In Egypt
The pharaoh was protected from flies by a fan made of feathers or leaves that was waved by a courtier called a "flabellifer". Two fans made of ostrich feathers and ivory handles were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. They were placed there to give breath to the deceased.
In China
The fan tradition is thousands of years old, dating back to the time of Emperor Hsien Yuan, around 2697 BC
These were fixed. It was only in the 7th century. in Japan, that the folding fan was invented by a craftsman while watching the wings of a bat unfold.
In Europe
From 1540, the Portuguese, returning from Japan, spread the fan in Europe from the wholesale market in Lisbon.
Italy will immediately adhere to this new fan shape.
Catherine de Medici brought it into fashion at the Court of France Italian fans, which were already known since the campaign of Louis XII. They were manufactured and put on sale by its perfumers.
In 1760, Martin Petit invented a pleating mold system that facilitated mass production. The 18th century: the golden age of the fan.
The fan's time of splendor is undoubtedly the 18th century.
Having become an important element in the previous century, it will now be used not only by noble ladies or those of the bourgeoisie. but also by women of more modest status. By becoming a fashion accessory, the fan takes on a new dimension. It is decorated with different subjects and becomes a true object of art.
The wind has fallen
Passed into disuse during the interwar period. except as an advertising item and also in a few countries like Spain, where manufacturing had been established less than a century earlier.
Today
It was in 2005 that Véra Pilo created the first French fan brand which boldly revisited this elegant and ecological way of dealing with global warming.
Its iconoclastic and contemporary fans. shed new light on this object and make it accessible to as many people as possible.
Today it is enjoying renewed popularity and, leaving the courts of the kings of France, is once again becoming a fashion accessory in its own right.