Creative Process Journal: Marie Antoinette and Chick Lit

Marie Antoinette and her ladies in waiting from the movie Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola

One of the best thing about being a grad student is having access to online academic journals..... And given how much I like to read, it is almost like getting my daily dose of candy. One article that helped me gain a better understanding of the most recent wave of interest in Marie Antoinette is called "Marie Antoinette: Fashion, Third-Wave Feminism, and Chick Culture" by Susanne Ferriss and Mallory Young which was published in Literature Film Quarterly in 2010.

In this article, the authors trace the popularity of Marie Antoinette as an icon of fashion to the rise of chick culture and third wave feminism. They identify Antonia's biography called Marie Antoinette The Journey (2001), Caroline Weber's book Queen of Fashion (2006) and Sofia Coppola's movie Marie Antoinette (2006) as being pivotal to the transformation of the woman who was once considered a "heartless, elitist, anti-revolutionary wicked witch" into a "sympathetic, unfairly maligned victim" (Ferriss and Young: 98). The authors present the argument that this  revisionist account of Marie Antoinette is representative of a "third-wave feminist aesthetic focused on youth, fashion, sexuality, celebrity and consumerism." (Ferriss and Young: 99).

Marie Antoinette's Corset Rebellion

To French aristocrats, a tightly corseted body represented "the norms of stiffness and self-control" expected of the ruling caste. Marie-Antoinette's position required her to wear a form of corset called a grand corps. This more rigid form of corset was the "mark of supreme distinction". Only France's greatest princesses had the right to wear this undergarment on a regular basis. Other noblewomen were allowed to wear it only on the day of their presentation at court and after that, only at specially designated formal functions. This corset was stiffer than a regular corset and made breathing, eating and even moving one's arms difficult.

The grand corps was described by the Marquise de La Tour du Pinto be "a specially made corset, without shoulder straps, laced up the back, but tight enough so that the lacings, four fingers wide on the bottom, allowed for a glimpse of a chemise of such fine batiste that it would be readily apparent to everyone if one's skin underneath was not sufficiently white...The front of the corset was laced, as it were, with rows of diamonds."

Marie Antoinette did not like wearing the grand corps, especially as the corsets she was used to wearing in Austria were far more flexible. A few months after arriving in France, she rebelled against wearing the grand corps and since she was thin enough to wear her gowns without this tortuous undergarment, she went without. This rebellious act was considered a breach of etiquette of considerable proportions. The court took to whispering about Marie Antoinette's misshapen waist and right shoulder and this gossip was repeated far beyond the court eventually reaching her mother Marie Theresa, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. It took diplomatic intervention by the Austrian ambassador to convince Marie Antoinette to resume wearing the grand corps on a regular basis.

Later in her life, Marie Antoinette took to wearing a thin white chemise dress with a ribbon sash. This airy, ruffled informal dress did not require a corset and was widely copied.

Sources:
Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber, Picador, New York, 2006
Marie-Antoinette Style, Adrien Goetz, Assouline, New York 2005
Corsets and Crinolines, Norah Waugh, Routledge Theatre Arts Books, New York 2004
The Corset, A Cultural History, Valerie Steele, Yale University Press, 2001

Marie Antoinette's Minister of Fashion: Rose Bertin

Marie Antoinette Dress, back view (copyright of Assouline, NY)

I saw the dress today. It was utterly breath-taking! A truly magnificent creation and a work of art. While doing some research on the clothing of this period I found this image of the dress in a book called Marie-Antoinette Style by Adrien Goetz (Assouline, New York, 2005).

Note the beautiful fabric and exquisite embroidery on the train. According to Goetz, Marie Antoinette was known for her great love of fabric. She had a distinct preference for pastel colours (greens, liliacs, and pinks), bouquet motifs and heavy brocades.

The ROM purchased the dress from the Christie's auction house in London, England in 1925. It was attributed to Marie-Antoinette based on the knowledge that it came from the atelier of the Queen's celebrated fashion merchant, Rose Bertin.

The Rachel Zoe of her time, Rose Bertin was a marchande de modes - the equivalent of a modern day stylist. She did not make dresses but completed ensembles and advised on how the wearer could best enhance their dress and coiffure. Apparently her fees were astronomical and Bertin was so well known at court that she was given the moniker of "Minister of Fashion".

Marie-Antoinette often gave away gowns to courtiers at the end of each season and it is believed that this dress made its way to England in such a fashion. It was remodeled around 1870-80 to remove the paniers that would have been worn in 1780s.

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