Charles Fréger: Portraits in Lace – Breton Woman
Charles Fréger
Thames & Hudson, London, 2015
€32,00
Fréger became famous with his book ‘Wilder Mann’. Now he has photographed a series of portraits of Bretonwomen of every generation from every region, wearing costumes and headdresses ofendless variety. Each costume and headdress may indicate a wearer’s village as wellas age or status.
They are worn for celebrations of marriage, birth, or a local saint’sday, or to mark a period of mourning. Against a translucent gauze backdrop, younggirls and women, both married and unmarried, mothers, sisters, and grandmothers,pose in costume for these stunning portraits.
Although these headdresses were once worn daily, today they are part of acostume tradition upheld by women throughout Brittany in rites of passage, in Celticcircles, and at summer festivals, keenly attended by young and old.
Some fifty headdresses are identified and described in a separate reference section,accompanied by specially commissioned illustrations. Fréger’s exceptional photographsdemonstrate Breton culture’s wealth of pride, ingenuity, and personal expression.
ISBN: 9780500517994
