Let them wear Prada!Marie Antoinette –

Fashion Icon or Victim?I began my research by looking into Mary Antoinette as a fashion icon, looking at her

overstated dresses and luxurious lifestyle. It wasn’t hard to find evidence to support the idea that she was a fashionista of her time, and it was easy to spot the links

between her wardrobe and present day 21st century fashion trends.

Basic decorative items such as Bows, Tassels, Floral’s, Pearls, Diamantes can all be translated

back to the Dauphine of France.

Pastel colours are also linked to the queen, although she didn’t necessarily wear only

pastel colours, she wore a lot of bright silks, and invented many of her own

colours inspired by objects, mainly cakes, macaroons etc.

Marie’s own rooms in Versailles. These images show her love of pastel colours, and Bourque style furnishings and architecture, which was originally brought over from Italy by Louis XIV in the 17rh century, who was a first great architect of Versailles.

‘She invented and named colors, searched for inspiration in the everyday and always challenged what she was offered an demode and non-inventive enough. Her regard was seen as destructive to the French silk industry as up until that time, fashionable colors and textiles changed at a much slower pace allowing for the manufacturers to produce at a more acceptable pace while the consumer familiarized themselves with the new fashion trends.’ (The Ultra Bright, 2012)

Grand Versailles Was Marie the biggest ‘show off’ of Versailles?

When collecting primary research in Paris, I found out a lot about the history or the Château and its history of residents. I found this video extremely useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X235vpOToVU#t=26

(‘Versailles, from Louis XIII to the French Revolution’ - Château de Versailles 2012)

New BeginningsHaving grown up at the informal Austrian court, Marie Antoinette would found it difficult to adjust

to her new strictly regulated life in France. In the morning, there was the ritual of morning dressing where the toilette was performed with the assistance of several people, and at night,

there was the ritual of evening undressing. While this was seen as ‘attending’ the dauphine it did in fact render her powerless. She was ‘dressed for success’ as soon as she approached the French

boarder and forced to leave behind all of Austria including her pet pooch.

Dressed For Success

Although fashion eventually became the young Queens mode of influence and power, the rituals surrounding the dress initially

indicative of her status as a victim.

‘To alleviate her homesickness, her marital problems and general sadness, Marie Antoinette began a lifestyle of enjoyable distractions.’ (History and Other

Thoughts, 2011)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ZStJQmzVw (Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola, 2006)

Chick culture is a group of mostly American/ British popular culture focusing on 20-40, middleclass moderately educated women. The most unmistaken chick cultural prototypes are chick flicks, chick lit, and chick TV series’, although the presence of other pop culture inventions such as magazines, blogs, and music, are also of high importance on the chick scene.

Sophia coppola’s film is strongly associated with consumerism and has a very self-indulgent focus on style, critics say style takes prescence over plot and charcter development the film is “almost pornograpgically obsessed with fashion, jewlery and desserts”. The film was constantly winking at its audeience, acknowledging our ironic consumerist fantasies/innocent fun. We live in a world where we are all Marie Antoinettes, tempted by advertisments and propaganda 24/7 it’s hard to resist. So as a filthy rich 19 year old was it necessarily Maries fault she became viewed as so materialistic?

Chic Culture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk62PYiWav0 (Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola, 2006)

consumerism

A 2009 Juicy Couture fragrance advertisement.Coca-Cola's 1969 "Let Them Drink Coke" ad.

Fashion consumption before modern economy had a strict class limitation, luxury products were a priveledge for the upper class. Workers in lower class could only consume basic necessities. Upon arrival to France Marie Antoinette was ‘dressed for success’ at the boarder between France and Austria, she was dressed to stand out at Dauphine of France, to obtain social reputation and fame.

Fashion has become an important approach for people to create self-identification in modern society. Fashion hides the contest of financial power, people become slaves to the products they are buying. Finace and power develop varied classes and groups due to financial position. Marie Anotinette was dressed to be distinguished from middle-class and even upper-class french civillians. Before her move to France, it is said a French was sent to Austria dentist to correct her smile. Aesthetic preference in fashion is an important obligatorary for self-identifications. For the purpose of clarifying their own society idenitity people consume certain products to distinguish

themsleves from others.

It could be said that Marie Antoinette became a victim of fashion, a slave to consumerism as she was encouraged from the beginning, so her lavish and luxurious lifestyle was one she ‘conformed’ to like she was taught from the beginning. She had to keep up her social reputation, and demonstrate finanical power. It could also be said that Marie Antoinette was stripped of her own social identity, unable to clarify her own self-identification. Forced to dress a certain way and be a

certain person.

Fashion Consumption

Dressing as a Medium of Self Identification

Bad Publicity

Marie Antoinette quickly became the poster child for the French Revolution. It was in the rebels interests to make her appear as bad as possible.

Madame deficit remembered as the cold, heartless queen that cared very little for the starving people of her country. The commonly quoted ‘Let them eat cake!’ was in fact completely fabricated, the origin of the quote is found in Rousseau's "Confessions." (1783) confessing about an event in 1740, Rousseau wrote that: "Finally I remembered the way out suggested by a great princess when told that the peasants had no bread: 'Well, let them eat cake.'"

This couldn't have been Marie Antoinette as she hadn't been born yet. Rousseau was writing "Confessions" in 1766, at which point Marie was a child of 10 years old, and still living in Austria.

"Let them eat cake" in French is "S'ils n'ont pas de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche" which translates to "Let them eat brioche." Brioche is a light slightly sweet bread and French laws required that when bakers ran out of regular bread, brioche had to be sold at the same low price as bread.

Tense Relations with France

Results• Was Marie’s indulgement in ‘enjoyable distractions’ really the main reason for the French

Revolution, or was it the fault of her inexperienced husband and his deficit spending on military forces, and wars like the seven years war, the French and Indian war and the American Revolution.

• Louis XIV introduced the aesthetic approach to Versailles.

• Since arriving in France the queen was encouraged to look as lavish as her home – the Versailles – so was it entirely her fault she became so frivolous? She was encouraged to live and dress like a queen, everything was for show. The Royals even had to dine in public.

• The Queen was married off to the French Prince at the age of 14, while not unusual during this period she became Queen at the age of 19 - still very young. She struggled with marital difficulty unable to consummate her marriage for a long time and with increasing pressure from both the Austrian and French courts her life became very difficult, the fundamental reason for the arranged marriage was to bring the French and Austrian courts together, a big responsibility for a 14 year old girl.

Conclusion • I have evidence to support both sides of the debate. Marie

Antoinette did enjoy the finer, more luxurious things in life and she did perhaps over spent a lot more than she should have considering the financial ruin her country was in. However she has also proved to be a loving mother and devoted wife, and her role as dauphine was forced upon her from a very young age she was encouraged to live exuberantly.

• Its easier for people to criticise appearance and fashion rather than the political ethics of some people, because its less academic. Society would have to evaluate and understand both sides of a war and understand the costs of military forces, which is harder than critiquing someone’s wardrobe, even the most poorly educated can tell someone they are fat and look like a meringue in that dress.

• I personally believe Marie was a Fashion victim of her era, dressed and advised to be a luxurious queen she has dress makers, hairdressers and make up artists hired for her and was dressed regularly and strictly upon arrival to france, so as she matured it became her duty to look the part of Dauphine of France. Marie Antoinette was not your average luxurious queen, she is an iconic fashion figure among young women of today whether people know it or not great inspiration has been taken from her and applied to modern fashions. We are living in a world full of Marie Antoinette’s, as a 19 year old with had that kind of money would you buy a few Givenchy tote’s and a couple of Chanel dresses, or donate it all to Africa?