Welcome to a pastel-colored world of excess, filled with rustling silks, gravity-defying hairstyles, delicious intrigue, and, of course, bloody revolution

Marie Antoinette: The very name conjures up a vibrant pastel-coloued world of excess, filled with satin shoes, rustling silks, gravity-defying hairstyles, decadent macarons, delicious intrigue, and then, of course, bloody revolution.

This groundbreaking volume first reconstructs the life and style of the captivating-yet-tragic Marie Antoinette--married at 14, queen at 18, and beheaded at 37--from the intimate apartments she lived in to the scent she wore, the trends she led, and the complexities of French court life. The authors draw on contemporary accounts, interiors, letters, portraits, and the tantalizingly few personal possessions that remain: her shoes and fans, and fragments of cloth from her dresses.

But Marie Antoinette has remained influential long beyond her death in 1793. The book uncovers how the ill-fated queen of France has provided a constant source of inspiration to the worlds of design, fashion, film, and decorative arts, from 19th-century fancy dress balls, to art deco illustration, to the couture of John Galliano for Dior and the sumptuous movie by Sofia Coppola. It considers afresh the legacy of a complex and misunderstood figure whose style, youth, and notoriety have contributed to her timeless appeal.