The surprising legacy of Marie Antoinette

REVIEWS BY AMY SCRIBNER

She may have died in 1793, but Marie Antoinette remains as fascinating a character today as she was in her lifetime. With the recent release of a highly anticipated biopic from director Sofia Coppola, and two fascinating new books, the Queen of France has been given new life.

A royal introduction

In the beginning of Abundance, Sena Jeter Naslund's astonishing, richly imagined novel, 14-year-old Maria Antonia stands naked on an island in the Rhine River, neutral territory between her Austrian homeland and France. Poised to marry the heir to the French throne, the princess must shed every thread of her Austrian existence and be remade into Marie Antoinette, future Queen of France.

It's a fitting metaphor for a woman who would spend the rest of her life in the prying public eye. Long before Princess Diana was chased by paparazzi, Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child in front of hundreds of people and was dressed and bathed each day by bickering noblewomen. Tabloid-like pamphlets filled with false allegations of the queen's scandalous sexual escapades regularly papered the streets of Paris.

Bolstered by meticulous research and delivered in glowing prose, Abundance reminds us why Marie Antoinette remains one of history's most beguiling, contradictory women. Naslund, the author of the bestseller Ahab's Wife, digs deep into the queen's story, exploring her loving yet ultimately unfulfilling marriage to the ineffective King Louis XVI and her often frivolous pastimes, including a serious gambling addiction. We all know how this story ends, yet Abundance will have you holding your breath until the final march to the guillotine.


Constructing an icon

History has all too often dismissed Marie Antoinette as a simple, frivolous queen with expensive taste. But in Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, Barnard College professor Caroline Weber makes the clothing of Marie Antoinette startlingly relevant. She argues that, like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Empress Josephine and countless other iconic women, Marie Antoinette used fashion to make powerful political statements that shaped the public's perception of her and still resonate today: More than 200 years after her death, her style is still mimicked on fashion runways.

Queen of Fashion depicts a sadly human woman desperate to signal her allegiance to an increasingly bitter public. In the face of accusations that her extravagant wardrobe and lifestyle were bankrupting the nation, Marie Antoinette chose to dress more simply—and cheaply—in taffeta and somber colors. Yet even this choice was ridiculed by nobility and common folk alike, who then complained that she did not appear adequately royal.

Although Weber has clearly done her homework, Queen of Fashion never succumbs to textbook tediousness. Just the opposite: It's a rollicking account of fashion and power in Versailles. Weber's empathy for the queen is palpable, and her fascination with fashion is contagious. Frivolous? Never. Fascinating? Every single page.


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