French Giraffe Mania in 1827 à la Vintage Postcards

Parisians started seeing spots in 1827! Giraffe mania spread after the Pasha of Egypt offered this extraordinary long necked gift to King Charles X of France. Fabrics, furniture, wallpaper, porcelain, and even soap were decorated with a giraffe pattern. Women piled their hair up fashionably à la Giraffe. This high in the sky chignon was supported by wire frames and often decorated with ribbons or flowers

The Nubian Giraffe, by Jacques-Laurent Agasse

You can faintly see the milk cows that accompanied this baby Nubian giraffe in this painting. The cows provided this female giraffe with 25 liters of milk per day as she journeyed. She boarded a ship in Alexandria . A hole was cut into the ship's deck so that this spotted seafarer could poke her head out. She traveled 32 days until finally reaching Marseilles. She then walked 900km from Marseilles to Paris!. A special two part yellow coat was made for her along with shoes for the trip. She was met with crowds and cheers at every town she hiked through. Hip hip hooray for Zafara the Giraffe! Hip hip hooray for vintage postcards too!

This is an actual vintage postcard from Le Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Please subscribe here to my cpaphil - vintage postcard blog. Ohlala, I can't wait to see you again!