Everything accelerates during the Belle Époque! Fashion, progress: everything changes extremely quickly. Fashion changes almost every three years. The abandonment of the corset is a crucial and liberating step for women. From 1906 onwards, thanks to the new dresses of Madeleine Vionnet and Paul Poiret, women were freer in their clothing and activities. A real advance for emancipation! At the Mademoiselle Louison studio, where the condition and rights of women are defended, why are the outfits often those of the “corset” era? Confidences….

Make the choice to dress all of youwithout exception

When I decided to create the retro photo studio Mademoiselle Louison – L’Atelier 1900, I was inspired by what was being done elsewhere, abroad and in France. In retro vintage, there is often a strong attraction to the Roaring Twenties or the 1950s. We quickly imagine ourselves in the festive outfits of the film Gatsby, as a femme fatale with a large cigarette holder and a boa, or as a sexy pin-up in the rockabilly look. But the short, tubular lines of the 1920s may not be for everyone, and there are plenty of studios to dress you up as a rock ‘n’ roll miss.

I really want to offer a retro photo portrait activity that is not common. And above all, I want every person who walks through my door, male or female, to be blown away by the transformation. Long skirts allow you to hide your unshod feet from the button boots of the time (I can’t open a shoe shop with all your sizes!). With or without hips, slim or round, the bodice and skirt set tightened at the waist will fit all. The line will always be perfect and give the illusion of Belle Époque elegance but without the corset. The outfits are cleverly opened and no woman, from XXS to XXL, will leave the Mademoiselle Louison private photo studio without a portrait. I make a point of it.

The Belle Époque: the antechamber to emancipation

So I go back to that idle, progressive period before the First World War. Admittedly, this was not the period when women were most emancipated in France, but it was the beginning of demands. Think of Hubertine Auclert and Marguerite Durand! One fought for women’s suffrage and the other created La Fronde, considered the “first feminist daily newspaper in the world”. The list is long. Between 1889 and 1914, in the United States as well as in part of Europe, many groups and federations of associations and newspapers were created. The First World War brought feminist demands to a halt. The men go to war, the women have to manage family and work alone. And they do it right! Of course. We know what happened next: women took the Twenties by storm.

So yes, we can say that the Belle Époque is the antechamber of women’s emancipation, and there is more than the elegance of a docile bourgeois to reproduce. With my 1900’s vintage outfits photo shoots, I want to capture your portraits as elegant women of character. I take the liberty of blowing up the corsetwith a few years ahead of the vintage outfits proposed. Because let’s remember: everything you wear to the studio is hunted.

Mademoiselle Louison’s wardrobehas the temperament of its customers: women of today travelling back in time with desire and freedom. Sometimes taking their friends with them! And let’s not forget that the photographer-dresser also opens the doors of her private studio to men. The gentlemen are delighted to wear a frock coat, a frac, a bowler hat or a top hat. Clothes and accessories that very few allow themselves today. I wanted this photo activity of retro portraits in period clothing is open to all. Acquiring vintage pieces is often the prerogative of historical re-enactment enthusiasts or the directors of historical films or series. Not at all! You are fascinated, motivated? I will take care of everything to make you dream and jump into this time of elegance.

Experiencing being clothed

And when I say I take care of everything. That’s literally it. Because I dress you! Like the bourgeoisie of the time, I am your little hand for putting on and fixing all these various outfits and accessories. And since I can’t see you unclothed, everything is made to be worn on your clothes. Even the trousers! And yes, the trick is pretty crazy and you have to come to the studio to experience it.

Imagine getting dressed once, but in the Belle Époque, the woman of good family has a precise grooming for each moment of the day!From the moment she gets up to the moment she goes to bed, she has to change her clothes, following the rules of an extremely precise and demanding code of manners. This contributes to an impressive number of daily outfits depending on the circumstances.

With Mademoiselle Louison, you can experience being dressed like in the Belle Époque.

In the near future, I even envisage us having Salon over a courtesy tea. For the moment, the Salon by Mademoiselle Louison is a blog and serves you words on a plate…

The elegance of the Belle Époque without the corset

While waiting for Mademoiselle Louison to open her shop, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you at my place and that we take the time to find your vintage outfit/retro photo portraits. We discuss together what is for you the desired elegance and for me your expressed singularity. We take the time to exchange ideas in order to aim for the reproduction that best suits your shape, your character and your desires. And your project is always evolving and my ideas are turned upside down every time!

We form a duo and the session often becomes a photo therapy ofletting go. It’s not just the corset that jumps out during Mademoiselle Louison photo shoots. Getting dressed is a new experience, wearing so many accessories is surprising, and the pose always reveals the actor in you. You allow yourself to be multiple under my encouraging and benevolent gaze. We push the limits of your expressions at your speed and always with your consent at all times.

We all tend to limit ourselves in our appearances, we make our own corsets. But with me you blow up everything! And this is true from the first time you look in the mirror and discover that you are so different in 1900. Paradoxically, the tight hold of the past releases all the expressions of the present. So yes, whether you are a man or a woman, the Mademoiselle Louison photo studio allows you to experience the elegance of the Belle Époque without a corset!

FEEL LIKE A COSTUMED PHOTO ACTIVITY?

Mademoiselle Louison invites you into her private studio in the heart of Paris and dresses you up with vintage outfits and accessories from the Belle Époque.
Dressed as in 1900, you will experience the portraitsof yesteryear with serious and amusing stagings.
A personalised photo souvenir to make on your own, in a group, as a duo or as a family.