"Gazette des atours de Marie-Antoinette de 1782"

This is the French edition of the book about the wardrobe of Marie-Antoinette.

This document, which once belonged to Madame d’Ossun, the Lady-in-Waiting responsible for the attire of Marie-Antoinette, is a register dated 1782, containing different pieces of fabric used for the wardrobe of the Queen.

Each sample is accompanied by a brief hand-written description. It is striking to note that these materials are in no way luxurious but tend, on the contrary, to be rather simple, unlike the portrayals of the Queen and writings of the period, denouncing the extravagant spending of Marie-Antoinette.

At the end of the 18th century, the notion of luxury did not imply the richness of the materials but in the way the garments were cut and the accompanying accessories. The “marchande de mode” did not sell dresses only but used her talent to create a new line, and a “way” of modernising and renewing fashion.