quaintrelle old use

Middle English dictionaries note quaintrelle as a beautifully dressed woman (or overly dressed), but do not include the favorable personality elements of grace and charm.

The notion of a quaintrelle sharing the major philosophical components of refinement with dandies is a modern development that returns quaintrelles to their historic roots.

The female counterpart is a quaintrelle, a woman who emphasizes a life of passion expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm, and cultivation of life's pleasures.

The name clothes horse was in use by the early nineteenth century; from 1850 the term was also used figuratively for a male fop or female quaintrelle, a person whose main function is or appears to be to wear or show off clothes.