenth-century
Among all the types of reading materials
new
a
constituted
fashion periodicals
women,
genre.17 During the final quarter of
came into
fashion periodicals
series and full-fledged
the century fashion-plate
their own for the first time, with Italy following England's and especially France's
and men attired in the lat
lead.18 Fashion plates?hand-colored
prints of women
and
est clothing and accessories?were
easily reprinted and inexpensively mailed,
came
dolls
to
exclusive
fashion
and
the
(sim
expensive
exorbitantly
replace
they
that were dressed in the latest clothing styles and
ilar to modern-day
mannequins)
from city to city and from court to court.19 Fashion peri
shipped internationally
the popular fashion plates into a new genre specifically ded
incorporated
on a variety of subjects, including beauty rem
icated to light reading for women
on
This particular
and proper manners.
instructions
edies and
deportment
fashion images was a power
of the written word and iconographie
combination
odicals
and feminine roles in soci
in promulgating
ideas about masculine
of the earliest examples of fashion periodicals which will concern us
here was the immensely successful Cabinet des modes,
compiled by Jean Antoine
was
in
with two title changes
continued
1785
and
in Paris. It
founded
Lebrun
to
testament
the Cabinet des modes's
in 1792.21 One
until it ceased publication
was
in
it
is
that
and, as we shall
Germany,
England,
copied
popularity
widespread
ful new
force
ety.20 One
see,
Italy.
to the upper and middle classes
periodicals were easily available
to
what fashion historians have
contributed
and
immensely
they
by subscription,
illustrations
included in each
The
as
a
fashion.22
of
democratization
described
Fashion
Sama / Liberty,
issue allowed
393
Frivolity!
Equality,
of society to appreciate the wares the periodicals
could easily gain access to the periodicals
through
the periodicals
and
provided names of manufacturers
illiterate members
were
and servants
advertising,
their masters.23 Sometimes
items. In advertising
the
as
of
ambassadors
sorts,
industry's wares,
periodicals
them to pur
exposing readers to international
clothing trends and encouraging
chase luxury goods (whether imported originals or domestic
imitations).
from whom
merchants
readers
fashion
featured
could purchase
functioned
fashion
But fashion periodicals
had another important function: that of defining
and reflecting
social status and discerning
good taste.24 Over time the textual
of
fashion
component
increased, and the periodicals
periodicals
began to func
tion more
dictating
moral
more
and
proper
dilemmas,
porary
as
conduct
life. Indeed
fashion
the claims
authority challenged
ners: the Church,
the State,
writer who earned a living
of social
marital
rituals,
courting
social
as well
manuals
for a variety
attire
as
of those
and
a means
traditional
the Academy,
in the difficult
references.
other
aspects
of social
arbiters
from
Aside
advice
they offered
situations,
concerns,
"became
fashion
on
contem
of
arbitration
of mores
whose
and man
and the Republic
of Letters."25 As a
a periodical,
business of producing
might have been inclined to sympathize with the new fashion periodi
to counteract
cals. But her role as an intellectual woman working
anything that
to them.
celebrated female frivolity ultimately placed her in direct opposition
Caminer
was
not opposed
to the fashion industry per se, however. She
re
fashion's
business and trade benefits,
recognized
potential
to
be its inane nature. Indeed, her comments
in the
she perceived
Caminer
almost
certainly
gardless of what
Giornale
reveal her appreciation
of fashion as an industry with
enciclop?dico
one
commerce.
In
in
the
world
of
of her earliest commentaries
rightful place
the subject, published
a futile matter
Fashion,
and
of
interest
to nations
and
its devotees.
customs
ence
in 1778,
no
she defined
in itself,
to commerce,
to
individuals.
fashion
but which
takes
on various
It is impressive
It occupies
the mind
less than clothes,
and
and
distracts
it increases
as follows:
[lamoda]
is an essential
modifications
because
of
its
on
part
of
luxury
according
the number
of
it affects
the heart,
the means
of our subservi
to the French.26
The passage
ed influence
of the powerful
illustrates Caminer's understanding
and multifacet
of the fashion industry on the world around her. Even as she noted
fashion's capacity to act as a monitor
in addition to habits of
of social behavior
a
not
or
did
she
offer
condemnation
its
of
dress,
evils, as did many of her
luxury
She merely registered the fact that an impressive number of peo
contemporaries.
were
held captive under fashion's sway, despite the obvious uselessness
ple
(in her
as
trends.
The
critical
view) of trying to keep up with constantly
changing
only
out
in
over
that
stands
is
this
Caminer's
obsession
pect
passage
chagrin
Italy's
with current French fashions. To her mind,
this preoccupation
served only to
to its northern neighbor.27
further increase Italy's cultural subservience
Caminer's
is interesting precisely because
critique of fashion periodicals
she did not voice many of the complaints
that were
lodged against the fashion
not
her
She
did
share
the
views of religious critics,
industry by
contemporaries.
for example, who complained
consumer
that exorbitant
desires for fashionable
394
Studies
Eighteenth-Century
37/3
vanity,
goods fostered greed and immodesty and led to the sins of "worldliness,
envy and lack of charity."28 Nor did she share the extremely common fear that the
to undermine
the visible
fashion industry threatened
be
(sartorial) distinctions
tween
classes.29
effects
on women
Even Caminer's
were
The
contemporaries.
views
different
most
from
about
those
lament
prevalent
was
the fashion
expressed
that women
industry's deleterious
of her
by the majority
who
spent
too much
on their clothing neglected
time and money
their domestic duties, brought their
In contrast,
families into debt, and inevitably fell into general moral corruption.30
in particular
its
Caminer was concerned about the way the fashion industry?and
maintain
and reinforce the gendered hierarchy of her society.
periodicals?helped
As evidenced
in her opposition
be
of the toilette to the writing
table, Caminer
led them to
lieved that women's
with their outward
appearance
preoccupation
was herself breaking
of their minds. For Caminer?who
neglect the development
meant that women would
the intellectual gender boundaries
of her society?this
com
never be considered
the intellectual equals of men, and it exposed women's
own
plicity in their
subjugation.
her initial and decidedly
unhostile
definition
of la moda,
then,
Despite
came to be wary of the fashion periodical's
power to proscribe?not
just
In this article Iwill focus on a series
interests of a female audience.
describe?the
Caminer
1777 and 1786 to
in her periodical
between
that Caminer published
As
critic of fashion periodicals.
illustrate how and why she became a vehement
we shall see, four factors contributed
to the radical change in her opinion over the
course of ten years: the increasing popularity
their success
of fashion periodicals;
of reviews
in Italy; the shift in their focus from advertising
luxury items (for both
a forum for the moral and intellectual
educa
and men) to constructing
on
tion of women;
and finally, what Caminer perceived as increasing complicity
as
the part of Italian women
followers of fash
they went from being "unwitting"
ful arrival
women
ion
trends
to
acting
In the April
as
editors
1777
her first review
of
the
periodicals
themselves.
Caminer published
enciclop?dico,
to a fashion publication:
the new fashion
specifically
dedicated
to
the
toscana.31 The special status she accorded the review
Gazzetta
supplement
to create a separate column
in her unusual decision
for the review,
is evident
tell
She sent an advance copy of her essay to a colleague,
entitled simply, Moda.
to
was
to
demonstrate
review
and
that
her
"provoke
laughter"
ing him
designed
since France offers us more strik
in the world
is a contradiction,
that "everything
ing examples of futility at the same time as itmakes us envy its great men."32 In
toscana's plan to publish fashion plates
the review, she described
the Gazzetta
in
both
and
male
female
everyday attire and court dress. She
figures
depicting
commented wryly that the fashion prints in this twice-monthly
publication would
from the hair at its roots all the way to the
include "all the most exact accessories,
to the various styles that the dictators of
tips of the shoes inclusively, according
the review was
the century pass as law every quarter of an hour."33 Although
use
a
of the phrase
thinker's
written
in
humorous
the
vein,
Enlightenment
clearly
nature
to
of fashion.
the tyrannical
"dictators of the century" called attention
of French trends echoes Mon
about the great mutability
some
in
Persian
Letters: "A woman who
his
earlier
tesquieu's
fifty years
in the country comes back as out of date as if she
leaves Paris to spend six months
Her
facetious
comment
comment
Sama / Liberty, Equality,
395
Frivolity!
the obvious
of
there for thirty years."34 Despite
exaggeration
own
a
account
Caminer's
comment,
suggests
Montesquieu's
hyperbolic
actually
in
of
French
fashion
1777.
the
pace
quickening
trend-setting
by
had been
buried
It seems that Caminer was at this point a willing,
if bemused, participant
in reviewing?and
fashion project. She even remarked
therefore publicizing?this
"will be good for our newspa
fashion supplement
ironically that the Florentine
if it can often report such important
per as well, whose merit will be indisputable
news." Caminer was able to jest openly with her readers in this tone because she
was
confident
Fashion."
of
share her discerning view of the "Dictatorship
in her airy pronouncement
of the period
for women:
that they would
is perhaps most
This
ical as a "happy victory"
for our sex, and
happiness
interests well
its own
enough
Victory,
knows
womanish
lovable,
disparaging
have
obvious
descended
that
not
humble
become
elegant
not
in the dregs,
baubles
even
of
part
to put
The
futilities.
their most
towards
universally
having
do not leave them
for
on
the other
excessive
sex which
airs
of creation,
so that,
handmaids
by
in fact,
lords
along
in matters
with
almost
the women,
they
of appearance.35
Caminer
her female readers,
undoubtedly
imagined that her readers?especially
be as amused as she
she regarded as the primary dupes of lamoda?would
was that men, too, were caught up in fashion's sway.36 She even described the way
a sort of leveling of the hierarchical
between
fashion had encouraged
relationship
of
creation"
and
their
"humble
handmaids."
the male "lords
whom
toscana's fash
aspect of the Gazzetta
success was inseparable
ion supplement, whose
from its commercial
power: she
declared ironically that the periodical would proffer a great number of wondrous
in other
items to its readers "for a sum which would
be considerable
perhaps
Caminer
is very small for the matter
cases, but which
review,
terests
happy
Caminer
or
secret
the fashion
periodical
begin
and
thoughts
rule
her
presented
enterprise will
ponderous
the financial
underscored
over
clear-eyed
to her
In the conclusion
assessment
of whose
in
it would
do so: "This
served, and in what ways
inMay;
itwill distract men and give them relief from
new
administer
men.
at hand."37
a
with
readers
It will
make
the
means
for women
Florentine
to continue
booksellers
rich
their
open
. . ."38 In an
of women's
false "empire" over men, Caminer
description
to
ironic
the
contradiction
between the notion of women
emphasized
appearing
or
secret" rulers of men) and the reality that they were
be in charge (as "open
to
line
the
merely helping
pockets of the men selling this publication.
echo of her earlier
as evidence of
the Florentine
fashion supplement
to
In
of
Italians.
its
efforts
imitate
French
fashion con
duping
was
its
wits"
and
itself from
sciousness,
"Italy's genius"
"sharpening
"shaking
it sluggish."39 To press her point, Caminer presented
the sleep that was making
her readers with a farcical image of "ecstatic"
in front of the
Italians mincing
Caminer
France's
also described
successful
French
fashion mirror
to
own
their
Already
great
everyone
contradiction,
perfect
and reassuring
nation's
the
offer
sciences,
themselves
of their superiority
with
past:
easily understands
a bizarre
contrast
expand
the arts,
the French,
who,
in a strange
of
and superficiality:
solidity
they
over fashion,
torment
themselves
appeals
396
Eighteenth-Century
and
not with
produce?if
and
dandies.
foppish
of ecstatic
Italians,
gestures
end
their masters
concern
the
former
from
would
that she believed
with
equal
undiscerning
the
copying
37/3
men
fortune?great
on
admiration
latter
the part
and
[dandies]
console
[great men],
in front of the mirror
themselves
express
as they
in the
for being
final
the beginning.40
over her nation's
the fashion world
known
while
and movements
ape
Caminer's
inspire
They
for
ing admiration
merit
equal
who,
Studies
in
response to French authority
to
was
have
her readers, because
it
well
striking
Italians were truly indebted to the French on many intel
misguided
been
levels. With her cryptic phrase about her compatriots
"con
that they had been "masters" over the French "from the be
as they practiced French gestures before the mirror?Caminer
lectual and cultural
soling
themselves"
ginning"41?even
exposed her compatriots'
in their current subjugation
to the French.
complicity
Such complicity
of women's
recalls Caminer's description
embrace of the toilette
1777 and 1778 she offered her
rather than the writing
table. Indeed, between
readers twin images of subjugation
France's subju
(men's subjugation of women;
women
who believed themselves
(on the part of
gation of Italy) and self-delusion
to be "open or secret" rulers of men; on the part of Italians who believed them
selves to be the "original masters"
of the French).
Still, in this review, Caminer was treating the topic of fashion in a light
vein. She even placed a "virtual boutique"
of the latest clothing and ac
center
a
at
cessories
the
of her review, creating
lavish visual effect for her readers:
hearted
Colors,
purses,
wide
of
hats,
narrow
dresses,
and
every
and
kind,
all will
with
an English
with
better
braccio
air.45 Women
italiano46
big
hats, hoops,
low waistlines
or few
of many
collars
great
embroidery,
be expressed,
And men will
notes.
opportune
affairs
bonnets,
galloons,42
fans, small
or
will
small
the height
know
circumference
of
their
and
elucidated
little
laces,
no feathers,
cravats,
mantillas,43
no hoops,
feathers,
high waistlines,
with
proper
hairstyles
explanations
to their
attend
if they should
know
a minuet
step or with
layers,44 with
if they can manage
their families
in their
coiffure
dress,
should
and
at what
47
correspond.
In an engaging and mockingly
playful tone, the journalist practically
engulfed her
In doing so, she replicated the
readers in a mountain
of clothing and accessories.
some
She also highlighted
frivolous nature of the fashion world.
overwhelmingly
to
in
of the issues most discussed
the
latest
fashion
by contemporaries
regard
for example, was the subject of
coiffures,
great heights of women's
a
caricature during the eighteenth
hair was piled high
many
century. Women's
atop their heads, supplemented with pads or false hair (toup?s), and often secured
of all kinds?flowers,
with pomatum. Their coiffures were laden with ornaments
trends. The
feathers,
heights
passage
jewels, even bird nests, sailing ships, and other large objects. Reaching
that often greatly exceeded the length of the face, women's
hairstyles made
and into and out of carriages difficult
(fig. I).48
through doorways
circumference
of women's
dresses was another common
subject of
had a difficult time fitting inside carriages or slipping gracefully
debate. Women
into seats at the theater. Sometimes
forced them to
the width of their petticoats
The
pass through
up too much
sideways. Women were also accused of taking
by walking
doorways
room when they were walking
in the streets, making
it difficult for
Sama
/ Liberty,
Equality,
Frivolity!
397
ton se promenant
v?tue d'un Caraco
de taffetas
1. Femme
la canne ? la main,
d'un certain
Figure
et Costumes
12 vols.
vol. 1, PL. 12.
from Galeries
de Modes
(1778-1787),
fran?ais,
garni en Pouf,
Costume
Museum
Reference
of Art, Irene Lewisohn
The Metropolitan
Library.
to pass. This problem must have been
for carriages
in Caminer's
native city of Venice, where women were
particularly
significant
along the extremely narrow
stepping in and out of bobbing gondolas and walking
other
pedestrians
and maze-like
alleyways
But what
detailed
or even
of the city.
of Caminer's
own
of the fashion
knowledge
suggest a certain fascination
sentation of the "virtual boutique"
est wares
fashion periodicals were
review
in the pleasures of fashion? Her
complicity
lexicon and her playful handling of it in this
on her part with the topic. Certainly her pre
implicated her in helping to advertise the lat
that she was not
selling. For some evidence
immune to the draw, demands, or pleasures of the fashion industry, we may turn
to the sole surviving portrait of her (fig. 2).49 The portrait depicts her in a Turkish
height of fashionable wear for Euro
style dress with a pleated double ruffle?the
women
in
1780s
1770s
the
late
and
pean
early
(fig. 3). In accordance with current
398
Studies
Eighteenth-Century
Figure 2. Portrait
Castello
Sforzesco.
of Elisabetta
Caminer
Turra.
C?vica
practices, Caminer had undoubtedly
placed
hair in order to create a more voluminous
Raccolta
37/3
d?lie
Stampe
"Achille
Bertarelli,"
a toup? or hair pad under her own
effect. Of course, we cannot know
these styles represent what she really wore from day to day or whether
it
to portray her this way, as was often the custom for
the painter's decision
or not these were her own clothes or her usual coiffure,
But whether
portraitists.
to or agreed to have herself portrayed
the fact that she wanted
this way is signif
whether
was
as a beautiful woman
icant for our discussion. Her reputation
could only have
a
of
in
show
her
the
latest
fashion
trends.
She might
by
"literacy"
as
also have used a fashionable,
to
con
feminine portrait such
this
help mitigate
uneasiness
about the intellectual
boundaries
that she was breaking
temporary
been affirmed
with
her "masculine"
iner's general
undoubtedly
savvy
the apparent contradiction
with Cam
profession. Despite
to
of
the
table
the
it would
toilette,
opposing
philosophy
writing
a
have made good business sense for her to promote
such
fashion
image of herself.50
To a certain
itly?her
colleague
and explic
extent, then, Caminer acknowledged?implicitly
as
a
in
to
the
of
But
fashion.
letter
her
Florentine
participation
pleasures
an
Bencivenni
Pelli
she
made
distinction
suggests,
Giuseppe
important
Sama
Figure
1787),
/ Liberty,
3. Robe ? la turque
from Galeries
(1780),
Museum
vol. 2, PL. 130. The Metropolitan
in terms of where
she was
careful
her own
de Modes
of Art,
399
Frivolity!
Equality,
et Costumes
Irene Lewisohn
12 vols.
(1778
fran?ais,
Costume
Reference
Library.
fit into her life priorities. Or, at the very least,
herself to her con
this distinction when portraying
toilette
to articulate
as a beautiful woman who was also considered
an
reputation
temporaries.
sex
source
on
to
her
made
her
the
of
much
the
intellectual
curiosity
exception
to what must have been Pelli's query
In response
part of her male colleagues.
Her
about
some aspect of her toilette,
You
time
grant
me
Whether
time
the
friends,
to [have
for adorning
but in order
myself;
I do not make
it a necessity
for myself.
I consider myself beautiful or ugly, if ugly, in vain would
to make
hope
am pleased
even
to my
to] write
she wrote:
up
for nature's
because
that
however,
must
live and
I have
embrace
even
one
defects
can
this
of
those
neatness,
with
art;
if I am not
be an advantage.
...
Do
ugly
not
I
at all,
I
think,
one
that I call rude. No,
philosophies
not sacrifice
to this the time owed
but
to friendship.51
to friends. It
time for "adorning herself" with time for writing
opposed
was
a
to
note
is essential
fundamental
that her correspondence
part of her profes
in the Republic of Letters.52
sion and a primary means for her active participation
Caminer
400
Studies
Eighteenth-Century
37/3
to the most prominent
to friends meant writing
In her case, writing
in her periodical,
letters and science, recruiting their participation
books and book reviews.
Italian men
of
or exchanging
Perhaps even more interesting is the rare comment regarding her percep
she could not
tion of her own beauty. She claimed that if she were not beautiful,
were
If
she
she
welcomed
the notion of
artifice.
that
fact
with
beautiful,
change
her
as
beauty
an
asset.
The
structure
riddle-like
of
her
strategy for tangling with this delicate
edly a deliberate
the way a direct admission
avoid appearing
immodest,
have
done.
would
surely
beauty
marily
was
observation
undoubt
subject by allowing her to
of enjoyment of her own
was pri
attitude towards the fashion phenomenon
She even seems to have been amused that her role as
in the business of fashion to some extent.
her to "participate"
In 1777, Caminer's
one of bemusement.
journalist required
As we shall see, however,
the members
her views
Whereas
readers,
to her peers?and
to
especially
in
the
radical
paramount
change in
the two reviews to which we now turn.
the cautions
of her own
sex?would
she raised
become
by 1786, when she published
a review designed
to amuse
a decade earlier Caminer
had published
war
against fashion's designs on
by 1786 she was engaged in a veritable
women.
the Cabinet des modes, was en
By 1786 the Parisian fashion periodical,
In
its title
its
second
international
year of existence,
only
joying
popularity.53
re
et
to
further
des
Modes
the
nouvelles
fran?aises
anglaises,
Magasin
changed
Like
their
and
fashion
power of the
industry.
English
flecting the international
Italians embraced the Cabinet des Modes
counterparts,
by reproducing
the Gior
their own versions of it in their native land.54 One of these imitations,
nale d?lie dame e delle mode di Francia (Periodical of the Ladies and Fashions of
German
France),
was
inMilan,
produced
the
other,
La
donna
galante
ed
erudita.
Giornale
to the
Journal Dedicated
fashion plates directly from
al bel sesso
and Learned Woman.
(The Gallant
Fair Sex), in Venice.55 Both periodicals
reproduced
readers with translated versions
and they also presented
the Cabinet des modes,
contained original
The
Italian
fare.
of the French periodical's
periodicals
reading
as well, especially
in terms of their reports on local theatrical and literary
material
dedicato
events.56
Caminer's
review
of the Milanese
Giornale
delle dame
e delle mode
di
issue of the Nuovo
in the May
1786
enciclop?dico.57
giornale
appeared
section of her periodical, which was
She placed the review in the bibliographical
In this section of the peri
to listing new and forthcoming
dedicated
publications.
of new
limited
their
and her collaborators
odical Caminer
usually
descriptions
unusual
a
sentences.
In
took
the
to
Caminer
this
few
case, however,
publications
a full-length
review,58 thereby echoing the structural change she
step of writing
Francia
in 1777 for the review of the Florentine
had implemented
a
is, creating
special column for that one issue).
fashion
periodical
(that
interesting stylistic parallel between this review and the 1777 review
in
had evolved. Whereas
how Caminer's critique of fashion periodicals
accesso
a
of
fashion
"virtual
the earlier review Caminer had included
boutique"
her readers with a "virtual library" of sorts, since the
ries, here she provided
An
illustrates
manifesto
for this periodical
explicitly
stated
its goal
to "educate"
women
and
Sama / Liberty,
to their "moral welfare."
attend
with which
insipid materials
women's
Equality,
Caminer
401
Frivolity!
inundated
a list of the
her readers with
to "straighten
delle dame proposed
the Giornale
out
heads":
The
for a Journal
manifesto
published
of
the Ladies
and
was
of France
Fashions
objects [ladies and fashions] that go together
inMilan,
as everyone
see. This
can
will
moral
embrace
publication
in
stories
little
short
novels,
gracious
delightful
to
in order
translation
and these
and in the original,
lovely
things
is more.
Instructions
There
the moral
procure
of women.
well-being
naturally,
the
fair
matters
the
toilette.
other,
but
of
with
each
who
wrote
One
educating
as
of virtue
would
not
it must
the manifesto
the
women,
matters
in which
sex,
and
sensitive
novellas,
defines
sex. These
fair
in those
are
think
be
be
that
so. Also:
linked
these
poems,
be amorous,
for
with
together
two things
which
as the poetic
part,
to enliven
supposed
that will
[poems]
will
clashed
the person
to begin
in order
the hearts
humorous
of
and
in a
that they might
enliven women's
hearts
and in order
bizarre,
as
the sacred,
the philosophical,
and the tedious?which
way,
healthy
we know
are all one thing?will
be eliminated.
Also:
varieties,
gallant
which
is to say
that will
literature,
be delineated
an article
that
is declared
descriptions,
engravings,
women's
heads.59
This
time Caminer
she had done
music,
anecdotes,
painting,
current
in a bizarre way. Also:
the most
and
all
and
interesting;
that can contribute
and witty
French
here
puns
fashions,
there will
be
to straightening
out
did not present her readers with a simple list or inventory,
review. Within
the body of items in this "virtual
in the earlier
as
li
a running critique of the materials
condoned
by the fashion
as
In
women's
ideal
for
she
education.
underscored
how silly
so,
doing
periodical
even when serious topics were mentioned
and superficial subjects were promoted:
brary,"
she inserted
the editor blatantly undermined
them by declaring
(literature, music, painting),
in a "bizarre" way. Caminer also criticized the man
that they would be presented
ifesto's automatic coupling of "virtue" with the "toilette." And, significantly,
she
protested
of
equal
the manifesto's
She continued
tion and sarcastically
"We were
implication
that
"ladies"
and
"fashion"
were
"objects"
status.
complaining,
her critique by recalling the poor state of women's
educa
to
related the fashion periodical's
it:
ameliorate
promises
poor
women,
that
our
education
was
neglected:
the Heav
ens have provided
inwhat a happy age our daughters
for us, too! Good parents,
are born! With
lire a year you will protect them from boredom and
twenty-four
from awkwardness,
and you will shape their minds
and hearts."60 Addressing
readers who were parents of young girls, she reminded them that the publishers
of this fashion periodical would
actually have them pay to provide their daugh
ters with such a form of "mis-education."
At this point, it seems that Caminer
could no longer refrain from showing her anger, and she laid down the sarcastic
mask covering her authentic
feelings: "We were able to jest until this point; but
we cannot
upon reaching the following
passage from the incredible manifesto,
at
hide our reasonable
Glance
this
it, readers, and whoever wants
indignation.
wise periodical
afterwards,
grab it."61 In the 1777 review, she had been confident
of her readers' critical eye towards fashion periodicals. Now
she was confident of
402
Eighteenth-Century
Studies
37/3
she knew that some readers would buy the publi
just the opposite phenomenon:
In a gesture akin to throwing
cation regardless of its self-evident worthlessness.
to the forthcom
in
her
hands
she
let
the
"incredible"
manifesto
up
bewilderment,
ing Giornale
speak for itself as she quoted
delle dame
to be
this periodical
being
a
of
welcome
despair
gracious
'In this way,
not
does
of
it will
herself:
idleness
for
of
depth
that
could
and
hearts,
deprived
criticisms
that
that
will
enchant
this work
tone
that
be
to
instruct
the
fair
it
and
an
is preparing
leave some
trace
in the
to a momentary
will
not
even
it. This
the principal
sex with
pas
to distinguish
characterizes
. . .And
it:
friends
is pleasing,
what
she
real value
give
of indulgence
arise will
be disarmed.
always
with
to say
the
from
one
ladies,
from
to women's
a way
their minds,
to the Graces,
Dedicated
of
to be able
likewise
and
consecrated
is useful
what
fortune
good
them
their
distraction.
work
to mask
she desires
be a truly
must
them
to find
directly
of Italian
triumph
from
sex. In a work
respectable
woman
be easy for another
this most
times,
the
a passage
pleasantness
be
any
way,
goal
of
this
and with
gallantry.'61
was
Caminer
confounded
periodical?as
spite its claim
that the manifesto
if the Giornale
boasted about the insipidness of the
did not aim to be taken seriously, de
to the manifesto,
of Italian Ladies." According
delle dame
to be "the triumph
the periodical's
render
very emptiness would
women
and their male friends. The manifesto
it popular with both "gracious"
even revealed that the Giornale
had the important strategic purpose of render
to
immune
serious criticism. Indeed, it seems that even Caminer
ing the periodical
was at a loss for words here.
delle dame's
lack of real substance
celebrated
the very notion that Caminer
The passage from the manifesto
education
should be happily relegated to
that women's
found so reprehensible:
the superficial. The Giornale delle dame's goal was not to combine the useful and
in order to instruct and delight
the pleasurable
(according to classic Enlighten
ment philosophy),
usefulness
with pleasurable
but rather to mask
any
things.
Rather
than
the periodical
mentary
encouraging
promised
women
to pursue
to affix
a "real value"
to what
of
real
was
growth
and
really only
worth,
"a mo
distraction."63
By 1786 Caminer understood
forum for defining and redefining
the notion of "femininity"
nipulating
new
experiences
that the fashion periodical was becoming a
for ma
women's
place in society?indeed
itself. As
scholar Rebecca Messbarger
pos
a new
magazine
proffered
it
subset of the conduct manual,
. . . [It]
and endless reproduction.
in the art of self-production
schooled women
to its readers multiple,
ideal images of themselves,
often discrepant,
represented
ar
enter
to
were
to
le
monde."64 Messbarger
if
wished
emulate
which
they
they
"
women
to
the
that the fashion periodical
[simulate]
gues effectively
encouraged
as an essential strategy for
conduct"
in
and
their
dress
ideals
feminine
prevailing
"the woman's
its in her study of fashion periodicals,
. . .An unorthodox
species of literary discourse.
at odds with
their power and prestige.65 This ideology was completely
as
to
them
and
ideals
those
expose
stereotypes detrimen
reject
agenda
ever to obtain the
were
women
if
status
to
in
world.
For
the
women's
tal
her,
of Frivolity.66
rights to them, Liberty and Equality could not be companions
enhancing
Caminer's
/ Liberty,
Sama
was
Caminer
Equality,
indignant about
for the condition
tent, its implications
ularity. The hardest
403
Frivolity!
ideology, its con
and its certain pop
the Giornale
delle dame's
of women's
education
blow for this protofeminist,
however, was the idea that a
"To top it all off, it seems that the author of this
edited the Giornale:
is a woman. Were we not treated with enough disdain by men without
periodical
of showing ourselves to be contemptible?"67
reducing ourselves to the humiliation
woman
Since scholars
this passage
historical
today do not know the identity of the Giornale delle dame's editor,
review introduces new
is especially
interesting.68 Perhaps Caminer's
But
information.
even
if the
was
editor
a woman
not
of a woman
as Caminer
it is significant that the very possibility
shocked and disturbed her. From her point of view,
publication
to encouraging
inwomen?had
addition
try?in
insipid behavior
pected,
spired women
as leaders
to participate
sus
at the helm of such a
the fashion
indus
successfully
in
in its success.
of such a
the significance
were
First, since they
playing leading roles in an
futilities" she had written
the "lovable womanish
women were actually becoming
lier, contemporary
followers
(going from unwitting
gation to men
For Caminer
fact would
have
been
twofold.
institutionalized
industry which
a decade ear
about facetiously
more complicit
in their subju
to misguided
leaders). Second,
in publishing
fashion periodicals
helped to legitimize
a
sarcasm
in
"feminine" behavior
such stereotypically
powerful way. Caminer's
of indignation
and humiliation
and especially her open expression
clearly reflect
her anxiety about fashion's ability to undermine
intellectual
accomplishments
women's
women
leadership
were
Milanese
or
making,
make
might
to home
periodical,
for Caminer.
in the
future.69
delle dame may
editor of the Giornale
to edit a fashion
closer
role
thereby
bringing
To make
matters
worse,
the
have been the first Italian woman
the treacherous
phenomenon
ever
she confront
the delicate situation of reviewing a Ve
How,
then, would
if the editor of such a publication
for women? What
fashion periodical
identified closely with Caminer's
and
and favorably reviewed
family
occasionally
own
in
her father's and her
work
the periodical's
pages? Just such a situation
occurred when the manifesto
for the forthcoming Donna galante ed erudita was
later that same year. Scholars believe that the anonymous
editor of the
published
netian
was Gioseffa
periodical
Cornoldi
Caminer,
Elisabetta's
sister-in-law.
an
Two months
after her review of the Giornale
delle dame, Caminer
not
to
the new Venetian
she
would
have
wanted
periodical.
Clearly,
or
her
sister-in-law
in
offend
taint
her
blatantly
family's journalistic
reputation
so
a
wrote
She
review
therefore
the
that
it
of
any way.
superficial reading
might
not reveal all the complexity
of her ironic and disapproving
subtext. Neverthe
less, attentive readers would not have missed her inherent critique of the period
nounced
ical. Just as she had done in her review of the Giornale delle dame, Caminer made
a point of describing
the Donna galante ed erudita using the very discourse of the
fashion genre, using exact words and phrases contained
in the periodical
itself:
A
manifesto
capricious
promises
for
the
. . .
in Venice
by the Albrizzi
bookshop
of September
the first issue of a new
and Learned
Gallant
written
? la mode,
Woman,
published
first week
The
entitled
periodical
that is to say, without
the chaff
that
reigns
among
writers
of bon
[crusca],
and with
the glorious
ton.70
liberty
404
Her
Eighteenth-Century
Studies
37/3
use of the word
here is double
"capricious"
support or criticism of fashion periodicals
upon her
edged. Depending
in general,
they could have
readers'
to mean
it negatively,
interpreted
The
here.
or
"frivolous"
In the same way, the phrases "? lamode"
with a critical or an approving
eye.
"without
expression
to
It alludes
the conservative
positively,
to mean
and "bon ton" might
the chaff
Florentine
[crusca]"
Accademia
"whimsical."
have been viewed
is particularly
della Crusca,
significant
founded in
to defending
the "purity" of the Italian language?
1582, which was dedicated
the hegemony of the Florentine dialect and the literary models of Dante, Petrarch,
"invasion" by other dialectal or foreign words
and Boccaccio?against
(thereby
separating the seed from the chaff). In the context of the Enlightenment
linguistic
debate, Elisabetta Caminer and her father rejected the traditional, Crusca-orient
ed approach and favored clarity and simplicity of style over scholastic formality,
for the language of periodicals.71 They joined other progressive
think
especially
ers in favor of expanding
the Italian language through the use of other dialects
and especially through the adoption of foreign words or neologisms,
ing it the elasticity to clearly and accurately express new ideas.
thereby giv
In the Donna
constraints
and with
ed erudita, Gioseffa
too, rejected the
Cornoldi,
galante
"crusca" ideology, but on rather different grounds
of the traditional
a different goal inmind. Whereas
her sister-in-law's
purpose was to free
of letters to use language as a
and all men and women
scientists, philosophers,
in the most effective way possible,
it
for Cornoldi
tool for spreading knowledge
was
meant rejecting the use of a "masculine"
which
for
"inappropriate"
language
women writers and readers. In her apology
in the first issue of
[giustificazione]
the Donna
that was
galante ed erudita,
suitable for "feminine
she must
"limit herself."72
claimed
Cornoldi
to be writing
"in a new way"
to which
she acknowledged
the genre
literature,"
describes how
In her study of the Donna galante ed erudita, Messbarger
a
a
set up
for the
between the "crusca"?as
direct opposition
Cornoldi
metaphor
Crusca?
della
with
the
associated
Accademia
"masculine"
stiff, weighty,
language
"must
and "polvere di cipri," a silky dusting of Cyprian cosmetic powder which
a metaphor
for the
be" applied liberally to women's
heads, face, and hands?as
skillful
women.73
she
deemed
ideal
for
which
Messbarger's
type of light reading
the fashion periodical
ideology argues that for Cornoldi,
analysis of Cornoldi's
sta
was a new, legitimized space where women
could "exploit their subordinate
tus in order
subjugation
to attain
to men
their desired
and to established
ends
rather
gender
than
to challenge
overtly
their
roles."74
In her role as the editor of a fashion
for women, Gioseffa Cor
periodical
table-vs.-toilette"
"writing
paradigm. She was
career
at
not a woman
table in favor of endless hours at her
the writing
rejecting a
the two things and helping to create a new mod
toilette. Rather, she was merging
to be the
el of femininity that was based on what Caminer must have considered
to
contrast
view
that
In
Cornoldi's
worst
in misguided
and
duplicity.75
frivolity
noldi confounded
her sister-in-law's
women
could
periodical
represented a separate literary sphere where
seen
must
and
her sister-in-law
have
(and should) assert their authority, Caminer
in helping to "make dolls of women."76
the Donna galante ed erudita as complicit
her fashion
contrast
The
of women
models
men
the two sisters-in-law
readers and writers
Caminer's
century.
eighteenth
between
405
Frivolity!
goal
coming
was
embodies two very different
to the fore in the last decades of the
to prove
women
that
were
as
as
capable
if they were allowed a proper education, women
development:
as could men. In contrast, Cor
could read (and write) the same, erudite material
for women:
noldi preferred to embrace a genre that was explicitly
frivolous and
as
as
fashion
could
be
also
be,
they
contradictory
periodicals might
promoted
of intellectual
women.
If Cornoldi
believed
she was
controlled?by
exclusively written?and
a
to
was
to
but
that
other
genre
genres that
promote
"separate
equal"
helping
were more suitable for men, Caminer was convinced
that this conclusion would
the "separate
only help solidify
and unequal"
between men
of power
balance
and
women.77
review of the Donna galante ed erudita makes her
The rest of Caminer's
in earlier reviews, Caminer reproduced
clear.
As
the list of
conclusion
grim
quite
were
to
that
in
the
first
issues
of
the
Donna
slated
articles
appear
galante. Signif
that the editor of the fashion period
icantly, she introduced the list by explaining
in order to "entice women, who are
ical had included the titles in the manifesto
to be the principal owners of this periodical."
In highlighting
the intended
Caminer
of
the
the
Donna
list,
"purchase power"
presented
galante ed erudita's
we
term
a
as
women's
what
commodification
of
education:
goal
might
meant
Tales
are not moral.
that
Criticism
of Cavalieri
The
first
to do??A
is: What
to Conserve
Serventi?Ways
Sweeping
Women's
Beauty?
Thirty Things
(Preferably Joined Together) That Make a Woman
Perfect?What
Is the Most
Erudition:
of
Weddings
Books
Marriages?New
to Make
Likely Quality
the Ancient
Romans?Apology
That
are Suitable
for
a
Marriage
. . .
Happy?
of Modern
. . ,78
the Female
Sex
In presenting her readers with this list, Caminer undoubtedly
to highlight
wished
nature of the periodical's
contents.
the absurd and contradictory
It goes without
focus on beauty remedies, artifice, courtship and mar
saying that the periodical's
riage,
stituted
and
limited
reading
for women
ideal reading materials
ran
counter
to Caminer's
idea
of what
con
for women.
review was her concluding
Perhaps the most striking aspect of Caminer's
women
to subscribe to this period
which
would
that
rush
remark,
acknowledged
ical: "Ladies will so easily find what
in
need
this
she wrote,
they
periodical,"
at increasing the number of its
"that it will be hard for them not to compete
subscribers."79
The
comment
reflects
an
increasing
realization
on
her
part
that
were
fashion periodicals
women would
subscribe
even women writers?were
the market
of female readers.80 She knew
conquering
in great numbers because by then women
readers?and
in
this
cultural
construction
of
entirely implicated
now irrevocably
forced to admit that women
saw them
femininity.81 She was
selves through the looking
Caminer's
glass of fashion.
comment
also raises the question of competition
between peri
ed
erudita
and
the
Giornale
dame e delle
delle
galante
mode di Francia with her own Nuovo
giornale enciclop?dico
(figs. 4, 5, 6). Could
she (and other women writers
like her) successfully
with
such a popular
compete
source of diversion
for women? Which model would prevail?light,
entertaining
odicals
like the Donna
W& DIIHA
xx Ju ?^ JNX JjL^
illlli'
mm
^im^'^'?iiii?^
of the Giornale
delle dame e delle
Figure 4. Frontispiece
Raccolta
delle Stampe
di Francia
mode
(1786). Civica
Castello
"Achille Bertarelli,"
Sforzesco, Milan.
?
im f?emi.$*
Figure
.AlbtHzi
of La Donna
5. Frontispiece
ed erudita,
galante
Venice.
Biblioteca Nazionale
Marciana,
(first issue, 1786).
Sama / Liberty,
the majority
reading for all who sought to develop their minds?
of female readers succumb to the pleasures of fashion period
and
celebrate separate and well-proscribed
spheres for women
icals and openly
By the time Caminer
men?
as
fashion
a
whelmingly
407
Frivolity!
or instructive
fare for women
Would
Equality,
"futile
powerful
this review,
published
matter
force
to
interest
of
in shaping
she had gone
to
commerce"
the gendered
it as
recognizing
boundaries
from viewing
an
over
of her society.
was
not alone in her perception
of fashion's perils. Six years
would
also describe a pre
contemporary Mary Wollestonecraft
fashion as a "badge of slavery" in her Vindication
of the Rights
in her period
But by 1792 when Caminer reviewed the Vindication
Caminer
later, her English
occupation with
of Woman.82
(and her own)
ical, she could only look toWollestonecraft's
en as impossible
to realize: "This woman
is the champion
are not so easy or frequent in all
will she gain? Revolutions
terse comment
the French Revolution
had been
that
implied
ever
would
be?and
for women's
ed than a revolution
rights
own
women's
in their lot. Such was
complicity
nessing her peers voluntarily
Fashion rather than citizens
choose
lofty goals for wom
of her sex. But what
genres."83 Caminer's
more easily instigat
not least because of
the resignation
of a woman wit
to become
in the Republic
subjects under
of Letters.
the Dictatorship
of
NOTES
conosce
una lingua straniera,
80. "Ell'ha appresa
1. Giornale
1777):
(January
enciclop?dico
a
sa star seduta ad un tavolino
una
che
in
toeletta:
ell'eccita
l'uso d?lia penna,
conseguenza
piuttosto
una donna, quello di vederla
un desiderio
che rade volte suole aver per oggetto
rendersi utile alla sua
. ." (All
Nazione
che possano
dei vantaggi
reali o dei piaceri.
procurarle
maneggiando
dell'Opere
translations
dio
della
from
storia
the original
e della morale
1777), an Italian translation
in Venice
Marciana
Library
Italian
are my own.) Caminer
into English
con spiegazioni
testamento,
dell'antico
of the original
indicates
that
was reviewing
the Compen
e riflessi
(Vicenza: Veronese,
The catalog of the
Mezanguy.
work
by Fran?ois
Philippe
the anonymous
translator was
Terenzia
Ghellini.
trade under the tutelage of her father, Domenico.
2. Caminer
learned the journalistic
She began
in the first issue of his literary periodical,
her reviews and translations
the Europa
letter
publishing
In 1774, the Europa
aria (1768-73).
letter aria became
the Giornale
and it remained
enciclop?dico,
1776. Upon
direction
of the Giornale
under Domenico's
direction
assuming
through
enciclop?dico,
its publication
Elisabetta
moved
site to Vicenza,
where
she lived with her husband,
Antonio
Turra.
She published
the Giornale
from 1777 to 1782,
the Nuovo
enciclop?dico
giornale
enciclop?dico
from 1782 to 1789,
in
and the Nuovo
d'ltalia
from 1790 until her death
giornale
enciclop?dico
see Marino
in the context of the history of Venetian
1796. On Elisabetta
Caminer
Beren
journalism,
v?neta
del settecento.
Linea di sviluppo
della stampa peri?dica
veneziani
go, Giornali
(Milano: Fel
"I giornalisti
and Giuseppe
fra poteri e cultura dalle origini
in
all'Unit?"
Ricuperati,
e potere,
4.
Storia
d'ltalia.
Annali
Intellettuali
1085
Vivanti,
ed.,
(Torino: Einaudi,
1981),
1132. For biographical
summaries
of Caminer's
Elisabetta"
life, see Cesare De Michelis,
"Caminer,
in Dizionario
60 vols.(Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia
biogr?fico
degli Italiani,
1974),
italiana,
trinelli,
Corrado
1962),
17: 236-41,
and Catherine
in Rinaldina
M. Sama, "Caminer,
Elisabetta"
En
Russell,
ed., Feminist
cyclopedia
of Italian Literature
(Westport, Conn, and London: Greenwood
1997),
Publishing
Group,
see Angelo
37-9. For more
studies of Caminer,
"Elisabetta
Caminer
Turra e il 'gior
Colla,
in-depth
in Variet?
e restau
nalismo
tra rivoluzione
settecentesche.
enciclop?dico,'"
Saggi di cultura v?neta
Veneta
razione. Filolog?a
editori
(Padova: Editoriale
1991),
83-111;
Colla,
Programma,
"Tipografi,
e librai,"
in Franco Barbieri
and Paolo Preto, eds., Storia di Vicenza,
vol. 3.2, (Vicenza: Neri Pozza
Editore,
Woman
119-36;
I'Europa
Caminer
1990),
109-62;
Sama,
in La Fusta.
Question'"
Rita Unfer-Lukoschik,
(Verona: essedue
Turra
(1751-1796)
in Italian Studies: Elisabetta
"Women's History
Caminer
and 'The
and Culture
10 (fall 1993-spring
Journal of Italian Literature
1994):
Caminer
Turra (1751-1796).
Una letterata v?neta per
ed., Elisabetta
edizioni,
1998);
e la 'Querelle
"L'educatrice
Unfer-Lukoschik,
des Femmes'
negli spazi veneti
delle
di fine
donne.
Elisabetta
'700," M?moire
408
Eighteenth-Century
dell'Accademia
on Caminer,
During Her
37/3
delle scienze di Torino,
For a biographical
5th series, 24 (2000): 249-63.
monograph
see Sama, "Becoming
A Biography
Visible:
of Elisabetta
Caminer
Turra
(1751-1796)
Formative
Studi veneziani,
For an anthology
of Camin
n.s., 43 (2002): 349-88.
Years,"
in English,
see Elisabetta
Caminer
Selected Writings
Turra,
of an Eighteenth-Century
er's writing
Venetian Woman
ed. and
of Letters,
3.
The d?male
enciclop?dico
sold and the local bookseller(s)
was
Studies
trans.
Sama
Univ.
(Chicago:
of Chicago
Press,
2003).
cities in which
listed the following
the periodical
(January 1777)
in each city who
it: Bergamo,
Brescia,
Firenze,
supplied
Bologna,
Milano,
Modena,
Lugano, Mantova,
Pesaro,
Padova,
Parma,
Treviso,
Napoli,
Turino,
and Vicenza.
Subscribers
could purchase
the Giornale
Venice, Vercelli, Verona,
enciclop?dico
in loose sheets (as individual
in volumes
of issues in each
issues) or bound
(with four months
Fogliano,
Udine,
either
volume).
4.
Giornali
Berengo,
extant
5. An
the February
1777
385-7.
An English
Venetian
6.
is bound
copy of Caminer's
flysheet
enciclop?dico.
Woman
translation
on
Vannetti,
legal
among
and
Giovanni
naturalists
Alberto
Fortis
and Lazzaro
Gennari
Giuseppe
and Clemente
and Colla's
from
in Venice.
the tradition
was born at mid century,
Caminer
of purely erudite periodicals
(designed
of journalism with a political-cultural
to readers) to a new tradition
to fruition.
the leaders in bringing
this change
see Valerio Castronovo,
and Carlo Capra,
Ricuperati,
Giuseppe
'800 (Roma-Bari:
Edizioni
Laterza,
1976) and Alberto
Postigliola
d'antico
of
copy
veneziani,
of an Eighteenth-Century
Writings
scholars
literary
be among
italiani
Marciana's
it in Giornali
lvi. For a detailed
information
would
Nazionale
published
see Beren
history of the Caminer
periodicals,
two essays,
editori e librai"
"Tipografi,
(esp.
e il giornalismo
In Italy, the num
83-111.
'enciclop?dico,'"
increased
and the greatest
lifetime,
dramatically
during Caminer's
veneziani,
in the V?neto
transition
included
periodicals
and
Scola,
343-515,
li-lviii,
Caminer
Turra
of periodicals
variety
of them were
produced
number
Berengo
ed., Selected
others.
many
7. Berengo,
Giornali
go, Giornali
veneziani,
and "Elisabetta
149-59)
ber
the Caminer
scholar
in Sama,
of it appears
in the Biblioteca
143-46.
of Letters,
Collaborators
Spallanzani,
x.
veneziani,
Societ?
(Roma:
regime
Italiana
di Studi
a period
of
during
to provide
acritical
Indeed, she
agenda.
For a history
of journalism
in Italy
italiana dal '500 al
eds., La stampa
sul sec?lo
and Nadia
XVIII
Boceara
eds., Periodici
1986).
Roma,
one other Italian woman
seems to have preceded
as a professional
Caminer
journalist:
remains nearly completely
unstudied
Cracas, who
occupy prom
by scholars. Three women
inent places
in the history
of eighteenth-century
Caterina
Cracas
Italian
(1691-1771),
journalism:
Elisabetta
Caminer
Fonseca
and Eleonora
Pimentel
Storia
See Giulio Natali,
(1751-96),
(1752-99).
8. Only
Caterina
letteraria
iane dal
9.
From
October
II settecento
dTtalia.
al ventesimo
tredicesimo
Scrittrici
Costa-Zalessow,
ital
1983).
man of letters, Giuseppe
Bencivenni
letter to the Florentine
in confini
"il pregiudizio
..." The
ristrette
indiscreti
le donne
voglia
Fascio
15.
di Stato di Firenze, Carteggi
Pelli Bencivenni,
Caminer's
1770.
in the Archivio
(Milano: Vallardi,
1929), and Natalia
sec?lo
(Havenna: Longo Editore,
dated
Pelli,
letter
20
is located
of Jean Fran?ois
review
De
letteraria
79-94)
[November
1769]:
(Europa
"Non v' ha
des femmes
c?l?bres
(Paris: L. Cellot,
1769).
portatif
historique
trovino una soddisfazione
che le Donne
nel veder
ed ? poi ragionevolissimo,
ragione di mascherarci,
a tutto del pari che gli uomini."
to this review
is
si buone
The
that Caminer
ascribed
importance
10.
From
Lacroix's
Caminer's
Dictionnaire
in the twenty-eight
in its great length (it was one of the longest reviews
years of the Caminer
an
wrote
to
correct
review
in
it
Dictionnaire
the
that
earlier
of
the
that had
and
fact
she
periodicals)
evident
in the April
of the Dictionnaire
1769 issue of the Europa
letteraria
(thus her "re-review"
appeared
a work
went
the Caminers'
against
only once). Her father had signed the
general policy of reviewing
de France.
from the March
1769
issue of the Mercure
it directly
translated
earlier review, having
Caminer
sex,"
for all the others
names
11.
and
she claimed
review
journalist's
that a "blameless
not mentioned
[the women
of
and most
celebrity,
deserving
most
letteraria
convinti
the French
considered
our
toward
[November
Europa
1769]:
letteraria
gli uomini,
che
to have
been written
affection
for her
"with
sex"
in the French
capable
little friendliness
very
required
review]"
journalist's
a praiseworthy
of exciting
to "speak up
to choose
"the
her
and
emulation"
(Europa
79).
1769): 90. "E perch?
(November
insieme con molte
altre prerogative
poi dell'ingiustizia
quella
loro fossero
d'insegnare
da piu fatti
vorreb
dalle Cattedre
Sama
bono
fa il benem?rito
arrogarsi,
dettarono
che dalla Cattedra
esclusivamente
numero
di femmine
rima Sig. Laura
Scuola
per
/ Liberty,
che novera
Bassi
Autore
lezioni
409
Frivolity!
Equality,
del nostro
nelle
pi?
de' pi?
fra' suoi discepoli molti
pi? illustri d'ltalia."
Dizionario
celebri
rinomati
menzione
....
Universit?
Professori
usciti
d'un
dalla
sua
nelle Accademie
ispargersi
in the March
1782 issue of the Giornale
is bound
of the flysheet
enciclop?dico
caratterizzano
in Venice.
"O quante volte
le mode
le teste!"
Library
A copy
in the Marciana
12.
buon
la celeb?r
located
re
but her correspondence
lists for Caminer's
periodical,
subscription
as men
to it. See, for example,
1777
Caminer's
19 February
subscribed
she
female
subscriber
with whom
letter to an aristocratic
(an unidentified
"Signora Marchesa")
to and receiving
the Giornale
discusses
the details of subscribing
enciclop?dico
by mail. The letter is
13.
reveals
(V?rese:
Giornale
donna
version
of
Fondazione
enciclop?dico
il poter
spezialmente,
la corte
di Verona,
Civica
that the Venetian
(the earlier
Soldini
14.
extant
as well
at the Biblioteca
located
dence
aria
are no
There
that women
veals
patrician
the Giornale
Pietro
Bembo
Autografoteca
Dolfin
Caterina
enciclop?dico).
/ Ugo Guanda
Veronese
Tron was
B.3. Gasparo
a subscriber
See Gasparo
Editore,
Gozzi,
581.
Gozzi's
correspon
to the Europa
letter
ed. by Fabio
Lettere,
1999),
. . . per una
"Sar? . . . consolante
(January 1777): 79, my emphasis.
di quel sesso, che facendo
d'una traduzione
fatta da una persona
sembra rinunzj volontario
alla sua porzione
di talento e di buon
uomini,
parlare
all'ingiustizia
degli
di elogi malfondati,
di adulazioni
per riceverne un frivolo cambio d'ommaggi
apparenti,
i quali ci tengono maggiormente
in ischiavit?
ristrette
allora
colose,
appunto
legami futili,
del nostro
di ricevere dei tributi, e che n'andiamo
crediamo
impero."
orgogliose
senso
peri
che ci
on the occasion
a poem Caminer
of a friend's mar
echoes directly
published
wrote:
the young
"Fate allows women,
bride directly, Caminer
too, / To rise up
we create for ourselves
a lowly position,
/ By becoming
the stars. / But...
slaves to
glorious
beyond
intent only upon changing
them often,
/ It is we who make
of
the latest fashions,
/And by being
15.
This
passage
riage. Addressing
a weaker
in the collection
sex." This poem was published
of poetry
entitled Poesie
con la Signora
contessa Bernardina
nozze del Signor Conte Niccol?
Nievo
Ghellini
faustissime
vicentini
Mosca,
1774), xix-xxii.
(Vicenza: Vendramini
ourselves
per le
nobili
see Elizabeth
in the eighteenth
roles as readers and writers
Goldsmith
century,
in Early Modern
and Publishing
France
Goodman,
eds., Going Public: Women
(Ithaca and
London:
Cornell Univ. Press, 1995); Katheryn
and Print Culture:
The Construc
Shevelow, Women
tion of Femininity
in the Early Periodical
and New York: Routledge,
(London
1989); and Luciano
e problemi
La discussione
nell'Italia
del settecento.
sulla donna
Guerci,
(Torino: Tirrenia
Aspetti
16.
On women's
and Dena
on changes
For a general overview
in the publishing
industry at this time in the
nel settecento
veneziana
Infelise, L'editoria
1989). For a
(Milano: Franco Angeli,
see
e rap
of
in
Tiziana
Il
"Genere"
female
Storie
dei
libri.
Plebani,
general history
readership
Italy,
e eta moderna
e al maschile
tra medioevo
della lettura al femminile
presentazioni
(Milano: Franco
1987).
Stampatori,
see Mario
V?neto,
2001).
Angeli,
17.
en?such
I am distinguishing
as The Ladies'
fashion
periodicals
from
the more
focused
broadly
des dames
(founded
1693) and the Journal
and early eighteenth
centuries
Elizabeth
Fraser, and Sandra Hebron,
Mercury
seventeenth
periodicals
for wom
(founded
1759)?that
and France.
See Ros
in the late
in England
Worlds:
Beetham,
Margaret
eds., Women's
Ideology,
and the Woman's Magazine
See also Daniel Roche,
1991), 42-74.
Femininity
(Basingstoke: Macmillan,
aux XVIIe
La Culture
et XVIIIe
des apparences.
Une histoire
du v?tement
si?cles
(Paris: Fayard,
originated
Ballaster,
1989),
18.
456-62.
See Grazietta
no a un'iniziativa
cia e d'Inghilterra
"Mode e modelli
culturali nell'ultimo
ventennio
del sec?lo XVIII attor
Butazzi,
in Grazietta
editoriale milanese,"
delle nuove mode di Fran
Butazzi,
ed., Giornale
cxiii-cxliii.
(Torino: Umberto
Allemandi,
1988),
19. Madeleine
in France
in the Eighteenth
Dress
trans. Caroline
Beamish
Delpierre,
Century,
and London:
Yale Univ. Press, 1997),
142-5.
See also Roche,
Culture
des apparences,
(New Haven
451-2.
in the seventeenth
Fashion
plates had originated
century, but itwas not until the last quarter
of the eighteenth
that the production
of fashion-plate
series exploded
and truly manifested
century
the goal of instructing
viewers
in proper
and fashionable
attire. An exemplary
model
of a fashion
the Galeries
in Paris between
des modes,
1778 and 1787. On the history
plate series was
published
see Vyvyan
and development
of fashion plates,
Beresford
Hand-Coloured
Fashion
Plates,
Holland,
1770-1899
to
Culture
des apparences,
453.
It is important
(London:
Batsford,
1955) and Roche,
410
Eighteenth-Century
Studies
37/3
new wares)
to advertise
between
the fashion plate
and its older relation,
the
distinguish
(designed
to record
costume
or
traditional
national
of
Some
the
earliest
costume).
plate
(designed
regional
costume
in Caminer's
native
See Doretta
Davanzo
prints and catalogs were produced
city, Venice.
in Venice,"
in Davanzo
della moda
Poli, "The Fashion Trades
Poli, ed., IMestieri
to the Eighteenth
in Venice,
and Crafts of Fashion
from the Thirteenth
Century
1997
20-1.
and Accademia
Italiana,
[1988]),
Academy
20.
Roche,
21.
The
nouvelles
Culture
transformed
et anglaises
"Per una
fran?aises
by Stefania Ciccone,
d?lie
ed., Giornale
nuove
to the Magasin
des modes
(1785-86)
and
et
la
mode
de
du
(1786-89)
(1790-92)
Journal
go?t
di Francia,'"
lettura del Giornale
d?lie dame e d?lie mode
formed
into the Almanach
des modes
22.
See Butazzi,
"Mode
in the Eighteenth
e modelli,"
in France
23.
24.
and
et al., Women's
Ballaster
Butazzi
social
describes
cxxviii;
150-1.
lxii. Roche
Roche,
Culture
Roche,
adds
that
des modes
as indicated
in 1794
in Butazzi,
it trans
des apparences,
Culture
des apparences,
454.
Dress
476; Delpierre,
45.
Worlds,
as a guide in the development
function
of good taste
periodical's
to social distinction
e modelli
the bourgeoisie
("Mode
aspiring
the fashion
of
for members
graces
e d'Inghilterra,
et anglaise.
fran?aise
Century,
European
the Cabinet
from
di Francia
mode
The Arts
(London:
452.
des apparences,
periodical
a Venezia.
cxxxvii).
culturali,"
in Eighteenth-Cen
The Century
of Women
of Women:
Representations
119. Iwould
like to acknowledge
Rebecca
Press, 2002),
(Toronto: Univ. of Toronto
kind generosity
in letting me read a chapter of her book before
it was published.
The
Messbarger's
to an analysis
is dedicated
of the Venetian
La donna galante
fashion periodical,
ed erudita
chapter
25.
Rebecca
Messbarger,
tury Discourse
(1786-88).
26.
Giornale
Poemetto
ziale
(Padova: Stamperia
il commercio,
lusso int?ressa
che si rende
it is clear
e
i cuori, che si
le menti
distragge
servilit? pegli Oltra
della nostra
gli oggetti
here as "French,"
the word
"Oltramontani"
translating
was speaking
of France.
that Caminer
specifically
de' suoi seguaci,
pel numero
non meno
ed accresce
che a' vestiti,
I have
..."
montani
Bondi's La Moda,
1778): 65. Caminer was reviewing Clemente
futile da per se, ma che parte essen
oggetto
1777), "La Moda
e le teste,
leNazioni
che prende varie modificazioni
secondo
considerabile
a' costumi
estende
(January
Penada,
del
since
enciclop?dico
taken the liberty of
the rest of this review
from
che occupa
of foreign customs
and clothing was a common
lodged by detrac
complaint
comment
In another
from the same review Caminer was
industry across Europe.
even more precise
in her critique of Italians' behavior
French fashion
(Giornale
enciclop?
regarding
in Italy from the "happy river
that the fashion dolls arriving
dico [January
1778]: 67). She claimed
in for the
the dolls?standing
because
her compatriots
of the Seine were
banks"
among
popular
27.
Slavish
imitation
tors of the fashion
fashion
French
a happy
28.
15.3
29.
vants
past
Cissie
(2000):
As
are lazy something
so many who
in general?"[gave]
industry
are bored with
themselves."
time for so many who
Fairchilds,
421.
the middle
their masters,
"Fashion
classes
it became
and Freedom
in the French
on
based
of visual distinctions
The blurring
appearance.
aristocrat
In the last decades
of the century,
direction.
social
of
the upper
of
individuals
emulation
trend was
[provided]
and Change
classes,
and
ser
simply by their
in the other
also worked
alike began
and bourgeois
recalled
than fine silks?that
made of cotton prints rather
styles of clothing?often
cxxviii-cxxx.
This
see Butazzi,
ant wear;
"Mode eModelli,"
ences of Rousseau's
call for a return to nature and simplicity,
and
in Continuity
Revolution,"
began to imitate the dress and manners
to determine
the social status
difficult
to do,
connected
to adopt
simpler
or peas
pastoral
to the twin influ
for
its penchant
to Queen Marie
of her by Elisabeth
Vig?e Leb
portrait
a high-waisted
chemise
sash,
gown with
and Anglomania
with
of this trend is often attributed
The origin
the continent.
sweeping
elegant
simplicity
the 1783
and made
famous?and
Antoinette
infamous?by
run.
which
muslin
? la reine."
and Meier
Publishers,
ry Europe
30.
a white
In the portrait,
the queen
is wearing
as the "chemise
came to be known
Aileen
(New York: Holmes
Ribeiro,
Dress
and Morality
(New York:
See Aileen
1984),
Holmes
Ribeiro,
153.
and Meier
Dress
in Eighteenth-Centu
Publications,
1986),
103.
Sama
/ Liberty,
Equality,
411
Frivolity!
name
I am indebted
to Venetian
the publication
fashion historian
directly.
toscana. The Gazzetta
toscana
it as the Gazzetta
for helping me to identify
was published
in Florence
from 1767 to 1799, and from the 22 March
1777
issue, printer Anton
a partnership
to sell two fashion
Fabrini
and bookseller
Antonio
formed
Giuseppe
Pagani
plates
did not
Caminer
31.
Doretta
Davanzo
Poli
(colored by the artist G. Battista Minghi)
would
pay an extra fee. On the Gazzetta
Storia
del vestir?
nel granducato
with
each
toscana
di Toscana
to those subscribers
issue of the gazette
who
see Flavio Orlando,
its fashion
supplement,
dei Lorena
Idea 2000 Progetti,
(Milano:
1993),
and
al tempo
44-5.
32.
From
Biblioteca
Caminer's
Bertoliana
letter
di Vicenza,
to Agostino
MS. G.
ridere, e per dimostrare
sempre pi?
Francia
ci offre pi? segnalati
esempj
..."
grand'uomini
33.
Giornale
Firenze
hanno
e colorite
esattissimo
enciclop?dico
aperta
34.
35.
futilit?
tempo
medesimo,
in cui
ci fa
i suoi
invidiare
91.
per cui propongono
in abito e da Corte
presi dalla radice
ad ogni quarto d'ora passar
Persian
nel
"I Sig. Anton Giuseppe
Fabrini di
Pagani e Antonio
di dare ad ogni due mesi
incise, miniate,
e giornaliero,
con tutto l'accompagnamento
fino alla punta delle scarpe inclusivamente,
secondo
le varie
1777):
(April
un'associazione,
e di donna
d'uomo
From Montesquieu's
7.
France,
di
le figurine
da' capelli
cui fanno
mode
1 November
in the
1776. The
letter is located
Vivorio,
4.4.12
delle mode,
che serve per
(coll. Le 1), 43. "Quella
che tutto ? contradizione
nel mondo,
la
dacch?
evidentemente,
Letters
in legge
(1721),
iDittatori
del
letter 99. Quoted
sec?lo."
here
from Delpierre,
in
Dress
felicita pel nostro
sesso, e per quella parte
enciclop?dico
(April 1777): 91. "Vittoria,
che conosce
interessi per non darsi un'aria di grandeggiare
basta i proprj
soverchia
quanto
le amabili donnesche
I Signori della Creazione
futilit?.
difatti sono discesi verso le loro
dispregiando
Giornale
dell'altro
umilissime
ciano
neppure
In a later article
36.
men
Serve per modo,
al disotto
as "feminine
37.
Giornale
men"
che divenuti
nell'apparenza
quasi
..."
{Giornale
enciclop?dico
[January 1778]:
or "men-women"
{uomini-femmine).
". . . tutto
92.
enciclop?dico
(April 1777):
forse in altri casi, ma ristrettissima
considerable
con
generalmente
per quello
esse bagatelle
non
eleganti,
67) Caminer
actually
si sapr? e si vedr?
questo
di cui si tratta ..."
le las
refers
to such
pella
somma
38. Giornale
a questa felice impre
inMaggio
enciclop?dico
(April 1777): 92. "Si dar? esecuzione
. . .
sollever? dalle idee gravi, somministrer?
nuovi mezzi
aile donne ond'
sa, la qu?le
gli [agli uomini]
esserne
i Libraj Fiorentini,
e far? del bene altres? al
le direttrici
sempre
palesi o segrete, arricchir?
nostro
notizie."
39.
pidiva,
40.
se potr? riferire sovente di cosi
ilm?rito
del quale non sar? contendibile
Giornale,
For men's
see Ballaster
control of women's
et al., Women's
periodicals,
Worlds,
Giornale
enciclop?dico
agguzza
Giornale
che per una
(April
1777):
91.
"il Genio
dellTtalia
si scuote
sonno
che
lo intor
..."
gl'ingegni
enciclop?dico
(April 1777):
strana contraddizione
offrono
91.
un
intende
"Ognuno
bizzarro
contrasto
i Francesi,
gi? f?cilmente
quelli
e di
di solidit?
che
leggerezza,
che estendono
le Scienze,
le Arti, che si tormentano
sulle mode,
perfezionano
con egual m?rito
con eguale
e i Petits-Maitres,
i grand'
e
fortuna
uomini
indistintamente
i quali ricopiando
e facendo
i secondi
Italiani,
dagli estatici
consolano
contraffacendo
all? specchio
d' essere stati alla
gesti e portamenti
Maestri."
41.
dal
importanti
46-7.
se non
che producono
si fanno ammirar
che
a' primi di cappello,
si
fin fine ab initio i loro
"their masters
from the beginning"
refer to the dominance
of the Ancient
phrase
might
to Italian prominence
in the Renaissance
art world
or in fashionable
trends.
Empire,
clothing
On British
imitation
of Italian fashions,
see Alan Hunt,
for example,
Governance
of the Consuming
Passions:
A History
Law
(New York: St. Martin's
of Sumptuary
Press, 1996), 73.
The
Roman
42.
43.
were
44.
times,
Trimmings
of various
kinds
used
to decorate
that descended
from
Long veils for women
to the head with a hair comb.
attached
dresses.
the top of the head
on the length of the shirt collar, it could
Depending
thus determining
the thickness
of the collar.
be wrapped
to just below
around
the shoulders
the neck
once
and
or many
412
Eighteenth-Century
In other words,
45.
tone. The
46.
An
47.
an affected,
this phrase
refers
37/3
overly gracious
perhaps
is the contrast
between
air or with
a more
and English
French
sober, formal
fashions.
to a wooden
tool for cloth, which measured
about fifty to
measuring
the type of cloth and the city. Doretta
Davanzo
Poli, "The
on
long,
depending
in Venice,"
15.
Trades
I would
the gracious
assis
like to acknowledge
(April 1777): 91-2,
enciclop?dico
in the translation
of this passage
fashion historian
from Venetian
Doretta
Davanzo
at the Rhode
Shaw. "Colori,
Susan Hay and Madelyn
Island School of Design Museum,
Giornale
tance
Poli
braccio
Italian
centimeters
seventy
Fashion
with
behind
implication
Studies
I received
and,
cuffie,
galloni,
grandi,
cravatte,
merletti,
borsellini,
cappelli
cappelli
piccioli,
mantiglie,
ventagli,
non guardinfanti,
abiti larghi e stretti, tagli lunghi e tagli
piume, non piume,
con provvide
e
tutto dilucidato
tutto sar? espresso,
d' ogni genere,
spiegazioni,
o
se debbono
i loro affari col collo grosso
andar a trattare
sapranno
gli uomini
ricami,
guardinfanti,
acconciature
corti,
note opportune;
sottile, col passo
a molta
loro
se
o coll' aria inglese; le donne
di minuetto,
diriggeranno
nel vestir? o con poca, ed a qual braccio
italiano
meglio
debbe
circonferenza
con
del
..."
tup?
48.
le loro famiglie
l'altezza
riferirsi
in Eighteenth-Century
Dress
See Ribeiro,
150-60,
Europe,
and Ribeiro,
Dress
and Morality,
106-7.
the original
when
(the status of its survival
portrait of Caminer was painted
nor when
is unknown),
of it were made. However,
the two surviving
given
etchings
in terms of age, we may surmise that she would
Caminer's
have been in her late twenties
appearance
to the late 1770s or
or early thirties at the time this portrait was made,
the portrait
thereby dating
the Turkish-style
dress was fashionable.
early 1780s, when
49.
50.
one's
do not know
We
and/or
location
As early as the seventeenth
success.
See Patricia Allerston,
15, no.
Change
3 (2000):
century,
as a means
served
appearance
Venetian
and Early Modern
fashionable
"Clothing
Society,"
of advertising
and
Continuity
367-90.
in
19 January
1771. The letter is located
Pelli Bencivenni,
letter to Giuseppe
Fascio
16. "O bella o brutta ch'io mi sia,
Pelli Bencivenni,
di Firenze, Carteggi
se non lo sono affatto,
ne ho
se son brutta
in vano vorrei supplire coll' arte a' difetti della natura,
....
Non
crediate
per? ch' io abbia una di
pu? essere un vantaggio
piacere
perch? anche questo
a questa
il
ch' io chiamo villane; no; si dee vivere, ed aver pulizia, ma non sagrificare
quelle Filosofie
all'amicizia."
tempo dovuto
51.
From
Caminer's
di Stato
the Archivio
to membership
52. On the importance
of correspondence
A Cultural History
The Republic
Goodman,
of
of Letters.
Cornell Univ. Press, 1994).
London:
53.
(The Fashionable
1786).
Weimar,
Moden,
cxiv.
54.
This
periodical
55.
of
type
The Milanese
from
e delle mode
dedicato
alle
dame
Magazine,
See Roche,
liberal
that
copies
and
made
immediately
in German
translating
was
464-5
of
the Cabinet
(Journal
and Butazzi,
a common
practice
"Mode
in
des modes
des Luxus
und
der
e modelli,"
in the business
of
century.
was published
periodical
d?lie dame
the Giornale
from
1786
e delle mode
to 1794
two title changes.
to the Giornale
delle
(1786)
delle mode principali
d'Europa
cxiii. A copy of the Giornale
and underwent
di Francia
to the Giornale
(1786-93)
e modelli,"
"Mode
Butazzi,
(1793-94).
in Milan.
Trivulziana
in the Biblioteca
is located
di Francia
Italiane
were
and
1786)
London,
Culture
des apparences,
borrowing
in the eighteenth
publication
It transformed
dame
in the fact
is evident
This
English
see Dena
in the Republic
of Letters,
the French Enlightenment
(Ithaca and
e d'lnghilterra
ed
The Donna
galante
of
1786 and 1788 in Venice
and sold in the San Benedetto
between
bookshop
published
in
Marciana
is
located
the
erudita
ed
A copy of the Donna
G. Albrizzi.
the publisher
library
galante
as we shall
have not been able to identify the editor of the Milanese
in Venice.
Scholars
periodical;
our
discussion.
is
for
editor's
Venetian
the
see,
important
identity
delle
erudita
dame
e delle mode
was
see Butazzi,
and its Italian imitators,
des modes
For comparisons
of the Cabinet
ed., Giornale
ed erudita.
e d'Inghilterra
and De Michelis,
di Francia
mode
ed., La donna
galante
al bel sesso (Venezia: Marsilio
Giornale
dedicato
1983).
Editori,
56.
delle
nuove
57.
Nuovo
58.
Reviews
enciclop?dico
giornale
in the Caminer
(May
1786):
were
periodicals
413
Frivolity!
121-4.
two
generally
to six pages
in length.
a Milano
121-2.
"Fu pubblicato
ilManifesto
di
("May 1786):
enciclop?dico
giornale
come
e delle Mode
di Francia,
che vanno
insieme naturalmente,
delle Dame
oggetti
e dilettevoli,
romanzetti
racconti
Novelle
morali
vede. Esso abbraccier?
ognun
sensibili,
graziosi
e queste belle cose per procurar
Pi?: Istruzioni
il bene morale
delle donne.
al bel
tradotti ed originali;
59.
Nuovo
un Giornale
cred
legate insieme le cose della virtu con quelle della toeletta. Qualcuno
che chi ha scritto
ilManifesto
far alie pugna; ma non sar?. Pi?: Poesie,
quali saranno
ch' esse potessero
nelle
sesso,
erebbe
il cuore delle
ad erudir il bel sesso: esse dovranno
per cominciar
parte po?tica,
vivificare
e bizzarre;
e perch? possano
corne quelle
in sano
vivificarlo
che saranno
amorose,
facete,
e lo stucchevole,
il filos?fico,
Pi?:
sar? sbandito
da esse il sagro,
ehe, com' ? noto, ? tuttuno.
e
a
saranno
tratti
di
vale
che
dire
M?sica,
Pittura,
Letteratura,
aneddoti,
spirito,
galanti,
definisce
donne,
modo,
Variet?
in modo
delineati
e qui
sante;
delle
bizzarro.
si avranno
Pi?: Mode
correnti
e tutto
rami, descrizioni,
di Francia,
il pi? interes
articolo
che vien dichiarato
ci? che pu? contribuir?
al raddrizzamento
delle teste
Signore."
122. "Noi ci lagnavamo,
ch' era
povere donne,
(May 1786):
enciclop?dico
giornale
in quai et?
il Cielo ha provveduto
anche per noi. Buoni genitori,
la nostra
educazione:
voi le preserverete
Con 24 lire all'anno
felice nascono
le vostre figliuole!
dalla noja, dalla goffaggine,
e formerete
loro lo spirito e il cuore."
60.
Nuovo
trascurata
61.
Nuovo
ora; ma
ole
creduto di potere scherzar fino ad
(May 1786): 122. "Abbiamo
enciclop?dico
non possiamo
una ragionev
dell'incredibile
nascondere
seguente
Manifesto,
e chi vuol dopo questo
I Leggitori
lo scorrano,
Giornale
lo
saggio
pigli."
giornale
al passo
giunti
indignazione.
"'In tal guisa essendo
122-3.
per essere questo
(May 1786):
giornale
enciclop?dico,
e di quella degli
// trionfo delle Dame
Italiane non si dispera della graziosa
loro accoglienza,
sesso. In un'Opera
amici di questo rispettabilissimo
al passatempo
delle donne sar? facile
consagrata
e sar?
che un'altra donna
trovi ilmodo
da distinguersi;
desidera
di mascherare
l'utile col dilettevole,
un ozio che potrebbe
innamorare
il loro
per lei una vera sorte il poter dire, che ad esse prepara
62.
Nuovo
Giornale
lasciar qualche
traccia in fondo del
spirito,
t?nea distrazione.
lavoro
Dedicato
questo
d'indulgenza
principale
63.
e dare
loro cuore,
non
alle Grazie,
cos? la critica non si presentera
che le caratterizza;
sar? quello
di quest'Opera
il bel sesso
d'istruire
was
such valorization
about
indignant
two such opposite
elements or values of fashion:
that of instruction/being
{instruir el ?tre). See Roche,
Caminer
describes
and
between
tionship
32.
fashion
and the practice
of masking,
64.
Messbarger,
The Century
of Women,
106.
65.
Messbarger,
The
of Women,
106.
I would
66.
like to acknowledge
in my
471)
des apparences,
{Culture
Century
altresi
un reale valore
sar? nemmeno
che disarmata
colla
ad una momen
di quel tuono
privato
. . . . e sempre lo scopo
e colla galanteria.'"
piacevolezza,
over reality. Daniel
Roche
of appearance
that of pleasure/appearance
{plaire!para?tre)
465. For the rela
Culture
des apparences,
see Messbarger,
here my use of Roche's
article's
title.
phrase
The Century
"Liberty,
127
of Women,
Equality,
Frivolity!"
67. Nuovo
sembra che l'Autrice
giornale
enciclop?dico
(May 1786): 123. "Per colmo di stravaganza
eravamo
con abbastanza
di questo Giornale
trattate
sia una donna. Non
dispregio
dagli uomini
senza che ci riducessimo
alPavvilimento
di mostrarci
da per noi?"
disprezzevoli
68.
The
as female, since she used feminine
self-identified
gendered
To date, we do not have conclusive
as to whether
evidence
was not an uncommon
in eighteenth-century
masking
practice
editor
herself.
describe
Such
gender
we might
infer from Caminer's
shock
to see a female editor of a fashion
phenomenon
However,
69.
positive
fashion
that, at least
in 1786
Italy,
nouns
this was
to
and adjectives
a guise or not.
periodical
it would
have
literature.
been
a new
periodical.
Of
this reveals Caminer's
bias regarding what kinds of accomplishments
course,
for women.
As we shall see with her next review, other women
were
beginning
as a new model
for female empowerment.
periodical
she deemed
to view
the
414
Studies
Eighteenth-Century
70.
Nuovo
which
37/3
was
114-15.
Caminer
the manifesto
giornale
enciclop?dico
(July 1786):
reviewing
of the forthcoming
the goals and the ideology
To my knowledge
the
periodical.
itself has never been found. A comparison
of Caminer's
and Cor
review of the manifesto
described
manifesto
noldi's
of Caminer's
analysis
into her rather cryptic
71.
in the first issue of the Donna
she published
ed
galante
Our
the apology
contained
much
of the same phrasing.
of the manifesto
is enhanced
by this fact, as we can look more
subtly
for the periodical?which
and
that the manifesto
apology
erudita?reveals
See Colla,
review
critique.
"Elisabetta
Caminer
e 'il giornalismo
Turra
100-08.
enciclop?dico,*"
wrote:
in my ear that I, too, can scribble.
It also
"Finally, my pen whispers
to feminine
restrict myself
literature. What
could be more
than
appropriate
so since we also have a new way of writing."
I quote
the original
that of fashion,
and even more
ed erudita,
3.
Italian from De Michelis,
ed., La donna galante
72.
warns
Gioseffa
Cornoldi
me
I must
that
73.
Messbarger,
The Century
of Women,
115-16.
74.
Messbarger,
The
Century
of Women,
132.
review
of
In a 1783
75.
distress
at women's
women
torture
an advice
embrace
misguided
to invent
themselves
for new wives
book
of fashion's
fantastic
demands:
decorations
and
and mothers,
"It is pitiful
to look
Caminer
this
registered
to see to see how gallant
like frauds or something worse.
seen blinds them to the point that they cannot read the
inmaking
themselves
Their misguided
delight
and who unfortunate
the disdain on the physiognomies
look at them attentively,
of all who
derision,
which
vile
by those appearances
ly often
place them at the level of the most
judge their customs
creatures"
(Nuovo
76.
I borrow
77.
Put
enciclop?dico
this apt phrase
in contemporary
Cornoldi's
78.
giornale
periodicals
parallel
[September
from Messbarger,
almost
exactly
primi
serventi.
Modi
di conservare
la bellezza
in ideology
and format between
of today's Ms.
and Cosmopolitan
Caminer's
and
magazines.
Nuovo
per non
80. We
may
cism?"victory
enciclop?dico
giornale
concorrere
a render
cose (da desiderarsi
congiunte)
perch?
. . .Erudiz
a render felice un matrimonio?
pi? propria
nuovi a portata
del
de' moderni
maritaggi.?Libri
delle Donne.?Trenta
? la qualit?
sia perfetta.?Quai
ione: Sponsali
degli antichi Romani.?Apologia
sesso femmineo
..."
reading
112.
of Women,
"Per invogliar
114-15.
le Signore,
che debbono
enciclop?dico
(July 1786):
giornale
la Compilatrice
di codesto Giornale,
de' quattro
indica gli articoli
le principali
posseditrici
non morali.
La prima ?: Come fare? Pennellata
critica sopra i Cavalieri
fogli, e sono: Novelle
una Donna
79.
those
43-4).
Nuovo
essere
conto
The Century
the differences
terms,
1783]:
(July 1786): 115. "Le Signore
numerosa
1'associazione."
debbono
troppo
ritrovarvi
in her readers'
1777 confidence
from Caminer's
the progression
on the Milanese
wants
her comment
sex!"?to
periodical?"whoever
in this review of the Venetian
the tone of resignation
it"?to
periodical.
consider
for our
this, grab
il loro
skepti
it after
is crucial
for a
Shevelow
of Kathryn
20): "It ...
(Women and Print Culture,
.
.
.
to
to
which
such writing
examine
the
of the eighteenth
feminist
evaluation
[wom
century
degree
cultural
construction
of
in the emerging
its very implication
en's writing]
received
authority
through
81.
In the words
femininity."
82. Mary Wollstonecraft,
The Rights of Men.
cations.
83.
questa
cited
in David
The Rights
Lome Macdonald
of Woman.
(Toronto:
and Kathleen
Broadview
Scherf,
Literary
eds., The Vindi
123.
1997),
Texts,
"E' la campionessa
del sesso
125-6.
d'ltalia
("October 1792):
enciclop?dico
giornale
o
sono
non
in
i
tutti
facili
Ma
Le
che
otter?
ella?
rivoluzioni
frequenti."
generi
[sic]
Signora.
Nuovo

Liberty, Equality, Frivolity! An Italian Critique of Fashion Periodicals

Transcript

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