René Marie Nicolas de Nicolay, Comte de Nicolay

What people wore

Wartime fashion shifts for women

During World War I, the women's suit became an essential, functional wardrobe item for both shopping and the workforce, often paired with a blouse. Because of fabric shortages and the movement of women into new professions, skirts became straighter and shorter, and women even began wearing trousers for outdoor labor.

Getting around

Train vendors moved between carriages via footboards

Traveling by train was often an adventure, with vendors known as swallows selling goods like perfume and cognac while moving between compartments via exterior footboards.

At the table

Tax-free home distillation privileges

Between 1875 and 1914, French peasants had a legal privilege to distill part of their own wine, cider, or fruit harvest into spirits without paying any taxes or needing declarations.

Music

Instruments of the Paris Bal Musette

In the early 20th century, the cabrette, a small bagpipe, was the signature instrument of Parisian bal musette, but it was gradually joined or replaced by the accordion introduced by Italian immigrants.

Daily life

Compulsory schooling and literacy

By 1900, free and compulsory primary education created a new generation of literate children who often acted as cultural mediators for their illiterate parents and grandparents.

What it cost

Rising Bread Prices 1910–1925

The price of a kilogram of bread in Paris rose from 0.39 francs in 1910 to 1.58 francs by 1925.