Queen of Fashion Caroline by Weber
What Marie Antoinette wore to revolutionize
In two words
In the Queen of Fashion, we will learn about Marie Antoinette, who used to be the fashion queen of her time. We'll see how fashion was viewed throughout history and how Mary's fashioning led to her death. This book tells us about the old time's customs and people's thinking about fashion.
About the Author
Caroline Weber is a Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Barnard College. She is a specialist in 18th-century French culture. She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. She is a writer who has written three books till now. Apart from this, she has written many articles for the Washington Post.
Why you should read this book?
Today we see actors and actresses doing different fashions on TV. Many people try to imitate him. Be it their outfits or their hairstyles, we all keep copying those celebrities in some way or the other. But this is not new.
In earlier times, there used to be very strict rules regarding dress. A person used to dress according to his work and his position. Even queens could wear what was made for them. But this book tells us about the man who broke these rules and gave birth to fashion. This book tells us about Marie Antoinette as well as what people thought about fashion in history.
- Who was Marie Antoinette and what was her relationship with fashion?
- How did the fashion industry of today start?
- Why did fashion become the cause of Mary's death?
Ch 1: Mary was married at an early age so she understood the importance of fashion.
Marie Antoinette was the princess of the Austrian state. As a child, she did not pay much attention to her clothes nor was there any pressure on her to wear good clothes all the time. But everything changed when they got married. Mary was married for political reasons.
The war between France and Austria was going on for a long time. By now, there was an atmosphere of peace between them. After the Treaty of Paris in 1756, the war between them ended, and to maintain this peace, Mary was married in 1770 to the Prince of France, Louis August, who was to become the next King of France. At this time Mary was 15 years old.
Mary now had to live the life of a queen in France, for which she had to forget the old laws of Austria and learn how to live there. They were told how their beautiful appearance was very important to keep the peace. They were taught a new way of walking called the Versailles glide. In this, he had to walk with small steps, rubbing his feet on the ground. Now he had to wear new clothes.
His mother spent about 2 to 3 million dollars today's time and bought new clothes for him. But not everyone was happy with this marriage. Some in Louis's family did not like the fact that an Austrian girl would now become Queen of France. These included Madame du Bary, wife of King Louis 15 of France, her sisters Mesdames Adelaide, Sophie, and Victoire.
Ch 2:Mary was unable to live up to the expectations of the people of the palace.
The kings of France followed very strict rules. He used to do all those things so that he could look different and above the common people. They used to pay very special attention to their actions so that people could enslave them by considering them as upper class.
He used to do everything in such a way that he was an incarnation of God. Even there were different rules for using the bathroom. Every person in the palace was given his job. The job of a queen was to carry forward the lineage by childbearing.
But Mary was not able to do this work because her husband was not interested in having children. Louis August did not want to be king and he was a very calm person by nature. His two brothers had died, due to which this responsibility had fallen on him. Many people called him homosexual because he was not interested in women.
Mary's mother-in-law, Maria Lesinska, performed her duty of being queen very well. She fulfilled her responsibilities well by adopting all the rules, due to which she became a very famous queen. But she sometimes interfered in her husband's work. Mary could not handle the responsibilities like her mother-in-law.
Ch 3: After some time, Mary started making many changes in her living habits.
Mary was just a queen to say, in fact, her life was no less than a slave. So he decided to break free from the chains of his slavery. Due to this, she started coming in the eyes of the whole of France and people started liking her very much. Mary enjoyed being free.
She often left the palace and fled to Paris and roamed around in the disguise of a common man. She used to go to the theater and sit with people. The news of his escape was often published in French newspapers, which people enjoyed reading very much. Although many people were also surprised by this because no one had done this work before. Later on, Mary started promoting fashion.
She began to sift the hair up and decorate it by putting feathers, ornaments, or vegetables on it. People loved this fashion very much. He could decorate his hair in any way he wanted by making it stand like a tower. Mary used to oppose or support political issues by wearing different types of clothes.
To oppose Britain in the American Revolutionary War, she decorated her hair with the Bailey Paule, which used to be a French warship. Similarly, Mary used to wear different types of clothes which were very nice to see. Some people believe that the fashion industry of this time was born because of him. But in any case, Mary showed how a queen should live.
Ch 4: With the changing environment, people started to feel that doing Mary's fashion is not good for the country.
France was putting all its resources in the American Revolutionary War, so inflation started increasing in France and resources started decreasing. People started living in poverty. In such a situation, when people used to see Mary using expensive jewelry and expensive fashion accessories, they started feeling that all the money of the country was being spent on Mary.
That's why those who were once crazy about him, now started hating him. Apart from this, flour was added to the powder Mary used to decorate her hair. In 1775, there was a floor war in France. People were dying for food and fighting for flour. When they discovered that Mary's powder was mixed with flour, they attacked the gate of the Palace of Versailles.
They began to feel that they were dying to eat there and that the queen was fashioning the flour. Apart from this, when Louis 15 died and Louis 16 ascended the throne, more poverty spread among the people. In the meantime, when Mary wore a very different and expensive dress in the joy of becoming king of Louis 16, people became angrier and started mocking her. He said that the king could not see him because of Mary's hair. It was an insult to the king. Meanwhile, all kinds of rumors started spreading among the people.
People started saying that because of the hair standing like Mary's tower, now the doors of the palace are being demolished and made bigger. Three women combed their hair like Mary. Her hair got stuck in the chandelier and she got burnt to death. In this way, people started disliking her hair fashion.
In this way, Mary, who was once very famous among the people, now people started considering her fashion as the reason for the country's poverty and threat to the country.
Ch 5: Mary continued to do different fashions.
Now many people started hating Mary and at the same time, people started recognizing her. That's why Mary could not run away to Paris because now people started recognizing her there. He built a garden named Petit Trianon to live with his mind. Mary was everything in the Petit Trianon.
Mary used to make all the rules there herself and the people who came there had to obey her. She used to sign whatever rules were applicable there. People started taking this to mean that the queen is now trying to get all the powers herself by rising above the king. Mary took out a different kind of cloth which people did not like at all. Its name was chemise la Reine, which was a small piece of cloth that was draped over itself and tied with a sash at the waist. Its special thing was that it was very easy to wear and it felt free to wear it.
Mary used to wear it in Petit Trianon and party with her friends. In 1783, Marie made a painting of herself wearing a chemise la Reine. She didn't wear makeup at all, nor did she wear anything expensive. When people saw this painting, they started feeling that the queen was breaking all the royal rules, due to which she was no longer royal at all. People stopped respecting him. When Mary saw that people were unhappy with this painting, she removed that painting and put on another painting. But now she could not do anything to become good in the eyes of the people.
Ch 6: The growing hatred of the people became the reason for Mary's death.
No matter what Mary wore or did now, people would start taking bad things out of her. Although no one liked her fashion anymore, people still tried to imitate her. Many women began to wear his chemise a la Reine.
Once a thief disguised as a queen started robbing people. Although Mary had nothing to do with it, still people started accusing her. They started saying that their dress is something that a thief can easily steal by adopting it. Most of the items used to make Mary's clothing came from Britain and Austria. People said that by wearing outside clothes, they are playing with the jobs and money of the people of France.
Also, one person said that due to the choice of clothes outside the queen and silk from outside countries, about 75% of the artisans lost their work and due to this the French silk started selling less, which was causing poverty in France. When there was a revolution in France in 1789, people started demanding the removal of the queen from the royal post. Although Mary later reduced her fashion and started dressing like everyone, people now started giving her the name of a chameleon.
They started saying that the queen is wearing such clothes to hide her true form. Mary had fallen too far in the public eye. Therefore, as the revolution progressed, he was declared an enemy of France and sentenced to death by guillotine. In this, a heavy and sharp-edged iron plate is dropped by putting the head of the perpetrator in a wood, due to which the head of the perpetrator falls apart from the body.
When Mary was about to be sentenced, Mary wore a white gown that she had hidden in her prison. Lily flowers were made on it, which was a symbol of the Bourbon kingdom. In this way, his death was also a glorious death in which he fashioned a different kind.
Overall, Marie Antoinette was the Princess of Austria and Queen of France. He decided to live a free life by breaking the rules of the palace. He did different fashions due to which people first started liking him but later his fashion became the reason for death for him. She was a free-thinking woman who could not be kept imprisoned by the wall of the palace and unnecessarily strict rules. Use your style to talk. In today's time, your throat will not be slit for doing fashion.
It is indeed surprising how fashion used to be a question of life and death a few hundred years ago. So now when you are dressed, look at what each of your clothes says about you and dress according to what you have to say or look like.
what do you think about fashion? Is fashion important for live a happy life?
tell me in the comment section.
be happy! keep learning keep growing.
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