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Fashion. Revolution. Liberty
These three concepts have carried powerful meanings throughout time. Thanks to the help of historians, storytellers, researchers, scientists, and passionate individuals about the stories of our past, we can now be familiar with several chapters of the history of fashion, the histories of revolutions, and the fights for liberty that several communities have fought throughout time.
Professor Anne Higonnet wrote Fashion, Revolution, Liberty: The Women Who Styled the Fashion Revolution. This book tells the story of three women in the fashion revolution who, against all odds and swimming against the tide, revolutionized fashion at a pivotal historical moment.
The French Revolution was a pivotal moment in how the working class and the government interacted with each other, but it was also a moment of permanent change in fashion. Political Fashion spoke with Professor Anne Higonet about her book Fashion, Liberty, Revolution.
"I was fascinated by the French Revolution of 1789, and the way it not only overthrew the most basic political principles of the world but also wanted to reform daily life. I could hardly believe that a group of revolutionaries would invent a new calendar, for instance, with new names for the months and the days of the week. They wanted to change time itself." —said Professor Higonnet. "
And I had always assumed that the revolution in clothing was kind of a neoclassical artistic movement, but it was because of that magazine, Journal des dames et des modes, that it wasn't about neoclassical drapery, except on the artistic surface. It had been a fundamental revolution for women's clothing. That made me think that this is the part of the French Revolution that people don't know about, so I wanted to tell that story."
The book unravels not just the early years of Joséphine Bonaparte, Terézia Tallien, and Juliette Récamier, but also the many challenges that they faced in a society where women were not participants in the workforce. It seems as though whenever there is no written record of where the wealth of a woman came from, the prevalent assumption is that the woman was a prostitute, and that's how she obtained her wealth. Professor Higonnet addresses this issue head-on with the framing she uses.
"That is the absolute heart of the storytelling problem. Women had very few options, even very elite women. They weren't expected to build skills. What they were expected to do was to be very attractive to men. So, if you were an ambitious woman, you had to think about how being attractive to men could be a means towards an end, which was being able to take care of your children, having financial autonomy, and last but not least, becoming a worldwide famous celebrity.
We are so quick to denigrate how women became scandalously famous for their erotic attractions, but we forget to think about how, just like men, some women want to become famous and remembered.
What I found most fascinating about these three women was that these three are fashion leaders. They had changed style, and then I began to ask myself. Why would they want to do that? I didn't want to take anything for granted, and I realized that these three women, as the influencers of today, wanted to influence people; they wanted to be famous. The initial round of fundraising had to come through sex with men, but then, what did they do with the money? That is the real question.
Professor Higonnet's angle to storytelling helps us understand better some of the changes of the French Revolution from an unheard perspective —one that acknowledges women's ambitions, desires, and eagerness to accomplish them, even when their voices were silenced and long clothes restricted their moves and rigorous laws.
White straw hat decorated with her scarf and tied on the side. Shawl made of silk and tulle. Drawn on the Champs-Élysée. 8 June 1798. – The Morgan Library & Museum.
Vue de Tivoli – The Morgan Library & Museum.
Bourgeois outfits. c. 1800, plate 194 – The Morgan Library & Museum.
Fashion Accessories & the French Revolution
1. Satin and tulle. 2. Satin. 3. Lawn-Gauze. 4. Velvet. Plate 433 - The Morgan Library & Museum.
Fashion accessories are an important chapter in Fashion, Liberty Fashion. Accessories were critical in the Fashion Revolution; the significance of these objects was that women were finally "able to leave the house" and carry "a piece of their house" with them. Can you speak more about that?
This is another moment in which the French Revolution is a watershed. Prior to the French Revolution, the political assumption was that monarchies and aristocracies ruled the world. It was true in China, Africa, and the Aztec, Inca, and Mayan empires. They had emperors. Part of how these emperors showed their power was for them to not carry anything. They would almost be immobile icons of power, very still. Everything that needed to be done was done by servants, often enslaved servants.
Then, the French Revolution which said the world should be ruled by middle-class people who are self-made, who, at least in their origins, do their own carrying and daily tasks. So, as the new ruling elite, they wanted to be fashionable and stylish. What happens? The devices that the aristocrats didn't carry were now carried by the middle class, who were carrying their own things in a fashionable way. And thus begins the reign of accessories. Accessories become fashion accouterments for the middle class.
One of the main characters of this book is Joséphine Bonaparte, Empress of the French, and wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Josephine's attire became very illustrative of the political context that France was going through amid the French Revolution. The dresses from Josephine were significantly different from those of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France. What do these dresses say about the Political Fashion moment France was experiencing during these times?
The French Revolution could never be entirely turned back. We are still living with its consequences. But it was so dramatic and so sweeping that there was a significant movement against it. A counter-revolution. The perfect example of this is Josephine and Napoleon.
Marie Antoinette was born into being an archduchess, and then in a diplomatic trade, she became the Queen of France. She became very interested in fashion, and she wore fashion as other queens do, as emblems of her total power.
Then comes Napoleon and Josephine. Napoleon was completely self-made, and although Josephine was an aristocrat, she came from the absolutely least prestigious run of the aristocracy because it was an aristocracy in the colonies. To a very large extent, Josephine was also a self-made ruler. They couldn't resist calling themselves emperor and empress, but they were self-made —they were a self-made emperor and a self-made empress.
This is why when Napoleon organizes his coronation ceremony, he crowns himself, and then he crowns Josephine. This shows that there could be a lot of backlash against the French Revolution, but you could never turn it back completely.
All of the insights, analysis, illustrations, and history mysteries unraveling in the years prior, during, and after the French Revolution are a result of diligent research, questions to be answered, and many dots to connect. It seems like a fascinating process. From museum visits and conversations with art historians to years of negotiations with the Met Costume Institute, what was one of the most insightful moments of this process?
The single thing that made me smile the most was when my three heroines reached the peak of their power. When I realized what they had managed to accomplish, I basically went "You go, girls!" I was really on their side. I felt that I was one person in the present among many people in the present, who could finally appreciate what these women were able to accomplish. I felt that their time had come.
Read this book because it will make you feel like you can be a style revolutionary
