Queen of fashion what Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution

Marie Antoinette has always stood as an icon of supreme style, but surprisingly none of her biographers have paid sustained attention to her clothes. Here, 18th-century specialist Weber shows how Marie Antoinette developed her reputation for fashionable excess, and explains through lively, illuminat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Weber, Caroline, 1969-
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : H. Holt, 2006.
Edition:1st ed.
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Summary:Marie Antoinette has always stood as an icon of supreme style, but surprisingly none of her biographers have paid sustained attention to her clothes. Here, 18th-century specialist Weber shows how Marie Antoinette developed her reputation for fashionable excess, and explains through lively, illuminating new research the political controversies that her clothing provoked. Weber surveys Marie Antoinette's "Revolution in Dress," covering each phase of her tumultuous life, beginning with the young girl struggling to survive Versailles's rigid traditions of royal glamour. As queen, Marie Antoinette used stunning, often extreme costumes to project an image of power. Gradually, however, she began to lose her hold on the French when she started to adopt provocative, "unqueenly" outfits that, ironically, would be adopted by the revolutionaries who executed her. The paradox of her tragic story, according to Weber, is that fashion--the vehicle she used to secure her triumphs--was also her undoing.--From publisher description.
Physical Description:412 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 25 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (p. [373]-389) and index.
ISBN:0805079491(pbk.)
9780312427344 (pbk.)
Author Notes:Caroline Weber is associate professor of French at Barnard College, Columbia University. A specialist of eighteenth-century French literature, culture, and history, she has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Her other publications include Terror and Its Discontents, a well-received and widely taught book on the Reign of Terror; an edited volume of Yale French Studies; and numerous academic articles. She lives with her husband in New York City.