A Lasting Reign — Marie Antoinette's Influences on 21st Century Style

Wildfox Couture Fall 2014 Ad Campaign channelling Marie Antoinette

Over two hundred years since her death and Marie Antoinette is as popular as ever—perhaps even more so than when she was alive.

Why is it that we are still obsessed with her? Did Sofia Coppola’s dreamy biopic ask the world to look at Marie Antoinette through rose-colored glasses? Is rococo just back in style? Or is there something about Marie Antoinette—her style, her biography, her personality—that appeals to the modern woman?

First, let’s look back at some of the most memorable Marie Antoinette-inspired fashion moments of the twenty-first century so far.

The Empress’s New Clothes — Making Fashion AND Political Statements

Detail of the Empress Theodora mosaic from the church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy

Image is everything. Hate to break it to you, but whoever said “don’t judge a book by its cover” never had a job interview. We are making first impressions all the time, and nowadays with the prevalence of the internet it’s important to cultivate a clean public image if one wishes to promote oneself in the best light possible. Who you are on the inside matters too, but image is the thing people will judge first.

This isn't a new concept, though. Actually, constructed public images have existed for thousands of years. Roman emperors would disseminate portrait busts throughout the empire in order to show citizens of the Empire what their ruler looked like and remind everyone that they were under the leadership of a very important individual. Busts didn’t always physically resemble the rulers they were meant to be; portrait busts of Augustus, for example, showed him as eternally youthful even though he ruled until he was in his seventies. Other rulers preferred veristic portraits that emphasized their flaws and wrinkles since they believed those traits showed wisdom and experience. We think that people only started to alter their images when Photoshop came around, but to be truthful, people in the public eye have been manipulating their image in order to emphasize certain traits and leadership qualities for ages.

Another example of a public figure who fashioned their image to their advantage: Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife, Empress Theodora.

Welcome to the Monarchy of Style Blog

Empress Eugénie With Her Ladies in Waiting by Franz Xavier Winterhalter, 1855 | Street style via wethepeoplestyle.com

The more I study fashion the more the following becomes abundantly clear: fashion is cyclical. 

Every season we see references to the past, both near and far, and reiterations of the same clothes over and over again. Consider fall's continued love affair with the bohemian styles of the 1970s or the Shakespearian influences at the Valentino Spring 2015 couture show; modern fashion is simply a way to make the styles of the past relevant once again.

This is the purpose of Monarchy of Style: to bridge the gap between the trends of history with the styles of today. From inventive new clothing shapes to some of the first widespread trendsetting movements, historical ladies with power had large influence over the fashion world in the same way that celebrities and fashion bloggers influence our fashion choices today.

Fashion may seem trivial and frivolous in today's busy world, but those who know better understand that fashion plays an integral part in any society, past or present. We all wear clothes every day, and even when we don't feel as if we are consciously putting effort into choosing what we wear, we are all playing a part in the world of fashion (if you're not convinced, this scene from The Devil Wears Prada tells you everything you need to know).

Even if you don't work in the industry, chances are you've flipped through a fashion magazine or questioned a celebrity's interesting outfit. In the same way that we love our best and worst dressed lists and seeing what our favorite celebrities will wear next, people of the past paid a lot of attention to what the celebrities of their day wore—and by celebrity, I mean royalty. The Kardashians may be the queens of television and celebrity style today, but not too long ago it was real queens and princesses who were the public figures of the day, and they were the ones who were being judged by the Fashion Police.

Marie Antoinette's ostentatious ensembles created civil outcry; Queen Elizabeth I inspired a whole generation of women to pluck their foreheads high and stay indoors to avoid the harsh rays of the sun (ugh, take me back to the days when being pale was in style); Cleopatra may be the reason why we are all still trying to perfect the flawless cateye look. Talk about fashion icons—these women had true power over fashion, and they used this power to their advantage.

Monarchy of Style is a blog that explores the relationship between these influential royal figures and the clothes they wore; how they dressed, how they influenced others with their fashion, and how others perceived them. For these women of power, fashion was perhaps their biggest tool, and we can all learn something about how these women used fashion to influence others and project their own self-image.

The next time you post an #OutfitOfTheDay picture on Instagram or stand before your closet deciding what to wear, think about what the Monarchs of Style would do. Don't just wear clothes; use them. They're one of the most powerful weapons we all have.