Parasols, for 1795

This is one of nearly a dozen Gillray prints that burlesque fashions in the 1790s. In this case Gillray caricatures the headware of both the men and the women of 1795—headware so enormous it could easily serve as better protection from the sun than the tiny hinged parasol held by the young lady.

But that is only one part of the satire. The two figures are slim to the point of near invisibility. They are turned away from us so that the only human parts we see are their miniature hands. They are set against a virtually blank floor and background so that there is nothing to distract us from the perception of an almost abstract design. They have become totally incorporated in the fashion statement they have adopted. The point, I think, is similar to the one Gillray makes later in A Pair of Polished Gentlemen where the two gentlemen in effect become their boots.

It should go without saying that no one could have created anything so delightfully absurd, so wonderfully inventive, and so beautifully balanced except Gillray.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Parasols, for 1795.
• Draper Hill, Fashionable Contrasts, 1966, #84
• Tim Clayton, James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire p. 250
• "Umbrella," Wikipedia
• "History of the Parasol," Wikipedia
• The Gallery of Fashion (1794-1803)
• Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #405.
• Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego, The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; With the History of His Life and Times, pp. 196-7.