GILET BALLON DE GONESSE, green toile de jouy (cotton) on off-white background, ivory lining. Size XS. History of the Gilet Ballon de Gonesse - Document of 1784 In 1782, Joseph Mongolfier, a paper manufacturer from Annonay, raised a balloon made of Lyon taffeta to a height of 12 meters, the interior of which he had heated by burning paper. The following year, physicist Charles proposed substituting hydrogen for hot, rarefied air. From then on, navigation became possible. Two different episodes involving aerostatic experiments are depicted on this vest: August 27, 1783: an unmounted balloon, a spherical silk globe varnished with rubber, 12 feet and 2 inches in diameter, built by the Robert brothers and inflated with hydrogen, a process used by Jacques Charles, a physicist, rose for the first time from the Champ de Mars in front of a huge crowd. Heading north, it came down in the middle of the village of Gonesse, near the church of Saint Pierre, where it terrorized the inhabitants, who destroyed it with pitchforks, rifles and stones. December 1, 1783: Jacques Charles and Nicolas Robert, in their aerostatic machine, leave the Tuileries at 1:45pm and land at 3:45pm in the Nesles meadow, between Nesles and Hédouville, 9 leagues from Paris. The minutes are drawn up in the aerostat by M. Charles and signed by M. Charles, M. Robert, Jean Burgaet curé de Nesles, Charles Philippet curé de Frenoi and Thomas Hutin curé d'Hédouville. M. le Duc de Chartres and M. de Fitz-James arrived a quarter of an hour later and honored the proceedings with their signatures. At 4:15pm, M. Charles climbed back into the machine and continued on his own, about a league and a quarter. He descends into the wasteland. In the evening, he visits Sir Josias Farrer, who had followed the balloon on horseback.