After she met the young Mozart in Vienna, she brought her passion for music, theater and opera to France. At Versailles, she showed her gift for interior decorating and artifact collecting, giving jobs to artisans and artists.
But what cemented her place as “Queen of Fashion” and first muse in the history of design was her collaboration with dressmaker Rose Bertin, self-proclaimed as her majesty’s “Minister of Fashion,” for her own designs, and even designs for her court. Together, Marie-Antoinette and Bertin sought to free the female form from the constraints of formalwear by using lighter materials and limiting the use of the stay only at ceremonial events.
The queen set many trends that first influenced her court then later on trickled down to opera fashions that can still be seen today. Among them are sky-high hairdos. Bertin teamed up with hairdresser Leonard Autier for the queen’s wild poufs, which often reached up to a yard in height and included even vegetation, often capped with white, pink or blue feathers.
Likewise, she made popular the robe a la francaise with wide skirts supported panniers and two box pleats that span from the shoulders to the floor.
Fashion faux pas
But while fashion gave Marie-Antoinette fame and glory, it also contributed to her downfall.
The queen’s en gaulle or robe en chemise that she wore in a portrait painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun scandalized the Parisian and Versailles court because first, the dress was made of imported muslin cotton instead of “patriotic” French silk. Second, it was frowned upon as an inappropriate ensemble in then etiquette-heavy French court. It didn’t help that she acted at her own “Queen’s Theater” as a milkmaid or a member of the lower class, which further put her etiquettes into question.
