Coupes (Les)

Le Carre Hermes > Spring-Summer 2005

Before being motorised, these vehicles were horse-drawn, and we can deplore the modern victory of petrol over oats. In the nineteenth century, in Europe, the coupe, with four wheels and place for tw, was the sine qua non of urban chic, a sort of little travelling parlour, suitable for that great duo in the repertoire of elegant conversation: domestic tete-a-tetes and political plots. Lightness and elegance in the heyday of carriages! No air-conditioning nor sound systems. And no parking tickets.