Marie Antoinette Style
[ 17 January 2007 ]
Let them eat cake! I recently saw Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette & really enjoyed it. Normally I loathe period films, & Kirsten Dunst doesn’t do much for me much either, but this was a complete visual thrill. The clothing was as amazing as the colour-scheme & the cakes were incredible. Anyway, I really liked the styling, so thought I would give you a quick guide on how to doll yourself up like Marie Antoinette.
Hair
White puffy hair can happen. My natural hair colour is practically black & I had white hair for at least two years. (When I say white, I mean white.) It just requires devotion, money, & a resignation to the knowledge that your hair will, at some point, break. My hair requires two separate lots of bleach & a fair amount of toner to get that white. I would suggest you stump up the money & get it done at a salon (it usually cost me somewhere in the region of $260 NZ). I think the money you pay is totally worth it, I really loved the way it looked. The other thing is, it was so damaged that I could do anything I wanted with it. Usually I would back-comb it & use some talcum powder (Candy Fluff by Lush — it has sparkles & smells like pink) to keep it in place. No hairspray required! Looked good crimped, too.
However, if you would rather do the look on a temporary basis, these are the real deal — big, white, & ridiculous Marie Antoinette wigs. I personally am keen on the “Marie Antoinette Wig w/ Pearls” & the “Madame de Pompadour”. I love big hair! It’s one of my favourite things!
You could also try the Club Kid over-sized crimped wig. It comes in pink, purple & auburn. Not strictly Marie Antoinette style, but incredibly cool & it would definitely work with the look.
Remember that Marie Antoinette liked things in her hair. Sequined butterflies, feathered butterflies, a crystal flower, or a crystal & pearl hair comb would be perfect. A tiara, feathers, or a daisy-chain would be a nice touch too.
Face
Use a pale foundation as a base, to smooth out your face. Use a light pink blush on the apples of your cheeks, like MAC Cosmetics Powder Blush in Dollymix, which is a shade of pure candy pink. Then use a pale powder to set your face — MAC Cosmetics Iridescent Powder in “Delicacy” is described as pink sweetened with silver icing & sounds incredible.
Decorate the eyes with eyeliner jewels along your top lid, dot single jewels around the corners of your eyes, & wear a lovely fluttery pair of false eyelashes to finish. My Diva’s Closet has an incredible range — pink with purple, black feathered, spiked with rhinestones… actually, I’m quite pleased with a lot of the things I found there, & the prices are very reasonable.
If you can find a packet of stick-on beauty spots (I couldn’t find any online, what is the world coming to?) I suggest you invest in those. If not, just draw one on. A dot is relatively easy, a is a bit trickier, but in this case, a steady hand coupled with liquid eyeliner & a good brush are your best friends.
For the lips, go for a stain rather than a solid colour. You want to look flushed rather than gaudy. Try Napoleon Perdis’ Satin Lips gloss lipstick in Christiana, Lucinda or Angelene.
Les Autres
Marie Antoinette introduced the concept of regular bathing to the cheese-scented denizens of pre-revolutionary France, & was also well-known for the beautiful scents which surrounded her. Her favourite smells were tuberose, violet, & lavender. To replicate this, try “Marie“ perfume by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: A blend of sinuous violet and elegant tea rose: the chosen scent of France’s Demigoddess of Debauch. It sounds delicious & gets excellent reviews.
I also suggest a liberal dousing of glitter — that link has basically every type of glitter you could ever need. Loose, spray-on, liquid… put it in your hair, across your cheekbones & décolletage.
These are all just suggestions — you don’t need to do all of them at once, but feel free to take aspects from it. I would suggest doing it without the frilly dresses, since that’s just a little bit too much! Enjoy, but be sure to hold onto your head. Wink wink.
Extra For Experts:
The Costumer’s Guide has a lot of information on the dresses worn in Marie Antoinette.
What Marie Antoinette Really Wore, Slate Magazine.
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Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
This article is fabulous!
I love ‘Marie Antoinette’!
We just watched this movie last night, and I have to agree, it is a visual treat. I was looking for photos of the blue room, it’s just so pretty, and found your blog. I will be back for more. :)
This is a great site! im definitely taking some of those make up and hair tips! i absolutely luv the movie, i watch it over and over and never get sick of it and luv everything about it – i think Kirsten Dunst is perfect for the role – i also luv the soundtrack, i play that over and over too! – i will be back to this site :)
Kymee
Awesome idea for a Halloween Costume too; then we COULD go all out & do ALL the tips together =)
did anyone else happen to notice the pair of violet coloured Chuck Taylor shoes in the shoe-montage scene of Marie Antoinette?
I wonder if that was a mistake or not…
Tasj-
Trust me when I say, major production studios and directors like Sofia Copolla do not make mistakes like that. It was a deliberate choice and was made to express how much Marie is like any other teenage girl, just like teenage girls today.
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of Marie Antoinette except on The Princess Portal. I’ll look into it more*interested*...
I’m going to be Marie for halloween!
I even got the 15 yards of blue fabric for the dress today!
cheeses
this is fantastic! i just saw your post about the fairytale look and i was wondering if you had posted any marie antoinette.. :)
i wish i could get white hair like that but me having thin thin thin hair – i think it would make me bald!
Wow this is an amazing site. It’s so helpful!
I was just looking for some ideas for a Marie Antoinette look, I have made myself a costume but was desperate for tips on hair and make-up etc. This was absolutely perfect! Thanks for all the advice!
I wish my hair was white, I have almost black hair too. I’m in the process of trying to get it white just now, but just now it’s quite yellow-y. I’ll get there eventually!
-Storme x
i am completely obsessed with marie antoinette. and this movie is absolutely divine. i watch it over and over again. i’m dressing up as marie for halloween, and this totally helped me figure out what to do with my face and hair =) thank you soo much, you are awesome! yay!
omg! thank you sooo much 4 the info! i’m totally going to be marie antoinette for tolo and halloween!!!!!! thank you oh so much.
i totaly love the movie and was doing a marie antoinette search when i came upon this site. This is great!!!! also if you are looking for some marie antoinette(ish) jewelry these two site are pretty cool: http://kiwijewels.com/index.htm AND http://www.rhinestonejewelry.com/index.html
This article makes me really want some loose glitter to wear!
I wonder where I will find some…
I just found out a lovely piece of trivia:
When Mozart was still just a dwarf-like protegee, he played a concert for Marie and her family. Marie and Mozart were both children at the time.
Mozart was sooo embaressed he fell off the stool while playing one of his final songs. When nobody moved to help him, Marie swooped out of her seat and helped him back up. She even kissed him on the check.
Mozart was so grateful he proposed to her:
“Mme Marie, I am so grateful that I could marry you now”
She laughed and sat back in her seat.
SO I’VE HEARD.
NOT HISTORY-TEXT-BOOK MATERIAL. I should probably check it out.
i bought the movie’s DVD just because of the LollyPop like delicous cover! i enjoyed the style and colors of the movie, and thats it!
I finally got around to watching this film! Really loved the visuals, the fussy French rooms are beautiful (even if they’re not to my more minimalist taste, I’d still kill to live there) and the dresses were fabulous. I personally liked the character Rose Byrne plays – auburn hair (*cough* like mine cough), amazing green dress in one scene!
This HAS to be my favorite of all your articles…the one that led me to iCiNG in the first place!!
Love always,
M.A.
Big, fluffed-up Marie Antoinette hair is so gorgeous. It reminds me of candy floss (yumm!) I’d love to know how to make tiny bows .. so I can put them all over my beehive/quiff, Marie Antoinette style! I used to think that ribbons and bows and other various hair accessories were for little girls .. until I watched Marie Antoinette :) Does anybody else love those stretchy lace headbands topped by a satin ribbon or rosette that newborns wear? I can’t get over them .. so adorable! I’d love some for myself :) I love your site, Gala. You’ve always got such interesting & wonderful ideas .. and if it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be living life wishing I were someone else. Thanks for all your encouraging posts – for the first time in my life, I’m beginning to get to know and appreciate the person God made me :)
Another perfume that’s great and is a bit of a modern tak e on the marie antoinette style is the juicy couture perfume, i wear it all the time! they’re also doing a lot of stuff sort of centered round her look in the movie (not officially, but you dont have to be a genius to see the resemblance in their ads)
What a century! I’m with you…it’s pure whipped cream delicious!
I FINALLY watched this over the weekend – the almost total lack of interesting storyline was more than made up for by the visual spectacularness. Sometimes that’s just what you need; less talking, more frocks and fancy palaces. The style factors I noticed were:
- pretty sparkly jewellery
- bows around neck
- hair curled and up (the way her hair was done at the beginning after the handover was my fave; so elegantly emphasising the face, neck and shoulders)
- long skirts to trail through the grass
- fitted bodices and full skirts – I love this look so much! It suits me and is very reminiscent of 80s ball dresses I can no longer fit into. Gotta have that tightly fitted dropped waist – yum!
really indepth and useful as ever darling!
i’ve done a little bit on how to emulate the film with your everyday clothes on my blog:
studentcharade.blogspot.com/20…
adoration x
I’m dressing up as Marie Antionette for my Spring Fling at school so thank you so much for this article!
Also at the same time I was trying to make my hair white. Didn’t go as well as I hoped…(went orange, even with toner, AS EXPECTED) but it’s a light brown/dark blonde colour now, the lightest it’s ever gone out of the other 4 times I have bleached it.
My hair is pretty much a canvas. I don’t care how much money I spend, or if it gets damaged, it’s always going to grow back :)
ANYWAY! for my Marie Antionette costume…I tried on about 50 $60 HIRE, not to mention the $30 bond slutty dresses that made me look like the Hulk. So I decided to go vintage shopping and make my own. IT LOOKS GREAT! and only cost me $25. Spotlight is great for flowers and feathers and what not, but my only problem is my hair…it’s not the classic blonde and it’s so layered and short it’s going to be nearly impossible to make it look fabulous :(
Oh well, thanks a bunch, I love your blog aaaaand I’ll be sure to be bleaching my hair again with in the next few months!
This has to be my favourite of your articles. You’re totally feeding my MA obsession and I’m not sure if it’s good or bad!! Haha… I’m definitely using these tips for Halloween when I go as her.