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beatrizgui's review
4.0
it actually took some time cause it's a really dense book but it was worth it, her story is great and she had been through a lot and had a lot on her shoulders and even though the situation for the country - mostly the third state - was very bad she didn't really understood what was going on (which doesn't make her an innocent), ultimately I really enjoyed learning more about her and having another look on the french revolution :)
hkar0610's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant look at the life of Dauphine and Queen Marie Antoinette through her fashion choices. Not the easiest read - too much like a biography and text book for that - but very descriptive and informative. Written so you feel as if you had been there.
lizdesole's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this. However, I LOVE costume and costume history and this is my favorite time period so I'm very clearly biased. She did manage to tell me lots of things I didn't know despite my voracious reading on the subject
keribberi's review
5.0
This is the book that Sophia Copolla's movie is based on. The author's research was very complete. It's an interesting book even if you're not that into fashion.
margodawful's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
I honestly don't care about wealthy people, I am not interested in their displays of power and wealth through the ownership or display of things I cannot afford. I am even barely interested in the French Revolution (seeing as it is incredibly violent and the socioeconomic markers leading to it are fairly obvious with a basic historical review). However, I did find myself very interested by this book. The writing is, for the most part, very good. It is also news to me how Marie Antoinette's life as a "fashion icon" was much more nuanced than that (and certainly less positive than I had always considered it to be) and how her sartorial choices contributed to the growing revolution.
On that note I am tired of the word "sartorial," and at times the book was too caught up in details to keep a good pace (just so many names, unfortunately).
On that note I am tired of the word "sartorial," and at times the book was too caught up in details to keep a good pace (just so many names, unfortunately).
rixenr's review
3.0
Caroline Weber has written a generally interesting book following the role fashion played in the rise and fall of Marie Antoinette. It's a unique read, but Weber could use more pictures to illustrate the fashions she depicts and could stand to clean up her often superfluous writing style. Weber also speeds through important biographical details that would make Antonia Fraser gasp and lingers and repeats on others for far too long.
briannadaisies's review
4.0
This was a phenomenal book. From start to finish it was interesting to read, and it kept me hooked the whole time.
Marie Antoinette is best known as a fashion icon, but I have never heard anyone describe her as a victim of fashion, and this book presents the argument that she very much was. Of course, she was in control of the messages she was trying to convey from time to time- her overtly aristocratic violet and green during the revolution, and her magnificent coifs all carried political or social messages, but they didn't always go as planned. Honestly, I had never thought about how intertwined Marie Antoinette's life and clothing wore, and reading about the severely harsh reaction to every sartorial decision she made- literally from head to toe, gave me a lot more sympathy for her than I already had.
This book was brilliantly written. I enjoyed the journey of France and Marie Antoinette's clothing, from the time she rejected the queenly corset when she arrived at Versailles, to her being denied her widow's weeds at the guillotine. Even when she tried to reform- become more queenly after being called slovenly for rejecting the corset, then dressing more modestly when attacked for dressing in excess, then being demeaned a lesbian and whore for dressing too "peasant" like. I could never imagine wearing muslin could lead a nation to hate their queen for being a spy, but alas. There it is, all beautifully explained in this wonderful book.
I have read other reviews saying that this book seemed a little bit like a thesis paper that ran a little bit too long, and I agree, which is why I a gave it 4 stars instead of 5. A lot of times, sentences like "which were a direct result of her dress", and "due to her sartorial choices" were tacked on to the end of long paragraphs about the political situation in France. Obviously the book is about how Marie Antoinette's clothing choices affected her life and France- I didn't need the author's thesis spoonfed to me after every tangent or political explanation. It seemed as though the author was trying really hard to find comparisons between France's political climate and the clothes on Marie's back. Some of her observations were purely hypothetical, and some were reaches masked as fact. Comparing Marie's complexion to the symbolic flowers of the French and Austrian houses is poetic, but suggesting she embodied the perfect union due to her lily-rose skin tone seemed a little far. But hey, I enjoy some poetry, and it is what kept this book from seeming too-biography like at times. As well, another little pet peeve was the amount of time the word "sartorial" appeared in the book- jeez. But as you have noticed as per its use in my review, I now know how to use the word! Huzzah!
This is definitely not a complete biography, but it is a completely unique take on a subject that is maybe getting a little exhausted and I'm glad for the fresh view and ideas Caroline Weber presented. She made Marie Antoinette a lot more human than other books have, and her ability to make educated guesses and draw comparisons between events in Marie Antoinette's life, clothes, and fate was really beautiful. The one chapter, entitled "White", which talks about the symbolism the colour has has throughout the course of her life on one of the book's last pages, was particularly heart-wrenching, and that speaks to the author's writing skills, not necessarily her historical research. So, don't pick up this book thinking it is about every dress the queen ever wore, describing what she liked and didn't. Sure, there are beautiful descriptions of her ridiculous outfits, and there are pictures of drool-worthy ensembles, but this is not a shallow fashion book. This book proves how important fashion can be, and how one women's clothing choices possibly changed the course of a nation, if not only the course of her own life. You can tell the author's love for her subject and fashion, and the book is all the better for it.
Marie Antoinette is best known as a fashion icon, but I have never heard anyone describe her as a victim of fashion, and this book presents the argument that she very much was. Of course, she was in control of the messages she was trying to convey from time to time- her overtly aristocratic violet and green during the revolution, and her magnificent coifs all carried political or social messages, but they didn't always go as planned. Honestly, I had never thought about how intertwined Marie Antoinette's life and clothing wore, and reading about the severely harsh reaction to every sartorial decision she made- literally from head to toe, gave me a lot more sympathy for her than I already had.
This book was brilliantly written. I enjoyed the journey of France and Marie Antoinette's clothing, from the time she rejected the queenly corset when she arrived at Versailles, to her being denied her widow's weeds at the guillotine. Even when she tried to reform- become more queenly after being called slovenly for rejecting the corset, then dressing more modestly when attacked for dressing in excess, then being demeaned a lesbian and whore for dressing too "peasant" like. I could never imagine wearing muslin could lead a nation to hate their queen for being a spy, but alas. There it is, all beautifully explained in this wonderful book.
I have read other reviews saying that this book seemed a little bit like a thesis paper that ran a little bit too long, and I agree, which is why I a gave it 4 stars instead of 5. A lot of times, sentences like "which were a direct result of her dress", and "due to her sartorial choices" were tacked on to the end of long paragraphs about the political situation in France. Obviously the book is about how Marie Antoinette's clothing choices affected her life and France- I didn't need the author's thesis spoonfed to me after every tangent or political explanation. It seemed as though the author was trying really hard to find comparisons between France's political climate and the clothes on Marie's back. Some of her observations were purely hypothetical, and some were reaches masked as fact. Comparing Marie's complexion to the symbolic flowers of the French and Austrian houses is poetic, but suggesting she embodied the perfect union due to her lily-rose skin tone seemed a little far. But hey, I enjoy some poetry, and it is what kept this book from seeming too-biography like at times. As well, another little pet peeve was the amount of time the word "sartorial" appeared in the book- jeez. But as you have noticed as per its use in my review, I now know how to use the word! Huzzah!
This is definitely not a complete biography, but it is a completely unique take on a subject that is maybe getting a little exhausted and I'm glad for the fresh view and ideas Caroline Weber presented. She made Marie Antoinette a lot more human than other books have, and her ability to make educated guesses and draw comparisons between events in Marie Antoinette's life, clothes, and fate was really beautiful. The one chapter, entitled "White", which talks about the symbolism the colour has has throughout the course of her life on one of the book's last pages, was particularly heart-wrenching, and that speaks to the author's writing skills, not necessarily her historical research. So, don't pick up this book thinking it is about every dress the queen ever wore, describing what she liked and didn't. Sure, there are beautiful descriptions of her ridiculous outfits, and there are pictures of drool-worthy ensembles, but this is not a shallow fashion book. This book proves how important fashion can be, and how one women's clothing choices possibly changed the course of a nation, if not only the course of her own life. You can tell the author's love for her subject and fashion, and the book is all the better for it.
angela_the_librarian's review
5.0
I have read plenty of books about the French Revolution, but oddly enough I've never read a biography of Marie Antoinette. Evaluating her life through the lens of fashion was a smart choice and the author did a nice job of showing how fashion served to both empower and ruin the Queen. The only minor qualm I had was that the plate numbers were not matched properly within the text. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Marie Antoinette, the politics of fashion, or the French Revolution.
mfreitas's review
5.0
This book was absolutely wonderful; a must-read for anyone who's interested in the relationship between culture and design, or politics and image.