Tea at Trianon: Quintessential Couture

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

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Quintessential Couture

From Victoria:

Stepping into the atelier of Catherine Walker & Co. in Bury Walk, a charming seven-studio mews in the Chelsea area of London, is like stumbling upon the secret cache of a couturier, one with exceptional taste. Cofounded in 1977 by Said Cyrus and his late wife, Catherine Walker, the business quickly caught the attention of women who were drawn to the clean lines and pure elegance of the couture designs. It is no surprise that these chic collections were favored by Princess Diana, who was known for her polished sense of style; she donned more than a thousand of the company’s creations over the years. The current Duchess of Cambridge is following in her late mother-in-law’s footsteps and is often seen in the firm’s designs, such as the stunning black velvet coat she wore for last fall’s Festival of Remembrance at Albert Hall. (Read more.)