Thanks to all of you who came to our final conference last Friday and  
particularly to our speakers and to Hilary Davidson for organising  
such a successful event.

Although that was the finale of the network, our website and email  
list live on.

I draw your attention to a forthcoming publication of potential  
interest to members:

Title: Fastes de Cour et cérémonies royales. Le Costume de Cour en  
Europe 1650 - 1800
Author: Arizzoli-Clémentel, Pierre (et al)
Price: $92.50
ISBN: 978271185595
Description: Paris: Musées nationaux, 2009. 30cm., pbk., 288pp., ca.  
250 illus., many in color. Exhibition held at chateau de Versailles.  
 From the museum's website: The exhibition Court Pomp and Royal  
Ceremony ? Court Dress in Europe, 1650-1800 follows the history of  
court dress in Europe, revealing France?s major influence from the  
mid-17th to early 19th centuries. Over 200 exhibits (dress, jewels,  
pictures) associated with the great European monarchies are assembled  
for the first time in an exhibition that will be held only at  
Versailles. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Pitti Palace  
in Florence, the Louvre, Musée Galliera, Les Arts décoratifs and  
Archives Nationales in Paris, and private collectors have agreed to  
loan some of their pieces. The royal collections of London, Dresden,  
Denmark (Rosenborg Castle), Sweden (Royal Armoury), and Portugal  
(Ajuda Palace), and the imperial collections of Vienna  
(Kunsthistorisches Museum), the Tsars of Russia (State Hermitage), and  
Cologne cathedral will for the first time be exhibited outside their  
countries of origin. This event is part of the cycle of exhibitions  
evoking court life in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Versailles  
and the Royal Tables of Europe, 17th-19th centuries in 1993-1994.  
Court dress developed as a political symbolic language, whose prime  
function was to display in visual form the hierarchy of power. The  
costumes exhibited here evoke not only the exceptional circumstances  
accompanying the beginnings of national monarchy and the lives of  
European monarchs and courtiers (coronations and ceremonies of orders  
of chivalry) but also the prestigious events held at all courts, such  
as weddings. The dress worn on these occasions was strictly bound by  
the formality of court etiquette. Each special occasion was an  
opportunity to adapt court dress with the use of luxurious materials,  
cloth, embroidery, lace, trimmings and a wealth of real and costume  
jewellery. These costumes became a showcase for the luxury trade,  
displaying its technical and aesthetic innovations. As fashion became  
more important and styles changed more rapidly, so court dress also  
developed. Orders from European courts placed in Paris demonstrated  
France?s central influence in court dress and fashion and the  
excellent quality achieved by Paris craft workers. Available March 2009.

Evelyn Welch
Professor of Renaissance Studies
Queen Mary,University of London
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
tel.020-7882-7486/fax 020-7882-3357
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