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Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
by Caroline Weber
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Synopses & Reviews In this dazzling new vision of the ever-fascinating queen, a dynamic young historian reveals how Marie Antoinette’s bold attempts to reshape royal fashion changed the future of FranceMarie Antoinette has always stood as an icon of supreme style, but surprisingly none of her biographers have paid sustained attention to her clothes. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber shows how Marie Antoinette developed her reputation for fashionable excess, and explains through lively, illuminating new research the political controversies that her clothing provoked. Weber surveys Marie Antoinette’s “Revolution in Dress,” covering each phase of the queen’s tumultuous life, beginning with the young girl, struggling to survive Versailles’s rigid traditions of royal glamour (twelve-foot-wide hoopskirts, whalebone corsets that crushed her organs). As queen, Marie Antoinette used stunning, often extreme costumes to project an image of power and wage war against her enemies. Gradually, however, she began to lose her hold on the French when she started to adopt “unqueenly” outfits (the provocative chemise) that, surprisingly, would be adopted by the revolutionaries who executed her. Weber’s queen is sublime, human, and surprising: a sometimes courageous monarch unwilling to allow others to determine her destiny. The paradox of her tragic story, according to Weber, is that fashion—the vehicle she used to secure her triumphs—was also the means of her undoing. Weber’s book is not only a stylish and original addition to Marie Antoinette scholarship, but also a moving, revelatory reinterpretation of one of history’s most controversial figures. Review: "At Versailles, where even the daily rouging of the Dauphin's cheeks was a highly ritualized and politicized affair, and where obedience to protocol could brook no infringement, 14-year-old Marie Antoinette's refusal to wear her whalebone corset threatened the Bourbon-Hapsburg alliance. As this prodigiously researched, deliciously detailed study (perfectly timed for the fall release of Sofia Coppola's movie) of the doomed royal's fashion statements demonstrates, her masculine equestrian garb, ostentatious costumes for masked balls, high Parisian hairdos and faux country-girl gear were bold bids for political power and personal freedom in a suffocating realm where a queen was merely a breeder and living symbol of her spouse's glorious reign. An iconic trendsetter whose styles were copied by prostitutes and aristocrats alike, Marie Antoinette was blamed for France's moral decay and financial bankruptcy, the blurring of class lines and callousness toward the poor. When many of her aristocratic contemporaries donned tricolor ribbons and jewelry set with stones from the Bastille's demolished walls as pro-revolutionary emblems, a defiant Marie Antoinette reintroduced her most opulent jewels into her daily costume. The generously illustrated history by Weber ( Terror and Its Discontents) posits that the queen's fashion obsession wasn't about narcissism and frivolity but self-assertion; even at the guillotine she controlled her image with a radiantly white ensemble." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review: "Marie Antoinette inspired Sofia Coppola's new movie, the cover of last month's Vogue and more fashion designers than you can shake a powdered wig at. Two centuries after her death, the woman whose lavish gowns and legendary ostentation were admired and reviled in her own time is 'in' — yet again. Why does the queen's style continue to fascinate? To a jeans-and-sneakers world, Marie Antoinette ... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) offers brocade hoop-skirts, gold-embroidered stockings, bow-bedecked bodices and diamond-buckled slippers. As Caroline Weber demonstrates with dazzling detail in 'Queen of Fashion,' when it came to Marie's wardrobe, more was better and too much was never enough: Her pearl bracelets, jewel-flecked gowns, ruffled skirts and fur-trimmed headdresses launched a thousand imitators hoping to borrow even a little of her awe-inspiring glamour. Weber's book is an ode to the art of dressmaking at its most fantastic, a heady, gorgeous glimpse into the past. Though she was known for her ornate frippery, Marie Antoinette's most important style secret was simple: She understood that what she wore said something about who she was — and who she might become. As Weber tells it, this lesson hit home at age 14, when Marie Antoinette left Austria to become France's new Dauphine. Before entering France, she was taken to a pavilion and ceremonially stripped nude by ladies-in-waiting, all of her finery 'confiscated as a symbolic link to the House of Hapsburg.' Soon, she had been dressed anew in French clothes so that she could properly assume the role of the future king's wife. This notion, that she could (and should) forge a new identity through clothes, would in many ways define her reign. To what extent Marie Antoinette would be accepted by France depended in no small part on what she wore. It didn't take long for the new Dauphine to test her independence at Versailles. The court was known for its ritualistic formality, particularly in matters of dress. Princesses were required to wear a grand corps, the intricately rigged corset whose rigid whalebone stays were known to cause fainting, digestion problems and even heart palpitations. Marie Antoinette despised it and, flouting tradition, refused to wear it. If she found the corset restrictive, the subsequent reaction of the court proved far more binding. Courtiers whispered that she was unsuitable for her royal role; rumors abounded that her 'waist (was) growing misshapen.' Tales of her etiquette infringements spread rapidly; the Empress Maria Theresa correctly divined that her daughter's brashness could spell trouble for the Austria-France alliance. She cautioned, 'I therefore beg you, both as your tender mother and as a friend, not to give in to any further shows of nonchalance about your appearance or court protocol.' The Austrian beauty paid little heed to this advice. Though she succumbed to the court's criticism and donned her corset again, over the years her attire continued to defy convention. She wore riding breeches, which many saw as inappropriate. A favorite of Louis XIV, the Sun King, such sporty hunting garb was considered suitable for men and men alone. When the Dauphine donned them herself, people worried that she was trying to co-opt a bit of the style's masculinity; her breeches 'evoked a distinctly unfeminine form of political power.' When tongues weren't wagging about her 'masculine' clothes, Marie Antoinette's love of feminine frippery was raising eyebrows. Her hairstyles grew more embellished and expensive. One in particular, the 'pouf,' sparked a frenzy among acolytes and critics alike. Poufs were dizzyingly high creations constructed from wire, cloth, gauze and hair. Each bore 'an elaborate miniature still life, intended either to express a feeling ... or to commemorate an event.' Marie was an early fan of the wildly popular confections, which could feature everything from a cornucopia of garden vegetables to the garden itself, complete with flowers, stream and even a tiny windmill. (There were also head scratchers for the poufs, which were difficult to wash and often housed vermin.) Many people wondered how the queen could get her head through doorways. More asked why she was wasting money on hairstyles powdered with flour when starving families throughout the nation were clamoring for bread. How fully Marie Antoinette grasped the negative connotations of such costumes is not known. Whatever her awareness, she couldn't sway public opinion in her favor. People inside and outside the court criticized her spending habits — one nickname was 'Madame Deficit' — but when she donned white muslin dresses rather than showy brocades, they reprimanded her for once again defying court convention. 'These outfits were, yet again, distinctly at odds with the sartorial traditions of Versailles,' writes Weber. By wearing simple, less formal fabrics, the queen had upset fashion's traditional function as a signifier of social class. Then came the revolution 'against which no costume in the world would protect her.' Marie first tried to assert monarchical privilege by returning to the diamonds and decoration expected of someone of her station, but in time she became less adorned. She had no choice: When a mob overtook the palace at the Tuileries, her rooms were sacked, and many of her dresses were stolen, sold or lost forever. After Louis XVI was executed in 1793, she wore mourner's black. But her captors wouldn't allow this small measure of freedom when it came time to face the guillotine, perhaps fearing 'the interest that she might inspire as the King's widow.' So for her final journey through the streets of Paris, Marie wore a snowy white dress she had tucked away in her filthy cell. Onlookers who had mocked her in the past were, by most accounts, stunned by her elegant austerity. 'Queen of Fashion' is as richly imagined as the gowns it describes, but its narrow focus comes at the expense of some biographical detail; those looking for a comprehensive portrait of Marie Antoinette's life will be left wanting. As sociology, however, it's nothing short of stunning. When every day is casual Friday, it's easy to forget the ways in which clothing speaks volumes about class, sexuality and power — sometimes more so than even its wearer intends. Suzanne D'Amato, a former fashion writer at Vogue, is deputy editor of The Washington Post's Sunday Source." Reviewed by Suzanne D'Amato, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
(hide most of this review)Synopsis: In this dazzling new vision of the ever-fascinating queen, a dynamic young historian reveals how Marie Antoinette's bold attempts to reshape royal fashion changed the future of France.
About the Author Caroline Weber is associate professor of French at Barnard College, Columbia University. A specialist of eighteenth-century French literature, culture, and history, she has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Her other publications include Terror and Its Discontents, a well-received and widely taught book on the Reign of Terror; an edited volume of Yale French Studies; and numerous academic articles. She lives with her husband in New York City.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780805079494
- Subtitle:
- What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
- Author:
- Weber, Caroline
- Publisher:
- Henry Holt & Company
- Subject:
- Europe - France
- Subject:
- Women
- Subject:
- Royalty
- Subject:
- History
- Subject:
- Fashion
- Subject:
- France
- Subject:
- Historical - General
- Subject:
- France History Louis XVI, 1774-1793.
- Subject:
- Marie Antoinette - Clothing
- Publication Date:
- September 2006
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 412
- Dimensions:
- 9.64x6.52x1.39 in. 1.72 lbs.
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