‘Smoaking hot with fashion from Paris’: The Consumption of French Fashion in Eighteenth-Century Ireland

Abstract

When young Fanny Herbert returned to her native Co. Tipperary after a short trip to Paris in 1791, she was judged to be ‘smoaking hot with fashion […] from Paris’. She offers a good example of how French sartorial matters were held in great esteem in eighteenth-century Ireland, despite the domination of British-manufactured goods and British taste. This article attempts to answer some questions regarding the consumption of French fashion in Ireland throughout the eighteenth century, focusing on Dublin as the centre of culture and commerce. It will explore where an Irish consumer could acquire French sartorial goods, and enquires how widely available such goods were. It will consider specifically what was available to purchase and discovers how an Irish shopper could hear news of the latest French trends in fashionable dress.