Tea at Trianon: The Art of Dress – Learning from the Valiant Woman

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

Friday, August 11, 2023

The Art of Dress – Learning from the Valiant Woman

From Miss Anna Kalinowska at One Peter Five:

In Catholic circles where true devotion and large families abound, one often encounters women unaccustomed to paying more than twenty dollars for any article of clothing. They may have grown up with older sisters and worn hand-me-downs their entire childhood, and now, raising families of their own, they strive to save every penny in order to keep food on the table. They might wish they could find better materials and designs for themselves and their families, but it seems to them unpardonably reckless to pay one hundred dollars for a skirt from an online boutique when they can obtain one for five dollars at a thrift store.

Here I would like to emphasize that though it has become a cliché, the maxim “quality over quantity” certainly applies. One beautiful skirt is better than ten ugly ones. The idea that one must wear something different every day is born from industrialization and is only made sustainable by shoddy manufacturing techniques and the use of synthetic fibers. It is far better to invest in fewer articles of clothing bearing higher quality as these will not only provide greater artistic success, but stand the test of time.

Additionally, frugal women might see this matter differently if they recognize that a woman who seeks beautiful clothing for herself and her household, seeks their spiritual nourishment just as much as their physical protection from the elements. Man does not live by bread alone, but requires the spiritual food and profound sense of repose which beauty in everyday life invariably brings.[8] (Read more.)