User:Augustaboulanger2

My main area of interest is the history of great European maisons - perfumers, couturiers, maroquiniers, joailliers, chapeliers, chemisiers - from the mid-seventeenth century through the postwar years. French houses are my main focus, but the subject naturally extends to London, Milan, and elsewhere. Most of these names have disappeared, and many have little or no Wikipedia coverage in any language.

I contribute in both French and English, sometimes filling out an existing stub, sometimes starting from scratch. My sources are mostly primary: Gallica, the catalogues and fonds of the BnF, the collections of the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and various regional archives and bibliothèques municipales. Period trade catalogues, almanachs, and advertising matter often tell you more about a house than any later account.

The period that interests me runs from the Ancien Régime through the postwar years - these centuries during which Paris, London and a handful of other cities built what we now call the luxury industry, and which lelf behind a surprisingly rich paper trail.