Madame Agnes
Madame Agnès was a French milliner who designed hats that were popular from the late 1920s until the 1940s. Her shop was located on the Rue Saint-Honoré. A sculptor, she associated with people in the art circles of Paris, France.
Also recorded as Agnès Rittener
Madame Agnes
Thérèse Bonney · CC BY 4.0
- Name
- Madame Agnès
- Occupation
- Milliner, sculptor
- Known for
- Abstract and unique hat designs
- Nationality
- France
- Languages
- French
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
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wikidata · Q6726264
In this article
Biography
Biography
Agnes styled hats that were both abstract and unique. She preferred wearing only black fashions. In 1929, Madame Agnes wore black satin frocks designed by Vionnet. Her clothes were embellished with bright jewelry like red coral, jade or lapis lazuli.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Madame Agnès • Occupation — Milliner, sculptor • Years Active — 1920s–1940s • Known for — Abstract and unique hat designs • Style — Avant-garde
Hat designer
Hat designer
An illustration from 1927 depicts Madame Agnes' Congo inspired hats with a model wearing a slave collar. In December 1935 she introduced hats with large straw brims which were mounted on flowered madras handkerchiefs. Madame Agnes was inspired by a matador's hat when she created a small dinner hat for Spring 1936. It was sewn of black maline with heavy white silk fringe. The fringe was mounted on each side of the hat's top. In mid-1946 she created a soft beige beret of felt which featured a line that was broken just above the right eyebrow, where a soft quill was inserted.
Identity
Identity
Madame Agnes is recorded as hatmaking, modiste and fashion designer.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Madame Agnès, revision 1370491229 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.La Revue de Paris 1934 Page 470 "Une modiste en renom, madame Agnès, une de ces artisanes qui, elles aussi, continuent des traditions qui remontent loin et ne se perdent quand même pas, et qui sont vaillantes et qui, tout en chiffonnant la coiffe d'un chapeau, pensent à ..."
- 2.Paris en guerre, 1939–1944 -François de Lannoy, Ronald McNair, Georges Bernage – 1994 Page 355 "Voici quelques modèles de chapeaux présentés par les couturiers parisiens en 1941. (1) (2) Deux chapeaux présentés par "Madame Agnès" (rue Saint-honoré).
- 3..H.-G. Pflaum, un historien du XXe siècle: Ségolène Demougin – 2006 – Page 14 "Certes, la " griffe Vallin" n'ambitionnait pas de concurrencer celles de "Madame Agnès" ou de "Madame Paulette", modistes parisiennes les plus célèbres de l'entre-deux-guerres; mais enfin, les chapeaux Vallin se vendaient bien en France,"
- 4.Past hat designers as true artists , Search Your Love website, retrieved on 1/6/2010.
- 5.The Fall Trends in Paris, New York Times, 29 September 1929, pg. X12.
- 6.Twentieth Century American Fashion, Linda Welters and Patricia Anne Cunningham, Berg Publishers, 2005, pg. 72.
- 7.By Wireless From Paris, New York Times, 15 December 1935, pg. X12.
- 8.Flowers, feathers and veils bedeck the new Spring hats, New York Times, 8 March 1936, pg. RP6.
- 9.Paris Prophesies Fall Headline, New York Times, 14 June 1946, pg. 18.
References
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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