In this page you will find: Philippe duke of Orleans the brother of Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette the queen consort of Louis XVI of France and Empress Elisabeth of Austria and queen of Hungary , politics and the relationships in fashion.
Philippe duke of Orleans (1640-1701)- Philippe's radical fashion and the climate in Louis XIV's court:
Philippe was born 21st September 1640, the youngest of the two sons that Louis XIII of France and his wife Anne of Austria provided. His older brother would become the devoutly catholic Louis XIV also known as "the Sun king".
Their mother Anne of Austria, always wanted a daughter but she never had the chance to have one as her husband Louis XIII died early on in their marriage, therefore Anne began to dress her youngest as a girl even referring to him as "my little girl". [1]
This is where Philippe developed a taste for women's fashion and clothing, as an adolescent and then an adult he would frequently dress in women's clothes which despite his older brother being a devout Catholic, Louis found no quarrel with Philippe over his fashion tastes mostly because he followed the view of most of the inhabitants of Versailles in that his perceivable effeminate demeanour made him no threat to the crown. [1]
However for Louis it was more or less down to some brotherly rivalry that he did not disapprove of Philippe's clothing as for Louis the fact that his younger brother had achieved a greater victory against his enemy William of orange was far more prevalent in his concern.
These factors allowed Philippe to flourish and be his true self in an age that most would consider not possible this reflects that Versailles in someways was ahead of it its time.
Marie Antoinette "Madame Deficit" (1755-1793)-
when looking at fashion from the perspective of the monarchy most have paled in comparison to Marie Antoinette, one of histories most famous queens.
she was famous for her outlandish dresses and eccentric hair, but she also captivates the minds of many because of the social and political climate that engulfed 18th century France.
Marie Antoinette was named by her detractors "Madame Deficit" which because the crisis's that France was facing in the 1780s-90s was blamed on the queen's lavish lifestyle. This is to an extent understandable because she had a clothing budget of "$3.6 m (£2.5m) but she went over budget often by 100%." [2]
The fact that Marie Antoinette, spent frivolous amounts of money on clothing caused outrage amongst the common masses as for the common man the price of a necessity such as bread cost 8 sous in 1791 and that was 50% of their daily wages but before this when the crops failed in a succession of the years between 1788-89 the prices of bread went up to 12 sous which is the 88% of their daily wages [3]
Amongst this emerged the now infamous quote "let them eat cake" a quote that attributed to the French queen in her lifetime and such words were supposedly spoken after she was told that the french peasants did not have any bread to eat. In fact there is no evidence to support that the queen ever said this phrase at all but the legend of it suck in the mind of the masses and in some aspects heighten way that people view the dress of the aristocratic silhouette [4]
Empress Elisabeth 'sisi'of Austria and queen of Hungary (1837-1898)- Empress 'Sisi's' infamous fashion and the political climate
Elisabeth of Austria, Hungary, the empress affectionately nicknamed 'sisi' was a 19th century fashion icon. she was famous for her long hair that was reportedly down to her knees and tight-laced corset that allowed her to have a waist size of only 18 inches.
Her hair was believed by many people to be mystical and almost sacred, therefore somewhat of a cult formed around that aspect of the person of Elisabeth.
The empress's corsets were also a staple of her iconic fashion because like mentioned previously they allowed her to have a waist size of 18 inches, but also the materials that they were made from were potentially scandalous for an empress to wear. this is because they were made from leather which resembled something that a Parisian Courtesan would wear. [5]
The Empress Elisabeth fashion choices, were also certainly scandalous because she never wore stockings therefore she would wear her boots on bare feet, she would not wear petticoats and she never wore linens so therefore meaning she did not wear undergarments. [5]
It is perhaps ironic that this empress whom was famously associated with tight-laced corsets met her end at the hands of an Italian-anarchist named Luigi Lucheni whom stabbed her in the heart which a make shift blade.
As aforementioned Elisabeth wore leather corsets, a fact that may have increased her fatality rate for if she had been wearing the standard whale bone or steel corset, there is a possibility the material would have been too durable for the home-made weapon to penetrate the skin.
This however only reflects Empress Elisabeth's individuality and love of fashion and not culpability in her own death, as the only person whom can be blamed for that is the man who took her life, a man whom had no personal vendetta against Elisabeth other he was an individual who strived to cause anarchy by "killing the first high born person he would meet in Geneva". [6]
References:
[1]- Halyn Erickson, Versaillesuntold.com available at Versaillesuntold.com/Philippe-i
[2]- Carrie Kirby, Wisebread (2016) available at https://www.wisebread.com/how-much-would-it-cost-to-actually-live-like-a-queen-for-a-day#:~:text=Marie%20Antoinette's%20clothing%20allowance%20is,%2420%2C000%20per
[3]-Lisa Braman, Smithsonian Magazine (2010) available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-food-changed-history-the-french-revolution-93598442/
[4]- Biography Online (2018) available at biographyonline.net/royalty/marie-antoinette.html
[5]-David Kunzle, Fashion and Fettishism (2005) available at corsets.de/The_Empress_Elizabeth _of Austria.Php
[6] Euronews, Europeana newspaper (2015) available europeana-newspapers.eu/assassination-sisi/
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