Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
I just finished this fascinating book last night. It makes for an interesting companion-piece to the Antonia Fraser biography I read a few years ago (and that the recent movie was based on). The central thesis is pretty much that Marie Antoinette’s obsession with fashion was a calculated political maneuver to gain the power and influence she wasn’t able to get through the usual means (i.e. her relationship with the King and the production of royal heirs). There’s also quite a lot of discussion about the Queen’s more “shocking” costumes, such as her appropriation of mens’ riding wear and the loose peasant-style dresses she and her friends wore at the Petit Trianon. (Somehow both of those looks fed into the rumours of lesbian debauchery that continually plagued her.) It’s not the usual view of her as a pouf-obsessed idiot. I loved the details about the development of the French fashion industry, and it was fascinating to see how most of the country were falling over themselves to imitate her even as they were calling for her head. And I’d love to read a biography of this Rose Bertin woman! My only complaint about the book is a small one: the glossy colour plates in the middle seem to be misnumbered. Towards the end, a lot of the text references seemed to point to the wrong one. It’s a small quibble about an otherwise interesting read.