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Book 9: Queen of Fashion

Originally posted by audrey_e at Book 9: Queen of Fashion
9 QUEEN OF FASHION: WHAT MARIE ANTOINETTE WORE TO THE REVOLUTION Caroline Weber (USA, 2006)



This is a biography of the French queen that focuses on her choice of clothes throughout her life and the meaning behind them.

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure to read Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette. However, reading Caroline Weber's book so soon after Fraser's did not feel repetitive at all.
What a fascinating book Caroline Weber has written! By analyzing the queen's fashion she gives us a glimpse, not just of the queen's life and personality, but more broadly of what it would have been like to live in her era. And by the end of the book, I promise the author will have managed to convince you that Marie Antoinette's fate was indeed tied to her outfits.
Weber is very thorough. She explores how the French population responded to her temporary rejection of the French court dress, her preference for "pastoral" outfits when at the Petit Trianon, her passion for horse-riding and the impact it had on fashion, her return to more conservative dresses and colors when the revolution threatened her power, and many more aspects of her life/fashion.
All her clothes came with a subtext, and I don't think any other book reveals them the way Caroline Weber does.

5/5
Tags: subject: history
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