French Peasant Fantasy Gown

One of the things for which Marie Antoinette is remembered (and ridiculed) is her pastime of "playing peasant." She had a village built, and she and her courtiers would go down in "peasant clothes" and pretend that they were shepherdesses. It was a total fantasy (Marie Antoinette had the sheep perfumed because their real smell was too stinky), but a pretty beautiful one. You can go to Versailles today and find the play village in the gardens, just as it was 250 years ago. Or you can rent the Kirsten Dunst "Marie Antoinette" and see the village in the later half of the film, as they went on location rather than building sets.

Anyhow, it's a captivating idealistic life that could never really exist, and is the concept that I drew on in creating this dress. The cut is far too simple for the nobility, but the embellishments are much too fancy for a commoner. But it does have historical roots, as it fits very much in the time period that Marie Antoinette was playing peasant in.