<I>MARTINIQUE Costumes Traditionnels</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2009
name: label: Published by
content: Lauma Editions, Martinican, founded 2000
label: Distributed by
content: La Case A Rhum, Martinican, founded 1980
label: Subject of
content: Unidentified Woman or Women
notes: label: Caption
content: The women in this image wear outfits that depict a combination of traditional French Caribbean fashions. Prior to Emancipation, dress codes required enslaved women to wear a chemise jupe, an informal bodice and skirt ensemble, evocative of the white blouses tucked into the plaid madras skirts featured in this postcard image. The other traditional outfit seen in this image is the five-piece French Caribbean formal ensemble called a douillette, which is derived from the grand robe worn by early French settlers and prior to Emancipation, mulattas and free black women. Following Emancipation, black women resisted the chemise jupe fashions forced upon them through the old dress codes and they dawned elaborate douillettes that were previously forbidden. The traditional douillette dress is made of colored or shiny fabric and is worn over a petticoat and accessorized with a satin foulard shawl over the shoulders. This image depicts more modern interpretations of these traditional garments. The women in the front row hold up the skirts of their garments, revealing their petticoats. This deliberate pose may be related to a West African custom of lifting the skirt and flinging it over one arm, which also allowed for a partial view of the underskirt while protecting the jupe.
label: Caption
content: All the women in the image wear ornately tied madras head scarves. Originally produced in the Chennai region of southeast India, madras cloth became popular amongst Creole women in the 18th century and replaced the white cotton head kerchief which was associated with the dress codes of enslavement. In the early twentieth century, Guadeloupian and Martiniquan women reclaimed this head adornment as their own and many wore madras head scarves with their douillette and chemise jupes. The square or rectangular piece of madras cloth was worn over the forehead and folded to display varying numbers of peaks. The head scarf can be tied in a ceremonial fashion or can be worn to show the availability of the woman in courtship, depending on the number of peaks tied into it.
label: Caption
content: The outfits are finished gold jewelry, typical accessories for the douillette and chemise jupe fashions. In particular, the women in this image wear contemporary or costume versions of the gros sirop chain-link and twisted-chain necklaces.
label: Description
content: A picture postcard of six unidentified women standing next to a large tree in the middle of a wooded area. All six women are wearing traditional Creole clothing ensembles, chemise jupes, douillettes and madras head scarves, and gold jewelry. Except for the woman on the left, all the women carry folding hand fans. The women in the front row have one arm crooked on their hips and hold up their skirts, revealing their petticoats. The woman on the far right has a black handbag on her forearm. Two women stand behind the front row and a low tree branch separates the two rows. The photograph has a white border and blue ink along the lower edge reads [MARTINIQUE] / [Costume Traditionnels].
label: Description
content: The back of the postcard has a short inscription on the left side and an address on the right, both in black ink. There is a pink heart-shaped stamp on the top right. Printed original to the postcard typed in the top left corner, [MARTINIQUE / Costumes Traditionnels]. Printed on the bottom left, [Crédit photo: Case à Rhum]. On the bottom right, a makers mark identifies the printer as [LAUMA Editions / MARTINIQUE - Tél. 0 596 50 69 21] with a picture of a hut and palm tree. There is a handwritten message on the left of the card and an address written on the right. A faded stamp above in a circle gives the location and date the postcard was sent, [972 SAINTE-ANNE/ 28-1.09-12 / MARTINIQUE]. A pink heart shaped stamp on the below has an image of a parrot.
place: label: Place captured
content: Martinique, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
label: Place used
content: Saint Anne, Martinique, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
label: Cultural Place
content: West Africa, Africa
label: Cultural Place
content: France, Europe
label: Cultural Place
content: Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia
title: label: Title
content: Postcard of French Antillean dress
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: African diaspora
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Correspondence
label: Topic
content: Fashion
label: Topic
content: Freedom
label: Topic
content: Gender
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Photography
label: Topic
content: Travel
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Memorabilia and Ephemera - Other
label: Classification
content: Photographs and Still Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2016.151.2
objectType: label: Type
content: color photographs
label: Type
content: postcards
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © LAUMA Editions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper and paste (adhesive)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 5 13/16 × 4 1/8 in. (14.8 × 10.5 cm)