Du manuel de Wicquefort à la pratique : vêtements, parures et identités dans les ambassades européennes au Grand Siècle
Résumé
L’ambassadeur et ses fonctions by Abraham de Wicquefort, was first published circa 1680. It is a handbook for ambassadors, aiming to standardize the diplomatic practice through multiple examples. De Wicquefort was one of the first authors to study the clothes and fineries of di-plomats in an extensive way, and he wrote an entire chapter about this topic. Court’s lan-guage, meaningful objects, clothing and finery are indeed diplomatic tools for princes and convey multiple messages. The sovereigns and their ambassadors put themselves on display to express their own identity, adjusting to public and private contexts through avoidance and adjustment strategies. However, comparative studies of this handbook and other contempora-ry sources reveals discrepancies between the idealized norms dreamt by the author and the actual practices.