Advertising Fan for the Galeries Lafayette: M.135-2015

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Allocated (2015-04-27) by H.M. Government

Dating

20th Century
Production date: AD 1926

Note

This fan forms part of the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd, allocated to the Museum by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2015. The collection of over 600 fans ranges in date from the 18th to the 20th centuries and in type from bejewelled and hand-painted court and wedding fans, to printed mass-produced advertising fans, aide-memoire fans, mourning fans and children’s fans.

This striking advertising fan, in typical Art Deco style, was designed by Gabriel Ferro. It shows a Flapper (a 1920s woman who defied accepted conventions by wearing short skirts, bobbing her hair, listening to jazz) admiring herself in a small hand-mirror. On the reverse is an inscription stating that since Galeries Lafayette have stuck to their principle of selling only the best, they are the only store in the world to have exceeded a billion francs in annual turnover.