Marie Antoinette
FMM 1200
Marie Antoinette
Maria Theresa of Austria thought she was sealing “a favorable alliance between France and Austria” (New World Encyclopedia) by having her daughter, Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, marry Louis XVI, but she was actually unknowingly giving her a chance to make fashion history.
Life History
When Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna wed Louis XVI, she was told to leave everything behind; her Austrian clothes, possessions, servants, her animal and even her name was changed to Marie Antoinette. She was then dressed in French clothing and presented with jewels including “an elaborate diamond necklace which had belonged to Anne of Austria and pieces which had also belonged to Mary Queen of Scots and
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She wore the newest looks from Rose Bertin, “among them the provocative "robe a la polonaise," with its bosom-enhancing bodice and its billowy, ankle-baring skirts, the whole crowned by a pouf, a 3-foot mountain of powdered hair decked with plumes, veils, and other objects”(Hollander, 2006).
Another dress of style she came to wear after becoming a mother is known as “chemise a la reine.” She stopped wearing all the glitz and glam that she had been known for and opting for a simpler look in her outfits. She “began wearing a light, shapeless dress called a gaulle. It was made of layers of simple muslin, loose-fitting and shaped by a sash tied around the waist. It also didn't have the usual panniers under the skirt, which were often so extreme that door frames had to be widened to accommodate dresses. It meant the material could mold around the legs, also shocking at the time”(Winterman, 2012). Critics of this type of dress said she looked as though she were wearing just undergarments.
In conclusion, Marie Antoinette was not only a prominent figure in history, but she could also be noted as an important mention in fashion history as well. She paved the way for a new type of look and style that others during the time would not have ever thought of doing.
References
Contributors. (2008, September 2). HowStuffWorks "Marie Antoinette Fashion".
The 18th century, more precisely between 1715 and 1789, was a significant time period in the fashion sphere for women in France. The time period itself was a mark of great change for the history of France due to various political reasons as well as various art movements and often times fashion, despite being a branch of art, is overlooked by most viewers. However, fashion during this time excelled in France and was essentially the symbol of a new era in this domain; French fashion was now snowballing into something much greater that still echoes to this today. Ultimately, the goal of this essay is to describe women’s fashion during the period of 1715-1789 and the shifts it made through the analytical use of various sources including artwork, literature, museums’ online archives and internet sources.
Ironically, as a member of the aristocratic class, she “wore nothing but the oldest clothes” (pg. 64). According to Dashkova’s
After a few years, they manage to have children. Marie Antoinette wanted the French people to
In this essay I want to examine how the corset evolved from a staple of the British feminine wardrobe of the Nineteenth Century into a symbol of an outmoded tradition – only to later return as a statement of female liberation. I am going to look at different aspects of this development including technological advances, economic facts, external events, particularly the First World War and changes in social, political and aesthetic attitudes. I will also look briefly at the role of Chanel on the silhouette and how this impacted on the corset: focusing on the trend to towards ‘opulent androgyny’ in the 1920’s. Finally I will examine the resurgence of the corset
The main debate surrounding Marie Antoinette focuses on her role as queen of France and the time leading up to the French Revolution. The literature surrounding Antoinette is currently in stasis regarding Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. The arguments mostly agree that had Marie Antoinette not become the queen of France, the French Revolution still would have occurred. The major debate focuses on the persona of Marie Antoinette and whether she should be remembered as a wasteful and unconcerned ruler or as a queen who has been unjustly villainized.
B. Coco Chanel’s “The Little Black dress” is thought to be element to the world of women’s fashion.
It can be easily said that the intended audience for this letter was to Marie Antoinette’s mother, Maria Theresa the empress of Austria. Marie states several times throughout the letter of her many thanks to her mother for the reciprocating letters. The excitement in Marie’s tone is evident that she is astonished, despite the chaotic excitement upon their arrival, the amount of order there is. Marie is overjoyed that despite the hardships that the peasants faced, such as taxes, they remain loyal to her and her husband Louis, and show their affection with cheering and excitement. In response to the love that they received, Marie makes a point to tell her mother that the dauphin and herself wished the citizens not to be harmed despite the fact that they were unable to move for hours from the sheer masses of people who gathered upon their arrival.
The 1920s was a pivotal era in women’s fashion—an era that saw Prohibition, Jazz and celebration of war’s end. Gone was the hourglass figure of the 19th Century, swept away by the World War I, and replaced by the figure of a modern, independent woman. This book covers fashions from 1920 to 1924, an often overlooked period of fashion which was a time of transition between the draped and layered fashions of the post World War I era and the free and easy gowns of the jazz age flapper.
After the War Chanel returned to Paris in 1953 to find that Parisian women were obsessed with Christian Dior and the “New Look”, which is a very feminine
The story of revolution and resistance in 18th-century France is a complicated one, and no two historians tell the story the same way. However, it is clear that for the revolutionaries, Marie Antoinette’s significance was mainly, powerfully symbolic. "She and the people around her seemed to represent everything that was wrong with the monarchy and the Second Estate: They appeared to be tone-deaf, out of touch, disloyal (along with her allegedly treasonous behavior, writers and pamphleteers frequently accused the queen of adultery) and self-interested"( Moore 17 ). What Marie Antoinette was actually like was beside the point; the image of the queen was far more influential than the woman herself.
She spends most of the first scene talking down to Stella, mentioning that she looks as if she 's put on weight while praising herself for remaining the same size since they last saw each other. She dresses in rhinestone crowns, "fluffy bodices" and pearl necklaces and earrings. Her wardrobe appears to be filled with clothing that 's either white or and pastels, colors that one easily associates with purity.
Citation- Price, Munro. The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy. New York: St. Martin 's Press, 2003.
"Besides, she was always stylishly dressed. A loose brown tunic and baggy trousers. Brown shoes with thick soles."(12).
It wasn’t until Chanel started to create jackets which not only had the purpose of being worn closed, she created jackets that looked good opened, closed or hanging over the shoulders. She emphasized on this style by making blouses to serve the complete outfit. She was also the creator of the “Little Black Dress”, which was a relatively simple black dress made by elegant materials such as lace, tulle, weightless silk and even embroidery in a new, more tailored way. Chanel is today world known for its high quality designs and has women of the 21th century dependent on its classical style (Rennolds Milbank 120-121).
Queen Marie Antoinette started a fashion revolution in France when she began ordering and wearing muslin dresses from “the Americas.” Muslin dresses would have been plentiful during the 1780s when the Queen sought a simpler more comfortable wardrobe. In addition to this, the climate of the southern portion of New France and its islands caused an abundance of cotton to grow and foster a budding fabric industry.