Tea at Trianon: Court Dress

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Court Dress

Speaking of corsets, Catherine Delors gives a description of ladies' attire at Versailles. Share

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: This dress in the photo looks like a wedding cake! :); June 11, 2008 at 7:49:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Doesn't it!; June 11, 2008 at 7:55:00 AM EDT
Catherine Delors said...: I agree!
Next week I will be posting about regulat ladies' attire.; June 11, 2008 at 4:17:00 PM EDT
Brantigny said...: You know, the word corset is a mid to late 19th century word, Women of that time called them stays.

de Brantigny; June 11, 2008 at 5:02:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, they had whalebone stays.; June 11, 2008 at 5:12:00 PM EDT
Catherine Delors said...: In English, yes, but in French "corset" (from "corps," body) is attested from the late 13th century.

I had the same problem with the word "restaurant." It appeared in English in the mid-19th century, but dates from the 18th century in French.

So would my heroine Gabrielle have used it in 1815 England? Certainly! After all, French was her native language, and she would have used words that sounded exotic in English (I do it all the time myself.); June 12, 2008 at 5:56:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I am glad to have that clarified, Catherine, since I used the word "corset" in "Trianon."; June 12, 2008 at 6:09:00 PM EDT
MyLittleSaloon said...: Omg. I has always been facisnated of the big hair and dresses! Love Them...; May 14, 2011 at 5:47:00 AM EDT