Queen of Fashion audiobook cover - What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

Queen of Fashion

What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

Caroline Weber

★ 4.6 / 5(22 ratings)
Start ListeningDownloadQR code that opens AudiobookHub on the App StoreTry free on iPhoneScan to start in 5 seconds
Categories:
Biography & Memoir

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

Listen to Queen of Fashion — Free Audiobook

Loading player...

Key Takeaways from Queen of Fashion

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from Queen of Fashion

Mind Map

Queen of Fashion
Arrival & Transformation+
Oppressive Versailles Rules+
Rebellion via Fashion+
Public Backlash+
Petit Trianon & The Gaulle+
Revolution & Downfall+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 7
What was the primary political motivation behind the arranged marriage of Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste?
  • A. To secure a massive financial dowry to save the struggling French economy.
  • B. To unite the fashion and cultural capitals of Vienna and Paris.
  • C. To ensure peace between France and Austria following the 1756 Treaty of Paris.
  • D. To appease the French public's demand for a progressive, foreign-born queen.
Question 2 of 7
How did Marie Antoinette use her signature 'pouf' hairstyle to make a political statement?
  • A. She used it to show support for France's opposition to the British in the American Revolutionary War by decorating it with a French warship.
  • B. She wore it to protest the strict rules of Louis XV by incorporating traditional Austrian elements into the design.
  • C. She designed it to mock the king's sisters and mistress, who opposed her marriage into the French royal family.
  • D. She used it to publicly align herself with the starving peasants by decorating it with stalks of wheat during the Flour Wars.
Question 3 of 7
While the public blamed Marie Antoinette's extravagant spending for France's troubled economy, what was the actual primary cause of the economic downturn?
  • A. The structural renovations required at the Palace of Versailles.
  • B. The collapse of the French silk industry due to imported fabrics.
  • C. The massive costs associated with the Flour Wars and bad harvests.
  • D. The country's ongoing investment in the American Revolutionary War.
Question 4 of 7
Why did the Flour Wars of 1775 cement a negative public opinion of Marie Antoinette?
  • A. She ordered the royal guards to confiscate flour from Parisian bakeries to feed the court at Versailles.
  • B. Flour was a primary ingredient in her hair powder, making her fashion seem wasteful while the public starved.
  • C. She famously told the starving public, 'Let them eat cake,' during a protest over flour shortages.
  • D. She refused to wear garments made of French silk, causing massive unemployment among flour millers.
Question 5 of 7
What was the public's reaction to the 1783 portrait of Marie Antoinette wearing the 'gaulle' (chemise a la reine)?
  • A. They praised her for finally adopting a modest, distinctly French style of dress.
  • B. They were shocked by its casual nature, viewing it as a portrait of the queen in her underwear.
  • C. They accused her of flaunting her wealth due to the excessive jewels and makeup depicted in the painting.
  • D. They believed the masculine style of the garment was a direct threat to the king's authority.
Question 6 of 7
How did Marie Antoinette's preference for the 'gaulle' negatively impact the French economy?
  • A. It required costly structural changes to royal carriages to accommodate the wide muslin fabric.
  • B. It caused the price of domestic cotton to skyrocket, leading to further shortages for the common people.
  • C. The dress was made from imported materials, causing a massive loss of jobs for French silk workers in Lyon.
  • D. The style was heavily taxed by the crown, leading to widespread riots among the merchant class.
Question 7 of 7
What final fashion statement did Marie Antoinette make on the day of her execution?
  • A. She wore a simple peasant dress to show solidarity with the French Revolutionaries.
  • B. She wore a black mourning veil to protest the unjust execution of her husband, Louis XVI.
  • C. She wore a traditional Austrian gown to proudly display her Habsburg heritage.
  • D. She wore a hidden white gown that symbolized the lily of the Bourbon empire.

Queen of Fashion — Full Chapter Overview

Queen of Fashion Summary & Overview

Queen of Fashion (2006) reveals the untold ways in which Marie Antoinette, with her iconoclastic sense of fashion and her rebellious behavior, challenged the status quo of the eighteenth-century French court. Her daring originality was a way for her to share her voice and personality, and her story tells us a great deal about the revolutionary politics that can be found in the history of both fashion and France.

Who Should Listen to Queen of Fashion?

  • Fashionistas wanting to know more about the link between power and clothing
  • Francophiles obsessed with Marie Antoinette
  • History students interested in the French Revolution

About the Author: Caroline Weber

Caroline Weber is a specialist on eighteenth-century French culture. Before she became an associate professor of French and Comparative Literature at Columbia University’s Barnard College, she taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, Bookforum, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

🎧
Listen in the AppOffline playback & background play
Get App