Marie Madeleine Duchapt

Marie Madeleine Duchapt has been referred to as Madame Duchapt, Mademoiselle Duchapt and finally, when she was most famous, as only 'La Duchapt'. She was reportedly married to the mercer Martin Arnaud Loysant; at that time, it was common for fashion merchants to be the wives of textile mercers. In her epoch, however, it was not unusual for married women to be called "Mademoiselle", as the title "Madame" denoted prestige.

She was the manager of the famous Paris fashion accessories shop Chande de modes, and came to the fore in 1734, when she began receiving orders from women of the nobility. At this time, Françoise Leclerc, the official dressmaker of the queen, was in failing health and Duchapt supplanted Leclerc in that role. During the period 1740–1770, dresses were produced by seamstresses or tailors. The basic dress model remained the same, but fashion was expressed by changes in trimming, hats and accessories, which was why fashion merchants such as Duchapt had such influence. While the guild of fashion merchants, Marchandes de modes, was not created before 1776, the profession had existed for a least half a century, and became reality after the success of merchants such as Duchapt. She had clients among both the Parisian aristocracy as well as the ladies-in-waiting of the Court of Versailles. Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes noted that she traveled to Spain in 1739 with her client, the king's mistress Louise Julie de Mailly, in order to study how to dress Mailly for the up-coming French-Spanish Royal wedding. She is still mentioned as being celebrated in 1756, and is noted in the records as active in 1761. She was the rival of Mademoiselle Alexandre, who had succeeded her as the leading fashion merchant of Paris by 1772, when Duchapt is referred to as a "former celebrity".