Queen of Fashion : what Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution

When her carriage first crossed over from her native Austria into France, fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette was taken out, stripped naked before an entourage, and dressed in French attire to please the court of her new king. For a short while, the young girl played the part.But by the time she took the throne, everything had changed. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber tells of the radical restyling that transformed the young queen into an icon and shaped the future of the nation. With her riding gear, her white furs, her pouf hairstyles, and her intricate ballroom disguises, Marie Antoinette came to embody--gloriously and tragically--all the extravagance of the monarchy. * 'A marvellous read' Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire * 'A mesmerising portrait' Daily Telegraph * 'Witty and brilliantly insightful' Sunday Times * 'Fascinating and prodigiously researched' Financial Times * 'Wickedly enjoyable' New York Times * A stylish and highly entertaining biography of the eternally fascinating French queen Revealing how Marie Antoinette's bold attempts to reshape royal fashion changed the future of the French nation, this title surveys her 'Revolution in Dress', beginning with the young girl accustomed to Austria's more relaxed style, then struggling to cope with the organ-crushing whalebone corsets and vast hoop skirts of Versailles