The Life of Marie Antoinette in France
The French Revolution was a time in France when citizens decided to change up the centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and their feudal system.’ Before the French Revolution happened, France was struggling with money because of their help in the American Revolution, as well as the costly spending that King Louis XVI had done and caused the country to be close to bankruptcy. Many people expressed their resentment by rioting, looting, and striking.? Louis XVI was married to Marie Antoinette, who was originally from Austria. Marie Antoinette came to France strictly to marry Louis XVI when they were fifteen years old.
Marie Antoinette became the center of attention for the French women because of her sense of style and fashion when she entered into France. Since she was so high up in the monarchy because of her husband being heir to the thrown, women looked up to her for everything, and loved her sense of style. Her style drastically changed before and during the French Revolution, because of the politics going on in the country. Before the French Revolution, people seemed to be very optimistic about life. Life seemed to show through people’s clothes such as bright pastel colors such as pinks, blues, and a lot of yellow. Before the Revolution however, Marie Antoinette was not in charge of her body. When Marie Antoinette first came to France, “they coated her hairstyle with an extra layer of powder…the women got to work on the girl’s clothing, slipping her first into a new, delicate batiste chemise, then cinching new whalebone stays tightly around her waist”. 3 This shows that even with fashion, France had complete control on their monarchy and what they wore.
Marie Antoinette had to be stripped completely of everything she owned and knew from Austria and with fashion especially, France controlled her with this that made her become a role model to other French women. Politics also influenced fashion before the French Revolution with the women of higher status. France’s greatest women wore corsets called the grand corps, which restricted most of their movements. This corset was very tightly laced up, and “severely restricted its wearer’s movements, especially around the arms. “4 These constricted women so much so they had other people needing to do things for them, until Marie Antoinette stopped wearing them.
She realized that she was thin enough to not need to wear to the grand corps, so she started wearing her dresses without them, and started a movement for women to not need to wear them anymore. Because of the grand corps however, Marie Antoinette ended up having her shoulders grow abnormally because of how much her body was restricted. Since she was so young, her body was still growing which caused her body to not grow correctly. This shows that politics control fashion because the monarchy influenced fashion choices before the French Revolution and how they wanted people of the lower class to do everything for them.
During the French Revolution, fashion started changing more constantly because of people’s change in beliefs. Marie Antoinette’s style changed what it seemed to be like very quickly. At first, she loved her fashion because she felt so much power from other women looking up to her. Since she had this power, she decided to experiment with different styles, and was interested in very strange headpieces. When her style started becoming untraditional, women stopped following her and because of this she lost her love of fashion.
However, Marie Antoinette still decided to wear what she wanted. Marie Antoinette rebelled against the French Revolution in ways through fashion, such as for the Fête de la Fédération, she had selected a simple white dress not unlike those that all the female attendees had been required to wear.” This was a form of rebellion for Marie Antoinette because she was expected to dress the best at every ball or event she attended because of her high status being married to Louis XVI. Since during the war France declared war on Austria, Marie Antoinette rebelled with how France expected her to look and act. Marie Antoinette’s home was originally Austria, so she was deeply affected with how France decided to attack her home country. Fashion was also politicized during the French Revolution by having people wear ribbons in their hair and on their hats.
Blue, red and white ribbons symbolized for patriotism, and red and blue were strictly for if; you were in favor of the revolution. The white ribbon was used to represent the monarchy, which Marie Antoinette would wear to support her husband. Marie Antoinette also wore “a wreath woven from black and yellow ribbons: the colors of Austria and, indeed, of ‘counterrevolution’.”This showed that Marie Antoinette was still supporting her home country and that she felt as if she could still express herself through fashion during the war. During the war, things especially got very intense for the monarchy in France since all the focus was on them. The people in France, mostly women felt as if they could express themselves through fashion only since that is the only thing women were really only allowed to do.
Fashion was very prevalent throughout France before and as well as during the French Revolution. Before the French Revolution, people chose to wore what they wanted based on the trending styles and resources given to them at that current time. The clothing that people wore was made to look optimistic and bright, since that is the way many people viewed their lives. During the Revolution you can definitely see a change in style because fashion mostly focused around the war going on. Every idea of fashion that people had somehow was revolved around the war such as the colors they would wear to represent if they were for or against the French Revolution. Everything seemed to be politicized during the war and you can tell because of something as little as fashion. People never think that fashion can be politicized but it is definitely shown through during the French Revolution.
