Source: marie-antoinettequeenoffrance.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest
My lovely assistant has helped me by drawing the name of a lucky commenter out of a fabulous recreation of an 18th century hat. So if the lucky Katie T would kindly contact me at MarieAntoinetteGossip@gmail.com, you will receive your Birthday Give Away prizeee!! Hurrah!
"The sedan chair was one of the coquettish luxuries of the day, and these afforded an unusually fine surface for decoration. Fortunate indeed are those who can find one now." 
Little Po , a.k.a. the duchesse de Polignac, knew how to use the sedan chair in a most fashionable way.You remember this style right? Little Po took a victory of the French Navy to a new level. She had a mast with sails built right onto a sedan chair...imagine something like this... She proudly got in it and was paraded through Paris, in celebration of course!
Today is the day, 2 November 1755, that lovely Marie Antoinette was born. She was the youngest girl of 14. When Maria Theresa went into labor she was working, and had to put her work down for a bit while Antoinette was born! The birth was so easy it reminds me of the unnatural manner Scarlett O'Hara had her children (way too easy!)
So here are my items! Small tins for holding your jewelry, trinkets and diamonds. All
inspired by some 18th century gossip girls. There are six tins, two feature Marie Antoinette, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, Elizabeth Farren, Duchesse de Polignac, and Bess Foster. They are decorated with little jewel, 
ribbon and pearl details.
want to participate in this Birthday Give-Away, leave a comment on this Birthday post and your name will be drawn by my assistant (you might know her) and the lucky winner will win the tin! Aren't birthday's fun??
fabulous inspired by the 18th century please share it with all of us!!
I am going to assume that you are all getting dressed up to the nines, in your most fabulous 18th century garb tonight, if only to hit up your favorite pub or go to a fancy ball your best friend is throwing at his/her mansion. Who knows! In any case I want to give you some friendly advice and reminders to keep in mind while you begin your toilette!
small flowers, ribbons and feathers. Again I am just assuming…
Finally, head out for the party!! Travel with your closest 18th century friends and when you arrive at your destination make a great entrance! Work the room and say hi to everyone even if you 
don't know them, especially if you don't know them! Circle the room once and then split up circling the room again asking everyone if they have seen your friend. "Oh where has my friend gone?!? Have you seen my friend?? Where could they be!!" When you bump into each other again scream with uncontrolled excitement. "OH! We found each other!" Then circle the room one last time to let everyone know you found each other. You will be the smashing hit of the party. Feel free to dance with dukes.
Marie Antoinette had her own library. 
"Woman of a certain ton promenading. Her caraco of taffeta trimmed en pouf has short sleeves ending in manchettes to which sabot sleeves are attached. She wears a braided chignon with a rosette. In her left hand she as an ivory handled ebony cane; in her right a tiny dog."
"The same rule, applies to the head-dress for women of a certain age, as well as to the dresses and jewels, except the paint, which elderly people put on here, and they are perhaps even a little stronger in tone than those of the younger ones. For the rest, after reaching forty-five years of age, one wears less startling colours, and the dresses are cut less to the figure and are not so light, and the hair is not so curly nor the head-dress so high."
The home situation would change again when her older sister Henriette passed away in 1752. Adelaide was 20, and became the leading spirit among her younger siblings. She adopted this new role not out of seniority or responsibility, but because her personality demanded so. She was an irritable girl, moody and headstrong; she also had an air of haughtiness about her. Her personality was not completely unpleasant, but when looked at next to her more reserved, quieter younger sisters she certainly stood at as a ring leader. She also spent the most time at home and saw her father much more than the others and this alone lead to a rightful feeling of precedence.
and her sisters to a Carmelite ceremony. The girls saw her mothers lady in waiting devote her life to God and it left an impression. Adelaide was determined that she wanted to also devote her life to austerity, and begged her father to let her choose that life. He responded, “wait until you are twenty-five or widowed.” He made the right response because she grew out of this phase rather quickly. When her younger sister Louise decided she seriously was ready to devote her life to God she made arrangements with her father in secrecy. When Adeliade found out Louise was leaving she was not upset over loosing her sisters company, she was upset because she hadn’t been kept ‘in the loop.’
unkept, dare I say shabby? For this reason she was given the pet name Loque (rag) from her father, wouldn’t you imagine what that does to ones self esteem?? While growing up there was talk of her being married off. One of the lucky boys in question was the recently widowed Prince de Conti, his first wife a total dish. The other choice was Prince Xavier, who fell in love with a pretty Italian. So it was old maid-dom for Adelaide. She did not care though, in fact she did not want to be married because she could not see the point in loosing her oh-so-important title as Daughter of France.
So what did this important Daughter of France spend her days doing? For one she loved literature and was the proud owner of 5000 titles in her library. She also found herself subject to court gossip, a position her sisters did not face. This can mainly be attributed to her strong personality, and subtle rudeness. It is true that Louis XV was closer to his daughters than his wife and son, but this is because in their early years they were the family members that did not meddle with politics or look down upon his mistresses. (His wife involved herself a little in politics to help her father.) Adelaide even helped raise a child that was most certainly one of her fathers. And when the little Duc de Berry lost both of his parents, Adelaide took him in too, in a way. He grew up with her and her younger sisters and felt comfortable with them around as his guardians.
their apartments, and they hung out a bit. Adelaide did not really care for Antoinette in any case. Antoinette was pressured to address Madame du Barry from the King and Ambassador. The day came that she was going to address the favourite and right as she approached her Adelaide, most certainly aware of the situation, stopped her by speaking: ‘It is time for us to go and await the King in the apartments of our sister Victoire.” Antoinette, caught off guard, acknowledged and followed Adelaide. She later apologized to her ambassador explaining that she did not want to upset her aunt. Sneaky! 
"...Birds are ensnar'd with Nets, but Virgins with Masquerades."
There is of course the moral freedom that enticed persons to attend the parties. Not all disguises worn at masquerades were sexual in nature and those were de rigueur. For example you would always find your shepardess, your Harlequin, conjurers and Pierrots. Other costumes twisted gender, and were androgynous. Some scandalous costumes included a domino costume in which the naughty man wearing the disguise wore no undergarments...and another exhibitionist chose to wear a full flesh colored body stocking - with only some fig leaves covering the cash and prizes... And who could forget the ever popular evening Miss Chudleigh appeared, "as a bare breasted Iphigenia." tsk tsk!!!
I can not resist sharing this post by the Paris Atelier with you! It is super fun, ladies get ready to practice your moves the next time you go out for the evening!~ If a woman rested her fan upon her lips she meant to say: I don't trust you
~If she fanned herself slowly she implied she wasn't interested
Marie-Olympe Grouze was born in May of 1743. Born into scandal she was reported to be the illegitimate child of Louis XV. Her life would follow a fast and rough road to fabulousness, humiliation, and to politics.
to go only by Olympe de Gouges. And Olympe de Gouges had goals and ambition to attain them. Her first major goal was to become a famed play writer. She wrote dramas, rather dictated them to her secretary, for she was raised with a typical education and could not read or write well, if at all. Her dramas were the products of 48 hours of work. The Comédie Française was overwhelmed with the pieces she submitted and turned them down with out hesitation. Olympe was persistent and continued to submit. She resorted to flattery and bribery, spending money and having it accepted, but still her works were not accepted and she herself became overwhelmed with anger, frustration and a bit of despair. Voicing her feelings the shocked committee decided to remove her from their register and sent all her works back. (Right Image: Olympe and Antoinette)
With the revolution growing she put her energy into politics. She found herself for womens rights and wrote up pamphlets and brochures, distributing them at her own cost. Olympe constantly planned and organized pageants and parades for womens rights, including planning the costumes that would be worn. She thought the Kings household needed to be reformed by removing princesses and duchesses to replace them with “an armed national guard of women citizens.” She suggested that a state theatre was made which was run solely by women and only works written by, “moral and esteemable males,” might be considered for production. Another outrageous idea she had was to have a Women’s Journal. She composed, in September 1791, the Declaration des droits de la Femme et de la Citoyenne. She felt she could knock down the social system if it would allow for reform but her feelings changed after seeing the unhappy King in person in Paris.
death suddenly hit Olympe. Somewhere she heard women were being excused from the scaffold if they were found to be enceinte. Feeling it was her only chance she became pregnant, I believe by a friend. The surgeons at the trial declared if she was in fact pregnant – which I believe she was – it had occurred to recently to be detected by any medical exam, and therefore was void.Olympe defended herself at her trial, but was found guilty and on 3 November 1793, 19 days after Antoinette was executed, she was led up the scaffold. Her last words were spoken, “Fatal desire of renown,” she was noted to glance at the trees on the boulevard, “I wished to be something.”
Not the most pleasant gossip topic, but history after-all. Elena and Catherine have put together very informative posts on 16 October 1793, the day of Antoinette's trial and execution. Be sure to check them out. Feathers, un-starched ruffs, and mid-night flings to follow!
"Thus then has MARIE ANTOINETTE, the unfortunate Queen of France, been brought to the block, and thereby terminated a miserable existence. The descendants of the Caesars, condemned by sanguinary judges, has perished under the hands of a hangman."THE TIMES (London), 23 October 1793
"The hair is dressed, narrow high-long curls on the chignon-light crepe caps...I send you a fan...I am quite well in health and very well dressed today...I have been obliged to have a few caps of Mlle. Gausset and so have been faithless to Mlle. Bertin a little; and likewise to Leonard, for there is a much better hairdresser."
Above Image: Not the crowd waiting to see The Duchess last night
Georgiana, from what I've heard, was fabulous. The Duchess did nothing to change that impression. The story of "G" is a story of celebrity before I even realized there were celebrities. "G" drank and gambled and was always the center of attention.
was not without its moments of humor. Most of which were provided by the dry and mostly clueless, Duke of Devonshire, played by Ralph Fiennes. Fiennes was excellent, providing a sometimes-powerful, sometimes-boring performance. The boredom is by design as The Duke's sole motive in life is to produce a male heir. Other than that, he had dogs. That's about it.
G's inability to provide that son, combined with her husbands inability to be caring or remain faithful drive the film. Georgiana invites her friend Bess Foster to live in Devonshire. Bess is played bust-ily by Hayley Atwell. Georgiana, Bess and The Duke soon turn into an awkwardly put together family. All in all, it was really quite scandalous.
Finally The Duchess has come to theaters around here, and I was able to see it last night. Heather has a review of the movie coming that you will be interested to read—if you have already seen it!
I have a soft spot for shoes and
accessories and found myself noting each piece worn by the lady characters every time a new event or day dawned!
I seem to religiously pass the Betsey Johnson display windows at Macy*s every
month—and Betsey Johnson was running through my head during the film! As of late she has been putting out the most adorable feminine pieces of jewelry and here are some of them. I wouldn't have been surprised if she made pieces for the film!
Georgiana appeared wearing the little drop earrings in an early scene with her mother, Lady Spencer. They were dark and had the small bow from which a dark crystal drop hung. Very pretty and if I could find an image I
would post it but they were little like these on the left. Well a following scene Georgiana appears at a ball with her dear friend Bess. In this scene Georgiana is wearing earrings that are diamond and ruby but here we have Bess wearing the glittering crystal bows on her ears, with a flashy large pear shaped crystal drop dangling from them.
If we compare them to the little dark pair Georgiana wore
previously we see Bess saying about them, “Why Georgiana, what an exquisite, dainty, understated little pair of earrings, how clever of your jeweller not to waste his off cuts!”* Appears in flashy crystal earrings! * Okay Bess would not have said that to Georgiana, but it is fun to read it that way! The scene makes a lot of
sense historically, as Heather has pointed out Amanda Foremen explained Bess as a top notch celebrity stalker, and would in fact be seen wearing the jewellery that Georgiana wore the evening before.
shapes. You will have to let me know what you think of them!
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