Reincarnation — Empress Elisabeth of Austria Lives Again

Close-up of Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1865

Fashion is often the application of history, and the Chanel Pre-Fall 2015 “Paris-Salzburg” presentation is a notable example of this phenomenon. Every year for the pre-fall collection, Chanel head designer Karl Lagerfeld picks a new locale to inspire him and holds a spectacular destination fashion show there. He studies the history and rich culture of these foreign cities and creates collections that are deeply inspired by the landscape and the people. For the 2015 edition, he and his model muses jetted up from Paris to Salzburg, Austria, for a decadent night at the Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron. When it-girls like Lindsey Wixson and Kendall Jenner strutted through the Baroque manor they wore lederhosen and Tyrolean hats that were to be expected from an Austrian-inspired collection, but Lagerfeld was not only inspired by the costumes of the Von Trapp children. His main source of inspiration was the Empress Elisabeth, affectionately known as Sisi, whom he brought back to life for the evening with the help of fellow muse Cara Delevingne.

In the collection's accompanying short film, “Reincarnation”, Delevingne transforms from lowly barmaid to the reincarnation of the Empress herself, in true Cinderella fashion. Singer Pharrell Williams joins her as Emperor Franz Joseph I for a fantastical waltz in the middle of the night as they sing about Sisi and “CC” (as in Coco Chanel and the famous interlocking C logo of the esteemed French fashion house).

It is enchanting to see the empress come alive—and in the form of Cara Delevingne, who seems to be the world’s most talked-about model/actress these days—but one wonders what it is about Empress Elisabeth that so enchanted Karl Lagerfeld, and furthermore, how does his interpretation of the empress influence how modern audiences respond to the monarch?

Cara Delevingne as Empress Elisabeth and Pharrell Williams as Emperor Franz Joseph I for the Chanel short film Reincarnation | Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1865

Known in her time as “the most beautiful woman in the world” Sisi was as much of a fashion influence as Cara Delevingne is today. Her long, richly-colored hair was one of her most notable features, and she spent hours each day brushing and braiding it. She was fiercely obsessed with diet, beauty, and appearances, and reveled in the luxuries of palace life. Sisi wasn't one for court politics and public ceremonies, which made life in Austria difficult (they were known for their rigidly formal court structure). Her stepmother was overbearing to say the least (as in, she made sure the succession skipped over her husband and went right to her son because she felt her husband wouldn't be an effective ruler) and while her husband had been initially fascinated with Sisi he wasn't the most affectionate. For a time, Sisi let the negativity and stress get to her, but then she decided it was time to rise above her misery.

Photograph of Empress Elisabeth of Austria the day of her coronation as Queen of Hungary, 1866 | Portrait of Elisabeth with Her Long Hair by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1864

She owned her good looks and started having more of a political voice. Sisi was more liberal than her old-fashioned mother-in-law and she did things just to piss her mother-in-law off. It was around this time that she was painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (the most famous painting of her) and she and Franz Joseph became King and Queen of Hungary. The dress she wore to the coronation was breathtaking, her total Cinderella moment.

Replica of Empress Elisabeth's coronation dress

But Sisi was still kind of kooky, and after a while she drifted back into a cycle of obsessing about beauty regimens and hiding away from the public eye. Sisi tried all sorts of strange beauty treatments, including raw meat facemasks, olive oil baths, and egg white drinks. Basically, Sisi was the Goop of her day. In all likelihood Sisi was probably depressed and a little neurotic. After her only son killed himself her mental health worsened, and she became even more paranoid about maintaining her slim figure and remaining eternally youthful.

Sisi died in equally upsetting fashion; she was stabbed on the streets of Geneva by an opportunistic anarchist. By the end of her life Sisi was sad, closed off from the world, and largely alone. Not exactly the Disney fairy tale that Lagerfeld and other media adaptations have made Sisi’s life out to be.

The Sissi trilogy of movies was Gone With the Wind for European royalty Still from Sissi, 1955

"Reincarnation" film for Chanel, directed by Karl Lagerfeld

So how did that happen? How did Sisi’s lovely but also deeply miserable life become whittled down to a gorgeous painting and a lovely dress? Just like with Marie Antoinette and literally every other fashionable royal ever, it’s easy to look at their lovely outfits and feel content stopping there. Panniers and jeweled bodices are much more exciting than tales of depression and guillotines, that’s true, but in many ways Lagerfeld’s “reincarnation” trivializes the deeply complex life of Elisabeth for the sake of decorating current muse Cara Delevingne in a pretty period dress.

I value fashion, and I understand how contemporary fashion draws largely from historical inspirations, but perhaps there was a way to celebrate the legacy of Sisi in the form of a fashion show while also acknowledging her complicated life. Alexander McQueen was an expert of balancing fantasy and beauty with pain and darkness, and I think that gives a better representation of the life of an historical figure than basing the collection off of one breathtaking painting. Sisi was more three-dimensional than her Winterhalter portrait, and I do think that Karl Lagerfeld diminished the importance of Sisi’s story by reducing her to a mere point of aesthetic inspiration.

What do you think about how designers use historical figures for fashion inspiration? What do we owe these complex women when we portray them in fashion and film?

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Here are some more resources if you want to read more on Sisi's life:

The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Brigitte Hamann. Faber & Faber. 2011 (first published in 1988).
The Lonely Empress: Elisabeth of Austria. Joan Haslip. Phoenix Publishing. 2000.
"The Most Miserable Princess Ever: Sisi, Empress Elisabeth of Austria." Kelly Faircloth. Jezabel.com. 2014.