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reading through charles frederick worth's thread, i was reminded of this woman and her work, so i thought it would be fitting to start a thread on her... 
Fashion and Power
OCTAVI MARTÍ
On the 5th of march, 1779, Louis XVI and his wife, Queen Marie-Antoinette, make their way towards Notre-Dame Cathedral, leading a courtage of 28 carriages. Passing through the street of Saint-Honoré, the Queen waves at a woman who, from her balcony, watches the mobile display of aristochratic luxury. The woman lowers her head and makes traditional courtesy towards the Queen, but immediately, the King, with a gesture, commands her to stand up and begins clapping, an ovation on which the rest of the court quickly follows.
The woman is Rose Bertin, 'minister of fashion', who represents the metamorphosis of the milliner into a stylist, of the artisan into artist, which might explain the true meaning of the ovation. Rose Bertin (1747 - 1813), whose real name was Marie-Jeanne, is the protagonist of the book Rose Bertin, written by historian Michelle Sapori, who is equally interested in the personal journey of this humble policeman's daughter, as she is in the trans-national economic empire that she managed to build before the Revolution of 1789, and on the social role that fashion acquired along the business' golden years. The volume can be seen as a biography, a psychological study or a monography of economic character.
The material on which this biography is based is diverse: contemporary paintings, historic accounts, court correspondence, and, above all, on the business records of mademoiselle Bertin. That allows us to know how much her work factured, as well as the dealing of her store Au Grand Mogol. For Sapori it's clear that "aristochrats made themselved be catered by merchants as if it was indeed and obligation for them".
But the fact that royalty had a costume of paying slowly and badly or that mademoiselle Bertin liked to charge astronomical quantities is not a novelty. Bertin used to sell her creations to clients such as Queen Sophie-Madelaine of Sweden, Queen María Luisa of Spain, the Queen of Bohéme, the governing queens and princesses of the Palatinado or Wurtemberg. The Prince of Lichtenstein was as good a customer as the embassadors of Poland, Russia, Great Britain or Naples, all of whom made special orders for suits, with the assurance of a guaranteed delivery system at Au Grand Mogol.
But the biggest revelation in Bertin's business records is that they're global, integrated, modern. She estimated that she could set a global price, in which creativity is an added expense that erases any consideration about true material cost. She is an artist, an stylist and not only someone that limits herself to construct a garment with thread and needle.
As the inventor of the 'business of appearances', Bertin managed to erase the costume of the Queen dressing accordingly to her ladies-in-waiting. From 1770 onwards, fashion accelerates, as it enters into the sphere of what sociologists like to call "the economic system of symbolic goods"; frivolity is turned into a necessity for those who seek to attain (or maintain) a certain rank and make their reputations glow.
Some centuries later, that ideology, more or less democratized, has become wide-spread, but in 1789 it cost Marie-Antoinette her head and Bertin, her business and exile.
transcribed and traduced by me from elpais.es
Fashion and Power
OCTAVI MARTÍ
On the 5th of march, 1779, Louis XVI and his wife, Queen Marie-Antoinette, make their way towards Notre-Dame Cathedral, leading a courtage of 28 carriages. Passing through the street of Saint-Honoré, the Queen waves at a woman who, from her balcony, watches the mobile display of aristochratic luxury. The woman lowers her head and makes traditional courtesy towards the Queen, but immediately, the King, with a gesture, commands her to stand up and begins clapping, an ovation on which the rest of the court quickly follows.
The woman is Rose Bertin, 'minister of fashion', who represents the metamorphosis of the milliner into a stylist, of the artisan into artist, which might explain the true meaning of the ovation. Rose Bertin (1747 - 1813), whose real name was Marie-Jeanne, is the protagonist of the book Rose Bertin, written by historian Michelle Sapori, who is equally interested in the personal journey of this humble policeman's daughter, as she is in the trans-national economic empire that she managed to build before the Revolution of 1789, and on the social role that fashion acquired along the business' golden years. The volume can be seen as a biography, a psychological study or a monography of economic character.
The material on which this biography is based is diverse: contemporary paintings, historic accounts, court correspondence, and, above all, on the business records of mademoiselle Bertin. That allows us to know how much her work factured, as well as the dealing of her store Au Grand Mogol. For Sapori it's clear that "aristochrats made themselved be catered by merchants as if it was indeed and obligation for them".
But the fact that royalty had a costume of paying slowly and badly or that mademoiselle Bertin liked to charge astronomical quantities is not a novelty. Bertin used to sell her creations to clients such as Queen Sophie-Madelaine of Sweden, Queen María Luisa of Spain, the Queen of Bohéme, the governing queens and princesses of the Palatinado or Wurtemberg. The Prince of Lichtenstein was as good a customer as the embassadors of Poland, Russia, Great Britain or Naples, all of whom made special orders for suits, with the assurance of a guaranteed delivery system at Au Grand Mogol.
But the biggest revelation in Bertin's business records is that they're global, integrated, modern. She estimated that she could set a global price, in which creativity is an added expense that erases any consideration about true material cost. She is an artist, an stylist and not only someone that limits herself to construct a garment with thread and needle.
As the inventor of the 'business of appearances', Bertin managed to erase the costume of the Queen dressing accordingly to her ladies-in-waiting. From 1770 onwards, fashion accelerates, as it enters into the sphere of what sociologists like to call "the economic system of symbolic goods"; frivolity is turned into a necessity for those who seek to attain (or maintain) a certain rank and make their reputations glow.
Some centuries later, that ideology, more or less democratized, has become wide-spread, but in 1789 it cost Marie-Antoinette her head and Bertin, her business and exile.
transcribed and traduced by me from elpais.es
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