In fact, Joseph had already begun to lay the groundwork for promoting ready-to-wear clothing before this Fashion Week.
For instance, he made special requests to the designers participating in Fashion Week—asking them to avoid the then-common style of distinct shaping at the chest, waist, and hips during their design process, and instead to approach a smoother transition at the waistline.
Because clothing that emphasizes the chest, waist, and hips—skirts, in particular—has very strict size requirements: two people of similar height and weight can’t exchange clothes just because of slight differences in the distance between their chest and waist.
By switching to a smooth transition style, they could produce the same garments for them based on standard sizes.
It so happened that France’s designers were searching for inspiration for this season’s fashion and greatly admired this somewhat “retro” design style—reminiscent of the long dresses of Ancient Rome—leading many to turn to designing garments with smooth waist transitions.
Of course, this also had a lot to do with the fact that the proponent of the design style was the Crown Prince. After all, Europe’s fashion follows France, France’s fashion follows Paris, and Paris’ fashion follows the Royal Family.
Afterward, Joseph discussed and preliminarily established ready-to-wear clothing size standards with the Lyon Textile Guild—temporarily in five sizes: very small, small, medium, large, and very large, and published the specific requirements for each size for both men’s and women’s clothing.
After this Fashion Week, Joseph planned to ask the Textile Guild to further refine the size standards and promote them throughout All of France.
Next, the task was to find ways to expand the scale of ready-to-wear production and continuously reduce costs.
Once the cost of ready-to-wear was low enough for ordinary people to afford, there would undoubtedly be many who cared more about style and were not too tight on budget, willing to switch from making their own clothing to buying ready-to-wear.
Joseph knew this would be a difficult process, requiring the coordination of industrial policies, accompanied by new types of textile machines, and powered by Steam Engines to be possible.
It was also necessary to resolve the issue of the Land Aristocracy, eliminate feudal privileges, and liberate a large number of tenant farmers to provide industrial labor.
“Tough,” Joseph sighed with a wry smile.
…
“Congratulations, my dear Mr. Walsh!”
In front of an unfinished villa on the east side of the Tuileries Palace Gardens, under the watchful eyes of over a dozen tall and handsome salesmen, the sales manager solemnly handed a set of keys and the house deed to Walsh:
“From this moment, you officially become the noble owner of ‘Royal Palace Gardens’! From now on, I’m afraid your biggest worry might be the excess of envious glances thrown your way,” said the sales manager.
Immediately, cheerful music began to play, and beautiful girls came forward to present flowers to Walsh, followed by a Priest saying prayers for the new home…
In short, the ceremony was full of pomp, attracting countless passersby to stop and watch.
Yes, in the end, Mr. Walsh could not resist the temptation and spent 2050 British Pounds to buy a house in the Royal Palace Gardens.
The main reason was that he had learned through his channels that France was going to develop the ready-to-wear industry vigorously, which would significantly increase the demand for wool textiles.
And he was precisely a wool merchant. Buying a house in Paris to expand his business in France was perfect.
Of course, another reason was— the price of houses in the Royal Palace Gardens was soaring by the day!
The house he bought was priced at 50,000 livres, or 2000 British Pounds, just three days ago, and in the blink of an eye, it had risen to 2050 British Pounds.
This made him regret his hesitation from a few days prior.
When he heard from the sales staff that the price would continue to rise in a few days, he could no longer hold back and decided to buy a house on the spot!
Mrs. Walsh was even more delighted. From the moment she arrived in Paris, she fell completely in love with the city—clean, comfortable, tidy, filled with a fashionable atmosphere, plus convenient horse-drawn public transport.
Right, and that extremely reassuring security!
The policemen patrolling the streets of Paris, each with an imposing presence, never extorted foreigners or vendors. In cases of theft or robbery, they would even rush in and enforce the law on the spot. In London, British policemen would have long vanished at such events unless the victim happened to be a personage of noble rank.
Of course, she had no idea that just a few months prior, Paris’s policemen were no different from their British counterparts—this was a new atmosphere brought about by the Crown Prince’s police reforms.
Mrs. Walsh had already sent a letter to their darling son in London the night before, asking him to bring his fiancée to Paris for a vacation. Once they returned, it would surely give them plenty to boast about in social circles for a long time.
…
March 19, 1788.
The Paris Fashion Week that shook all of Europe finally drew to a close. After a spectacular event, it left behind endless memories of revelry and the intoxicating luxury of the Tuileries Palace.
Immediately after, the Paris Fashion Art Exhibition officially opened.
This art exhibition was primarily to showcase French designers—only by making a name for them could the world embrace Parisian fashion more fully.
During the five days of the art exhibition, designers from all over Europe would be invited to come and judge the Designer of the Year, and to present them with the “Golden Feather Award.”
And on the same day, another very important event occurred—a matter not widely known—
That was the “French Royal Arsenal” completing all its preparatory work and officially beginning production.