The people of France were shocked and outraged when Marie Antoinette, formerly Maria Antonia of Austria arrived in Versailles to marry the heir of the French throne. Already looked down upon because of the relationship between her home country and France, the future queen was in for a tumultuous reign full of criticism and judgement, specifically in regards to her approach of dress. When she first came to Versailles, Marie Antoinette was trained to be graceful in fanciful heels and heavy dresses that were placed on her [3]. She was told by her elders that how she appeared to the rest of France would have a large impact on the way she was viewed as a queen in general [3]. During this time, it was a poorly kept secret that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had failed to consummate their marriage [3]. As a result of this embarrassment and the hostility France still had towards her home nation, the queen proved her resiliency and instead, built her image through style [3]. In doing so, she took control of how she was presented to France and swiftly made drastic changes to former protocol which dictated who could dress her as seen in this depiction by Sofia Coppola in Marie Antoinette [3]. These ideas can be applied to the reaction of the portrait, Marie Antoinette en Chemise (with a rose) by Vigée LeBrun and later compared to the way in which the United States reacted to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign. In this breathtaking portrait by Vigée LeBrun, Marie Antoinette is depicted en chemise, or in a simple and light dress, with minimal makeup, holding a rose. This style of dress was typically loungewear and the Queen preferred them to the stiff and uncomfortable dresses that were a tradition of the French court [3]. When Vigée LeBrun’s portrait was released, it was highly controversial. The public felt that the queen was no longer distinguishable from the common people [3]. Furthermore, the wearing of the chemise was associated with activities such as picnics, which many felt a queen should not partake in [2]. The public became further enraged with Marie Antoinette as a power of their country and it ultimately resulted in the painting being pulled from The Salon of 1783. Vigée LeBrun painted and released a new portrait with Marie in a classic style dress that the public deemed more appropriate. ------------------------click here to see the two paintings side by side!-------------------------- On an economic scale, the clothes that Marie wore summed up the different economic status’ of France. She was expected to follow in the footsteps of previous queens, such as Maria Leczinska, who respectfully conformed to the standards put in place long before her [3]. When she appeared en chemise -a garment that was easily accessible by every class- however, she was ridiculed as well and thus it became clear that she was never going to be able to please everyone (like every woman today!) [3]. Though she was highly criticized for wearing this garment, the people of France did not cease to imitate her [2]. The dichotomy of the criticizer’s disgust of the queen and the desire to be exactly like her is ever-present in our modern society surrounding celebrity culture. In addition, the prospect of having a position of authority where one’s overall rating is heavily weighed on one’s appearance is outrageous. Many people may be shocked at the ridicule Marie Antoinette took on; however, a parallel situation occurred only a few months ago as Hillary Clinton ran for president in the United States. Furthermore, it is evident that these events are almost always isolated towards the female gender. Pierre Saint-Amand of the University of Chicago contended that the same discourse that sent Marie Antoinette to her execution was used towards Hillary Clinton in the recent election [1]. She notably wore paint-suits her whole campaign, just as she did during her husband’s time in office. Hillary, arguably, did not perform the feminine role that many expected her to. This is similar to how France expected Marie Antoinette to be maternal and frowned upon her whole reign when she made it clear that she was going to form her identity differently than the typical queen of the time did. Both portraits show the women as powerful forces, but in different ways. Marie Antoinette was powerful because she chose to dress in garb that was regarded as underwear. She wanted to be comfortable and comes across as subdued and calm. Hillary is in a vibrant suit, showing that she is ready for action and power, yet has a look on her face that shows hope. These notions all amount to the idea that people view other women as incapable of assuming powerful positions; consequently, the more a woman in power derails from societal rituals, the less powerful she will appear to the public. This was evident in how Marie made the decision to change many rituals during her reign- the more she changed, the more disapproving critics became; and the more disapproving critics became, the more they longed to dress similarly. When she was portrayed en chemise in Vigée LeBrun’s oil painting, it showed just how important the queen’s appearance was to the public- so much so, that it had to be removed. It can be hard to imagine living in a time where this occurs, however, through further examination, this still occurs in our present world today. The idealization of a woman, whether it was the Queen of France in 1783 or the first woman presidential nominee of 2016, the standards society holds women to are most unrealistic in their nature. Impressively, Marie Antoinette remained (mostly) un-phased by the many critics and continued to dress in a way that empowered her as not only a queen, but as a woman, whether that was en chemise, or not. Sources [1] Saint-Amand, Pierre, and Jennifer Curtiss Gage. "Terrorizing Marie Antoinette." Critical Inquiry 20, no. 3 (1994): 379-400. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343862. [2] Kelly Hall, “Impropriety, Informality, and Intimacy in Vigée Le Brun’s Marie Antoinette en Chemise,” Providence College Art Journal, 2014. http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=art_journal [3] Caroline Weber, “Introduction,” and “The Simple Life,” Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. New York: H. Holt, 2006. (PDF)
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