ABSTRACT
I dread à la mode, as the Germans’ downfall begins with the mania for the new. For in order to make an impression, a thing need only be à la mode.1
Around the middle of the seventeenth century the word Mode (fashion) entered the German language, taken from the French phrase ‘à la mode’. The word evolved from its original use for clothing fashions to a more general reference to lifestyles and all they entailed. Thus, a body of writing emerged around the notion of ‘à la mode’ that was often quite critical of France.
