MARIE ANTOINETTE
Marie Antoinette is a film production adapted from Antonia Fraser's biography "A Journey" which tells the life and downfall of Marie Antoinette from a sympathetic point of view
Concept Statement-
I shall be designing for a film of Marie Antoinette, based off of Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser. The book is a sympathetic look into the queen’s life and expresses Antoinette more as a person, as opposed to the villainous figure she is portrayed as in history. Though the book does cover her whole life, I felt there was too much content to fill a film run time, and so the story follows her from her birth up until the French revolution, when the audience can infer from historical knowledge, what happens to them afterwards.
This book has been adapted for film before, in the 2006 Marie Antoinette, directed by Sophia Coppola. While I do love the script and artistic style of the film, and as it is taken from a biography not many story elements will change, I wanted to add a few scenes looking at the circumstances of Marie Antoinette’s birth and her childhood. I have also changed a few aspects of the story to be more historically accurate, as many elements were changed for the film, this includes the meeting of Marie Antoinette and Yolande, and the fate of Axel von Fersen, whom it is implied dies at war in the film.
While I intend to keep the cut and style of the garments historically accurate, in order to add my design to the narrative, the costumes will include toile de jouy fabric designs throughout the costumes, which display scenes as well as motifs and personality of the characters. Historically toile de jouy was printed on cotton or used as furnishing fabric and would be unthinkable for a queen to wear as an everyday fabric. To make this fabric more suitable for Marie Antoinette’s position I shall be experimenting with silk painting and embroidery, as well as using historically accurate fabrics and embellishments. Each character will have a fabric or a motif that may reflects their views, position in court, secrets or passions.
I felt drawn to this project because I wish to practice my skills at historical costuming and pattern cutting. The time period of Maire Antionette features a range of opportunities to design and make for different styles, as Antionette set the fashion for the masses. I also love the idea of learning the history behind the changes in fashion and the impact they had on the economy and the public opinion of Marie Antionette. As many of the styles that branches out into the rest of Europe stemmed from her influence, I felt it was the best way to learn about the birth of the fashion of the time
The audience for this film would be teenagers to adults, as there is so much content, I felt would be lost if it was marketed towards a younger audience. Much of the historical elements, as well as offhand comments made by characters would be appreciated by an audience who is more knowledgeable about the time period, but makes it so those who are experiencing the eighteenth-century won’t miss out on the story. I chose to keep the production as a film because I feel he sheer amount of dresses and costume changed needed to convey Marie Antoinette’s excessive lifestyle wouldn’t be portrayed as well on stage. Also, the level of detailing that was common on eighteenth-century dresses would be lost on a theatre audience. Likewise, the extravagant setting at Versailles would be difficult to show on stage. The setting for my film would be at the real palace of Versailles in France.
The century offers a great range of costuming opportunities, as one of the reasons for the French Revolution was that Marie Antionette spent so heavily on her wardrobe. For my project I wish to change the idea of using soft pastels, and instead include a range of bold bright colours for the characters, including the men. I want it to be historically inspired, with accurate dress shapes and pattern cutting, but contain elements that make it more relatable to a modern audience. Taking some of the more extravagant elements of the time period, such as the pink hair Marie Antionette wears, and combining with a more fantasy elements in the clothing. The clothes themselves are already over the top and extravagant, but by emphasising this I feel would show that the period was about out doing each other through wardrobe.
For my research I will look into historical portraiture of Marie Antoinette, as well as ways that the eighteenth-century fashion has been brought into modern day couture as well as fantasy genres.