Le Follet Courrier des Salons

One of the longest lived fashion plate magazines Le Follet Courier des Salons first appeared in 1829. This French magazine was exceptionally stylish and although early plates were not signed, many collectors are now familiar with the signatures of later years. After the 1840s, all the best fashion plate designers worked for Le Follet.

The plate below is by the famous artist Anaïs Toudouze one of the three Colin sisters, the others being Laure Noël and Héloïse Leloir (all nee Colin). Many of the models were set at the opera or at evening events or placed against ornamental garden scenes. Anaïs Toudouze was responsible for many plates and later passed the skills to her daughter Isabelle who worked at Le Follet after her mother.

Le Follet was a magazine equivalent to our Vogue of today and flourished to the turn of the century. It still hand coloured plates when other magazines had moved onto much cruder litho printing.