The provincial Balzac, who as a Parisian ordered thirty-one waistcoats in a month

Honoré Balzac was born in Tours, in 1799. He arrives in Paris with clothes of provincial taste, but until he works as a scribe in a notary’s office he doesn’t mind much. When at the age of twenty he decides to be a writer – first of theater (it went very badly) and then of novels (we know how it ended, with the monumental “Human Comedy”) – he begins to observe people walking along the boulevards. He immediately understands that in order to do well in society he must put his weight on himself. Even the aristocratic “de” in the name should be considered a tweak – and enemies are quick to make fun of it. We see a similar scene in Xavier Giannoli’s film Lost Illusions, which captured the spirit of the novel perfectly – as well as the buying and selling of book and theater reviews (in addition, there was a paid professional claque). The noble parcel was not at all expensive, compared to the bill from the tailor Buisson in rue Richelieu: 900 francs, plus 200 which had been used to pay the shoemaker. More or less what would have been enough for young Honoré to live a couple of years in Paris, squandered on elegance. The list of new clothes includes a walnut frock coat, a black waistcoat, a pair of steel gray trousers. And we’re only in the first month. The following month, a pair of black cashmere trousers and two quilted waistcoats arrive. Then delirium: thirty-one waistcoats ordered in just one month, the first stage of a larger project. A different waistcoat for every day of the year. An elegant wardrobe is essential for a young provincial who wants to make his way into Parisian society. But here we go towards dandyism.