Update on Fashion is Power!
FRENCH PROJECTS
8/22/20253 min read
Here's an update on my Napoleon and Louis XIV research project. I found that it was quite hard to bridge the gap between Napoleon and Louis XIV because there is just so much to say about the both of them. It's also hard for me to come to the conclusion that fashion attributed to their power because it was just a side piece of other factors that contributed to that power such as the military with their uniforms with Napoleon or the fashion in French courts for Louis XIV. I think I can draw a better conclusion about fashion attributing to a ruler's power under Louis XIV because that was his bread and butter, and he established a lot of those merchant links to luxury because of his expensive tastes.
I made a previous draft of my work, and I just want to also put the potential sources I might use in this research here:
For those who know him, Louis XIV was a pioneering figure in fashion and culture in the 18th century. He brought luxury goods manufacturing to France and centralized his power over the aristocrats of France by making Versailles the premier destination, apart from Paris. He was known for his extravagance and blinding opulence, hence the name, the Sun King. His reasons for enabling the country to manufacture luxury items were clear; it was because of mercantilist ideologies and a need for power. But was he the only French ruler to do so? When we think of the Sun King, we think of him being one of a kind. But one French ruler, not a king, may rival Louis XIV himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. Both of them used absolute power to rule the country by amassing power and influence. But one unconventional method was through fashion.
As many would put it, fashion is a form of expression, and if one were to control what you wore, it limited what you could communicate. In establishing a uniform of sorts, you could subconsciously control who you were imposing these restrictions on.
Links to research
Research links
HISTORICAL SITUATION
Industrial Life and Labor in France 1815-1848 on JSTOR
QUELQUES ASPECTS DE LA VIE ÉCONOMIQUE ITALIENNE A L'ÉPOQUE NAPOLÉONIENNE on JSTOR
L'INDUSTRIE EN FRANCE SOUS HENRI IV (1589-1610) (Suite et fin) on JSTOR
Tableau des riches inventions couvertes du voile... on JSTOR
SILK
LES CAHIERS DE L'INDUSTRIE FRANÇAISE: IV: LA SOIE on JSTOR
LOUIS XIV
Histoire de Louis XIV on JSTOR
Big Hair: A Wig History of Consumption in Eighteenth‐Century France on JSTOR
LOUIS XIV ET SA COUR: AVANT VERSAILLES on JSTOR
"L'État c'est à moi": Louis XIV and the State on JSTOR
NAPOLEON
La vie économique de Lyon sous Napoléon on JSTOR
Industry and Labor under Napoleon on JSTOR
The Conseil Général des Manufactures under Napoleon (1810-1814) on JSTOR
