Marie Antoinette

Film Analysis
Charlotte Guo
Film Information
● Historical Drama Film:
The biography of Queen Marie
Antoinette
● Released in 2006

● Based on Book: Marie Antoinette: The

Journey by Antonia Fraser

● Director: Sofia Coppola

● Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

● Academy Award for Best Costume

Design
-Costume-
Costume Overview
● Designer’s Thoughts

● Robe à la Française

● Watteau Pleat

● Robe à l'Anglaise

● Underclothes

● Stomacher

● Panier

● Hairstyle

● Footwear

● Modern Elements
Designer’s Thoughts

The director and designer wanted to make costumes in this film

fashionable. Since Marie Antoinette in history never wore the

same cloth twice, they had a heavy workload of designing and

making costumes. The designer got her inspiration from New

Romantic visuals and John Galliano's work when he was working

in Dior to create costumes for this film.

Besides, the designer wanted to show beauty and youth of Marie,

instead of stereotypes or political critics. Therefore, she

compared many silk, stain, and taffeta to find the best solution

for making Marie’s dress and express her thoughts.

Robe à la Française - French Dress
1775–1800 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Robe à la Française is the dress shape
that began in France between 1715 to
1775 (Rococo period) and gradually be
popular in entire Europe. It was not
widely accepted in the French court at
the beginning of the 18th century but
then became the most famous dress
shape and the cloth representative of
Rococo fashion. The original Robe à la
Française looks like a loose sack in the
front and back. People also called it
Sack Dress at that time.
Ladies in Marie Antoinette movie wore
Robe à la Française most time to show
that they were in the Rococo period of
French. Also, the designer simplified
the decoration and texture of Robe à
la Française to let audiences pay more
attention to the beauty and youth of
the characters.
Watteau Pleat

Robe à la Française has another

unofficial name, Watteau Gown,
because an artist called Jean-Antoine
Watteau liked drawing gorgeous noble
ladies as topics. Because of this
nickname, the folds in the back of
Robe à la Française are also called
Watteau Pleat.

Watteau Pleat didn't appear many

times in Marie Antoinette movie
because the designer didn't want to
recover everything in history. On the
other hand, Watteau Pleat doesn't
benefit walking or posing, which are
necessary for filming.

1710-1774 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Robe à l'Anglaise - Rench Dress
1785-1787 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Unlike Robe à la Française, Robe à
l'Anglaise is more veiled that it has
lace or a sheer mull fichu to emerge
above the top line of the bodice.
Noble ladies in the Rococo period liked
using florals or jewelry brooch to
decorate the lace that covered their
clavicles. The material of Robe à
l'Anglaise is also different. Quilted
linen and boning are used more to
make Robe à l'Anglaise. The shape of
Robe à l'Anglaise also emphasizes the
curve of the hip and bust.
In Marie Antoinette movie, old ladies
preferred Robe à l'Anglaise because of
its veiled feature and can somehow
cover their wrinkles. Young ladies
wearing Robe à l'Anglaise didn't have
that much lace but a little bit as
decoration.
Underclothes - Chemise & Stays
1775s The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1770-1790 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In French, a shift (chemise) is the first
cloth every noble lady wore in the
morning. Its shape is similar to
nowadays nightdresses. Shifts are
usually made of cheap cotton and
linen that are easy to wash. Moreover,
shifts can prevent sweat from directly
touching expensive external clothes.
After wearing a shift, the noble lady
would put on a stay, which could help
them form the "V" shape of the upper
body and corset.
The director gave audiences some
shots of Marie's underclothes to show
audiences a comprehensive view of
clothes in the Rococo period. Also,
shifts and stays in the film can imply
Marie's relaxing and enjoyable state.
Stomacher
1725s The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The stomacher is a triangular
decoration that is pinned on the stay.
It has some extra fabric on both sides
to benefit pinning. Stomachers always
have luxury decoration and use
expensive materials because it's
located at the most prominent location
-- the front upper body. At the
beginning of the 18th century,
Stomachers were mostly separate but
combined with dresses after.
The designer of Marie Antoinette
movie emphasized the decorating
feature of stomachers. She used
ribbon, florals, and lace to make the
entire dress more beautiful and luxury.
Also, the different decorations on
stomachers implied the age of the
characters -- ribbon means young,
florals means middle, and lace means
mature.
Panier

Paniers were the essential component

of underclothes in the 18th century for
ladies. Paniers made of rattan and
ribbon hold up the huge ornate hem of
the Rococo dresses and make them in
the perfect shapes. The width of
dresses depends on the width of the
paniers.

The director only showed audiences

1750 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1760 The Glossário
the standard side panier (the blue one)
because it's a private clothing
component for ladies. However,
audiences can see how paniers worked
through the wide dresses in the film.
Hairstyle

Ladies in the second quarter of the Rococo period had high buns. This exaggerated height was introduced by Queen
Marie around 1770, using coiled hair to pile up a high bun and choosing light gold, light gray, or even white for the
hair color. Rococo hairstyles are characterized by a towering, voluminous top of the head. It focuses on the beauty of
curves and often has factors such as ironing and braiding, and "C" and "S" curves are often used. Light and bright
low-purity hair colors, such as light gold and silver, are full of elegance.

Marie's hairstyle changed a lot in the film to show her different life periods. At the beginning of the film, her hair was
very natural and usual when she was a maiden. After becoming the dauphine of France, Marie started to decorate her
hair and make curls. When she felt disappointed in her husband and spent money to divert attention, her hair
increased. However, the higher her hair was, the closer she was to death because the revolution was approaching.
Footwear
1690-1700 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1780 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
There was another designer called
Manolo Blahnik who was responsibile
for the footwear design in Marie
Antoinette film.
Blahnik’s inspiration came from
Versailles. He also used different
materials like silk, leather, fur,
jewelry, and ribbon to match
characters’ dresses.
Footwear shapes in the film is not the
same as the historical shoes because
the designer wanted to make the
actors feel more comfortable and
increace audiences’ acceptance of
footwear fashion.
Modern Elements
-Color-
Color Overview

● Designer’s Thoughts

● Color Palette

● Special Meanings in the Film

○ Blue

○ White

○ Pink

○ Black
Designer’s Thoughts
The director of Marie Antoinette film, Sofia, brought

the designer, Milena, a big box of macarons as

present and color inspiration. Milena referenced the

low saturation pastel colors of macarons as the main

idea to design character looks.

Besides, the color used in the Rococo period makes

people feel comfortable. Light pastels, ivory white,

and gold are usually used to make costumes and

architecture.
Color Palette
Blue = Belongs to France

The blue color represents belonging to

France.
Marie wore a blue dress and took the
blue carriage to go to France. She
opened a blue box in the carriage
containing Louis XVI's portrait. The
camp tent (the place before she enter
French land) was also blue. Marie
changed to a new blue dress and go to
France as the official dauphine. In the
Palace of Versailles, servants wore
blue clothes and the furnitures were
blue. Moreover, Louis XVI always wore
blue clothes in this film as the French
dauphin. At the end of the film, Marie
wore a blue dress before she left
France.
White = Solemn, Innocent, Relax
The first special meaning of white is
solemn.
Most people wore white clothes to
Louis and Marie's wedding. Besides,
the color of the church and the
clergies' clothes were all white.

The second special meaning of white is

innocent.
Marie's daughter was in a white dress like the
white lamb to show they were innocent. Also,
the innocent Marie, who was pregnant for the
first time, was also in a white dress decorated
with florals. Marie experienced the most
innocent period with her daughter and white
dresses.
The third special meaning of white is
relax.
The lounges and bedrooms in this film
were white. Also, White shows the
characters' enjoyable and relaxing
states.
Pink = Youth, Beauty

The pink color maintains its typical

meaning in this film -- youth and
beauty.
Young Marie and the children wore
pink dresses to show their youth and
beauty. However, the designer not
only used pink to show the beauty of
people in this film. The costumes,
food, furniture, and flowers in pink
also represent beauty.
Black = Unwillingness, Secret, Sorrow
The first special meaning of black in this film is
unwillingness.
Marie's mother in a black dress was not willing to let
her daughter marry to that far place but had no
choice. Also. Marie was unwilling to talk to the king's
mistress but had no choice because she was the
dauphine. The housekeeper didn't want to see this
embarrassed scene but had to stay there since she was
just a servant.

The second special meaning of black in this film is

secret.
Marie and Louis wore black clothes when they
secretly went to the outside party that they were not
allowed as royal family members to go. Besides,
Marie was in the black when she met her affair lover
for the first time.

The third special meaning of black in this film is

sorrow.
Marie wore black dresses when she was sorrowful
about gradually losing children and being forced to
leave France. The environmental color also changed
to dark when the mood of the story was sad.
Reference
Sofia Coppola. “Marie Antoinette.” 20 October. 2006.

“AFI Catalog of Feature Films.” AFI, https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/63934.

Bell, Keaton. “'It Was like Hosting the Ultimate Party': An Oral History of Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette'.” Vogue, 29 Oct.
2021. https://www.vogue.com/article/oral-history-of-marie-antoinette-15th-anniversary.

裁缝张. “什么是法式礼裙.” Weibo, 25 March. 2021.

https://www.weibo.com/detail/4750963825445223

Abigailwestover94. “Rococo.” History of Custume, 14 May. 2012.

https://historyofeuropeanfashion.wordpress.com/tag/rococo/.

Lindsey Baker. “Technicolor Fashion: Marie Antoinette” COLOURlovers, 27 December. 2010.

https://www.colourlovers.com/fashion/blog/2010/12/27/technicolor-fashion-marie-antoinette.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Rococo". Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Jan. 2022,

https://www.britannica.com/art/Rococo. Accessed 24 March 2022.
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