Chapter 9 3. From horizontal stripes to vertical stripes and curved stripes (16th-19th century)-3

stripes of revolution It is difficult to determine why the French Revolution made so much use of stripes and striped surfaces that the latter eventually entered the symbolic atlas, along with the fascicles, pikes, red, white and blue emblems, the figure of Mariana and the hat of the Lady Liberty.In 1989, the 200th anniversary of the Revolution, all the ceremonies, all the scenes that represented the Revolution used a lot of striped objects, clothes and fabrics.There is no air of revolution without stripes.For two centuries, in paintings, sculptures, picture books, plays and later films, television, comic strips, all revolutionary decorations were striped decorations, and all patriots or proletarians wore striped vests or trousers.Are there remnants of the stripes of the devil, of the charlatan, or of the executioner, all three—like the proletarians—disruptors of the established order?Is it possible to contrast the bars of the Bastille, the bars of the prisons of the Age of Terror, and the stripes of clothing so fond of the people of the Revolution, in a way that is both dreamlike and geometrically precise?

However, stripes at the end of the 18th century were neither a product nor a patent of the French Revolution.We have just mentioned that it comes from the United States (stripes still retain a certain American connotation everywhere) and became popular in the Old World before 1789.At first the phenomenon extended far beyond France.Also, in France, right up until the proclamation of the Republic, stripes were worn by defenders of the old regime as well as champions of the new age.So how did it become dedicated to promoting republican, patriotic, even rebellious ideas from this day on? The first is because of the red, white and blue flag and the tricolor flag.Both are striped surfaces, but different from traditional stripes (they are three-colored instead of two-colored, and in a sequence rather than a recurring sequence), but have the same value and feel in rhythm.Visually resembling a target, the red, white, and blue sign, usually consisting of three concentric stripes (sometimes repeating the sequence twice), is animated from the center and seems to animate the vehicle it is attached to.Compared with monochrome, people can see it from far away, but it is carried on people's body, and it is a veritable "badge".

Adopted by the Parisian insurgents from July 17, 1789—under what circumstances and for what reasons is unclear, although Lafayette discusses it in his Memoirs[53]—this The red, white and blue emblem soon became the emblem of the National Self-Defense Forces, and as the emblem became popular, it was interpreted as a symbol of national unity.Some patriotic annotators even see in the three colors allusions to the three classes of the country [54]. The Festival of Union on 14 July 1790 cemented this view, with special honors given to tricolor decorations and emblems, with the red, white, and blue emblem taking first place.The National Convention stipulates that the red, white and blue emblem must be used on many occasions.It seemed to become the almost sacred official symbol of the new regime: to tear off or desecrate the symbol was a crime against the state and fatherland, and was punishable with extremely severe penalties.The death penalty is imposed on anyone who sells national symbols other than the red, white and blue symbols.

In contrast, the tricolor flag did not really gain official status until later.Furthermore, it is known from David's painting that it was determined by the decree of the National Convention of the Montagne of January 15, 1794.It took some time for this decree to be implemented.Horizontal and vertical stripes continued to contend for several years, with the latter arrangement sometimes being red, sometimes blue, sometimes white near the flagpole, until it was finally settled under the Consulate[55]. However, for a long time, the three colors have simultaneously become the emblem and symbol of revolutionary France.Combinations of the three colors appear on various carriers: nationality emblems, flags, national flags, but also ribbons, shoulder straps (mayors have received tricolor shoulder straps from Parliament since May 1790), feathers, feathers , Canopy, tents, wall coverings, etc., in the period of the Great Revolution when all kinds of decorations were short-lived, the fabric carrier has always been the most important.Thus, ideological symbols can be combined with clothing forms and turn clothes into propaganda tools.Especially since many revolutionaries wanted to extend the idea of ​​equality even to the realm of clothing and dreamed of all citizens wearing the same stripes.This is why, although in use before 1789, the red-and-white striped trousers and waistcoats of the artisan or peasant, as well as the blue-and-white striped skirts and aprons of the seamstress or washerwoman, really came into service after this date. The notion of patriotism in the "uniform".Wearing striped clothes is not only to show one's sense of civic duty, but also to flaunt one's firm social norms of belief in certain fashionable ideas.On the old forms, structures and colors, the Revolution has transplanted new meanings.Robespierre, haircut and dressed like an Ancien Regime, may have been wearing his famous striped gown by 1789.From 1792 onwards, however, the unaltered striped gown acquired significant symbolic importance.

Regardless, the period of the Revolution was an important period in the history of stripes.Stripes are not only popular, but also have more updated forms.For example, the popularity of blue, white and red has led to the arrangement of the three colors that were once rare and now common.Stripes on fabrics and clothing can come in three, four, or even five colors, and their fundamental property remains the same: they are rhythms made of alternating sequences. However, perhaps the catalysis and innovation of the French Revolution was most thorough and lasting in the field of symbols and signs.Based on the old coat of arms, the emblem of the Revolution facilitated the popularity of symbolic forms based on stripes.In the beginning, the blue-white-red tricolor became the paradigm, and many imitations of the tricolor have been produced around the world. They are a symbol of independence and freedom.Subsequently, institutions in almost all of Europe and many countries in the world have adopted striped geometric symbols that are easier to use and make than past animal and plant heraldry patterns as their logos, and the army especially likes to use striped patterns.Finally, these striped symbols and emblems broke beyond the realm of states and state institutions and entered the realms of commercial companies, private businesses, entertainment and sports.Since the French Revolution, stripes became and remain a prominent icon.

In addition, the Consulate and the First Empire, which used a large number of badges and uniforms, also discovered the exotic and decorative characteristics of stripes in a few years: this is the period when the "return to Egypt" stripes were popular. Between 1799 and 1888, This type of stripe was so popular that Western (more specifically French) forms were once again combined with Eastern (or so-called Oriental) decorations.It is true that the Directory greatly promoted the use of "romantic" stripes in interior decoration, but the use of stripes in France at the beginning of the 19th century was almost rigid.At that time stripes partly abandoned clothing and showed themselves only on walls and upholstery fabrics.During the government period, setting up "Egyptian style" striped tents at home, eating, sleeping or entertaining friends in the tents, this is the most elegant thing in the upper class[56].Here we see a combination - of tents and stripes - that lasts through the centuries: not only in medieval miniatures but also in contemporary seaside baths.Tents—like all fabrics and objects that come into contact with air and wind—remain intimately connected to the world of stripes, whether they are decorative, functional, symbolic, or imposed by the way they are made [57].

In fact, the stripes of the fabric are largely limited by the weaving method, and its popularity in a certain era, a certain field, and a certain carrier must also be related to the history of technology.There is no doubt that from 1770 onwards spinning and weaving became increasingly mechanized (James Hergreaves' spinning frame, Samuel Crompton's spinning gin, and Joseph Marie ?Jacquard's loom), which is conducive to the popularization of striped fabrics in the fields of clothing, furnishings and decoration.Technology and symbolism have always been related, and in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the idea of ​​stripes was developed entirely thanks to the Industrial Revolution.

On walls, the popularity of vertical stripes continued after the fall of the empire.Stripes that have lost all intellectual content, and even all oriental meaning, still appear frequently during the Restoration and the beginning of the July Monarchy.There is a "physical" reason for this: the vertical stripes seem to expand the space.Restoration and Directory suites had low ceilings and consisted of a series of small rooms.Striped wallpaper is used extensively in these suites.Also, consider whether the horizontal striped decoration sometimes seen on the walls of the great drawing rooms of feudal castles had a similar but opposite effect of lowering the ceiling height and giving the illusion of small spaces.Perhaps the medieval eye was culturally conditioned (since obviously this involved a cultural phenomenon, culture in the narrower sense, rather than a biological or physiological phenomenon) to see vertical stripes as patterns that seemed to prolong their carrier and horizontal stripes as if they could Patterns that produce the opposite effect [58].