My current obsession

Last night I watched the special features on the Marie Antoinette DVD since I was too tired to sit through the whole movie and it reminded that I needed to post about one of my favourite male models, Jamie Dornan, who plays Count Fersen in the movie.

I first noticed him because of his spectacularly huge blue eyes. They are gigantic and a really deep shade of blue. Swoon!

Anyway there is this scene in the movie where Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) and her friends are playing games and drinking at night and Fersen (Dornan) won't stop staring at her. But it's not creepy, it's hot. So hot in fact that right after the movie I looked him up and discovered that he is a model, who has shot campaigns for Calvin Klein, Armani Exchange, Dior Homme and more recently Bvlgari and Aquascutum with Gisele Bundchen.

New York magazine has a great quote from him:

“I mean, people aren’t really interested in male models that much, are they?”

I see his point. Can you name more than a couple of male models off the top of your head? Right now I can only think of Tyson Beckford, that Brad guy from Chanel and Antonio Sabato Jr. Which is pretty sad because there are tons of male models out there but we just don't hear about them. But this is a conversation for another post. On to more Jamie Dornan...

Dornan is Irish (hot!) and was born in 1982. He's dated Keira Knightley (yay!), Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan (boo!) and Sienna Miller.

He is also in a band called Sons of Jim.

But what do I care about all these details? I just want to see photos! So here are some great shots of Jamie Dornan, clothes and not-so clothed. Enjoy.





More: Jamie Dornan page on The Fashion Spot

Royal fashion

Lately I've been obsessed with the Tudor and French Revolution eras and have been holing myself up in my room reading biographies of Anne Boleyn and Marie Antoinette.

I recommend this book if you want to know more about Queen Anne and this book about the Queen of France.

These two periods of time excite not only because of the fascinating history of the Kings and Queens of Europe, but also because of the way people dressed. The style (and I'm referring to what the royals and nobility wore) from the Tudor period (1485-1603 in England) was very different from the time of Marie Antoinette (late 1700s) in France; but both periods were obsessed with luxury including lavishly detailed gowns for the ladies and plenty of jewelry.

But it was the French court that was envied by everyone, including England. France has always been known for its style and it really began with Louis XIV and then Marie Antoinette; both knew that clothes were a symbol of power and wealth. And ultimately, it was their love for luxury that brought the French court literally to their knees with the French Revolution.

Marie Antoinette

Last week I came across this article about a clothing exhibition at the palace of Versailles in France. The exhibition is called "Court pomp and royal ceremonies: court dress in Europe 1650-1800" which attempts to recreate the clothes from the 17th and 18th century in France.
The article mentions that "ironically, nothing remains of the garments worn by the French sovereigns."

Here's why:

This was not just due to the destruction wreaked by the Revolution, but because of the habit of the French royals of handing down their clothes as they went out of fashion to their ladies and gentlemen in waiting, who transformed them or sold them on, many eventually ending up in rag shops in Paris.

Some more snippets:

But special ceremonies aside, Louis XIV is credited with simplifying male dress by authorising courtiers to adopt the long jacket and fitted breeches which they wore to go hunting as everyday wear, the ancestor of the modern suit, says Pascale Gorguet-Ballesteros, deputy curator of the exhibition.

Nevertheless it still cost a fortune to cut a fine figure at Versailles.

No woman could appear at court until she had been formally presented, and a presentation outfit could cost up to 3,000 livres -- the currency of the time -- "for the total look", says Gorguet-Ballesteros. "A weaver with a wife and two children in Paris could live on 340 livres a year."

The account books kept by Marie Antoinette's favourite supplier Rose Bertin bear witness to the astronomical sums aristocrats owed -- and often never settled -- for their finery. A canny businesswoman, Bertin circulated dolls dressed in the latest Versailles fashions for clients to place orders, long before models and catwalk shows.

Marie Antoinette

I then came across these shoes:




I can't decide whether the Louboutins are atrocious are awesome. What do you think?
It would take a special kind of woman to wear these; either she is super confident and wants to have fun with them or she's going to a halloween party. I don't know. Kind of kitsch?

They are a limited edition, inspired by Marie Antoinette. Here is an invite to preview the collection:

I think it's the gigantic head that turns me off. It's a bit morbid knowing that the Queen's head was cut off and now it's stuck on an overpriced shoe. But it makes me giggle too. Vive La Reine!



And just for kicks here's my favourite picture of Kristen Dunst as Marie Antoinette in the movie.

For more royal fashion readings check out:

Dressed to rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II

Queen Of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century

Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail

The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing 16th-Century Dress