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Paperback
Publisher: Picador
ISBN13: 9780312427344
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year
When her carriage first crossed over from her native Austria into France, fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette was taken out, stripped naked before an entourage, and dressed in French attire to please the court of her new king. For a short while, the young girl played the part.
But by the time she took the throne, everything had changed. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber tells of the radical restyling that transformed the young queen into an icon and shaped the future of the nation. With her riding gear, her white furs, her pouf hairstyles, and her intricate ballroom disguises, Marie Antoinette came to embody--gloriously and tragically--all the extravagance of the monarchy.
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| Kindle edition unaceptable for academic reading |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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This is not a review of the book itself (which seems well researched. argued, and written), but of the Kindle edition of it. The Kindle edition is unacceptable for academic purposes for the following reasons:
1) The note numbers are not links, and there is no simple way to read the endnotes while reading the text. The only way to do so, is to write down the chapter and note numbers and then go to the endnotes section, page through it until locating to the appropriate note. 2) Same goes for illustration (actually, I am not sure if the illustrations are included at all, I have not been able to find them yet--which means that either they are there, and i cannot find them--a problem; or they are not there and the entire visual argument is missing--even bigger problem). 3) Also, page breaks are not indicated anywhere in the text, again diminishing the usefulness of reading for academic purposes (cannot cite to the page number). 4) Additionally, though index is included, the items in it are not linked to the text but rather display page numbers form the paper version of the book, and since those are unavailable in the kindle edition, this makes the index useless (and, no, searching the text does not substitute for the index)
Overall, I find the Kindle edition of this book unusable and will have to go and get a copy from the library to finish reading it.
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| Greatly detailed and intriguing |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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i greatly recommend this book. it provides so much interesting details to not only Marie Antoniette's fashion but to a life she bore under heavy scrutiny.
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| Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I have no hesitation in recommending Queen of Fashion. It contains a wealth of information for those interested in history and fashion and is a wonderful addition to my library.
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| Intelligent and Intriguing - Despite the Title! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Despite its completely lame title, this book is actually incredibly thoughtful, well-written, and exhaustively researched. The title implies that it might be a puff piece, riding on the coat tails of Antonia Frasier's "Marie Antoinette" and Sophia Coppola's movie of the same name, however quite the opposite is true. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that "Queen of Fashion" goes much deeper than its frivolous title suggests. It is obvious that the publishers had a final say in the book's title; perhaps they hoped to reach the "Sex and the City" crowd (who probably wouldn't be able to get through it) by using an "accessible" title. Author Caroline Weber, who has taught at Yale, UPenn, Barnard and Columbia, has produced a fine, scholarly portrait of Marie Antoinette that takes an in-depth look at the queen's extensive use of fashion to manipulate her public image and politics in general. Weber examines the monarch's resourceful employment of "la mode" to craft her state persona from the moment she set foot in France as a bewildered 14-year-old to her last steps on the scaffold. Marie Antoinette, while limited intellectually and lacking a sound education, was able to make some very bold statements about current events, politics and power through her innovative clothing and accessory choices, as well as by who she enlisted to help her create her looks. While such an approach to history may appear on the surface to be, well, superficial, Weber thoughtfully presents her well-researched material in such a manner that the reader quickly becomes aware that fashion is a very effective and evocative lens through which to view the world of Marie Antoinette. In addition, the authors copious notes are not to be missed, as they round out the story beautifully to create a very complete and multi-faceted view of one of history's most tragic female figures. I have read many accounts of Marie Antoinette's life and of French history in general, and this is the first time I have encountered such a fresh approach to the subject. Weber has offered a refreshing and thoroughly engaging perspective on a figure that has been examined and re-examined over time. Wonderful!
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| Different perspective |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This book was great in that it gave me a different perspective into the life of the French Queen. I've read many bio's but this was completely different, and it was refreshing. Although I did notice that this book wasn't as sympathetic towards Marie-Antoinette as Frasiers' The Journey, or others.
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