Marie Antoinette Style

[ 17 January 2007, 08:30 ]

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.