Paris ribbons and French flag ribbons

The history of the French flag

Red and blue, the colours of Paris

Red and blue have always been the colours of Paris. Right up until the French Revolution, the colours of the Paris National Guard were red and blue. White was always the colour of the monarchy. Legend has it that the association of the three colours was the symbol of the union of the people and the monarchy. Of course this is possible, but there is no documented proof of this. Before becoming the national flag, the three colours were used as ribbons, banners or cockades.
It is said that La Fayette gave a cockade to Louis XIV in 1789, three days after the storming of the Bastille. He declared “I give you this cockade which will go all around the world”. The cockade became the symbol of patriotism and it became fashionable to wear it on the buttonhole.

Red white blue and blue white red

At first, the French flag was red, white and blue. In the autumn of 1790, the Constituent Assembly decided that all warships and commercial vessels should raise a flag with three vertical bands: red near to the flagpole, white in the middle and blue at the exterior. The vertical stripes permitted to easily distinguish the French flag from the Dutch flag, same colours but disposed horizontally, and flying over the oceans for over a century.
The Tricolour flag acquired its definitive form in 1794, when the national convention decided that the order should be blue, white and red. It is said that the famous painter David had a say in this decision..

The French flag, the colours of the nation

As with the history of France, a simple story about a flag could not just be plain sailing. The French flag lost the blue and red at the return of the monarchy from 1814 to 1830, keeping only the royal white. Then, during the July Revolution (27-29 July 1830) also known as Les Trois Glorieuses (three glorious days), the tricolour flag returned as a sign of the republican rally against Charles X. The famous painting by Delacroix inspired by this revolution, Liberty Leading the People, shows a large tricolour flag celebrating the victory. .
Finally, the last king of France, Louis Philippe, accepted the return of the “bleu, blanc, rouge” proclaiming that the Nation was taking back its colours!

The French flag, inspired by fashion clothing

The blue, white and red stripes became fashionable during the 1790s, not only on dresses, skirts and waistcoats, but also in neoclassic decorative arts, wallpapers, architecture and decors.
For a long time, horizontal stripes were worn mainly by people considered as marginal – jugglers, prisoners, musicians, jesters, hangmen and ladies of the night.
During the Renaissance, the stripes became vertical and more reputable, often marking the servile status of domestics. This habit has remained, notably with the tradition of striped waistcoats for maîtres d’hôtel.
Chosen by the Sans-Culottes during the French Revolution, the blue, white and red stripes became the symbol of freedom – along with the French flag!