Fashion Lighter Than Air

摘要

The invention of the balloon struck the men and women of the late 18th century like a thunderbolt. In the fall and winter of 1783, Parisians gathered in unprecedented numbers to watch fellow human beings venture off the earth for the first time. OnrnDecember 1,1783, as many as 400,000 people-half therncity's population-swarmed into the area around thernChateau des Tuileries to watch a hydrogen balloon carry J.A.-C. Charles and M.N. Robert into the heavens. Guards struggled to restrain the crush of citizens clogging the narrow streets, alleyways, and garden paths leading to the launch area. In search of good vantage points, people scrambled up lampposts and onto walls, clambered over fences, and climbed out windows onto roofs.