Antoinette's Closet

1938- Marie Antoinette

For shear opulence many people feel the costumes of the 1938 version of Marie Antoinette have not been beaten. Seeing as how they were designed by the great Gilbert Adrian it is easy to understand why. These gowns, so well made and beautiful awed not only audiences in 1938, but continued to resurface from time to time in other movies, bringing a fabulous glamour to what might be a small time movie.

Never before, and most likely never again will such an enormous effort in costuming be undertaken. Gilbert Adrian visited France and Austria in 1937 researching the period. He purchased bushels of silks, embroidered velvets, and laces to help make this movie accurate. They ended up being the most lavish and sumptuous of his entire career.

He studied the paintings of Marie Antoinette, even using a microscope on them so that the embroidery and fabric could be identical. Fabrics were specially woven and embroidered with stitches sometimes to fine to be seen with the naked eye. The attention to detail was extreme, from the framework to hair. Some gowns became extremely heavy due to the embroidery, flounces and precious stones used. Ms. Shearer's gowns alone had the combined weight of over 1,768 pounds, the heaviest being the wedding dress. Originally slated to be shot in color many of the gowns were specially dyed. The fur trim on one of Ms. Shearer's capes was sent out to be dyed the exact shade of her eyes. Unfortunately due to the high cost of color shooting at the time it was ultimately shot in black and white, but was still breathtaking.

Each gown is in order of appearance, to view each costume's gallery simply click on the picture of title. To see additional galleries of the movies that later reused these beautiful costumes scroll to the bottom of the page and follow the links.

If anyone has any other pictures or interesting tidbits relating to this movie, please email them to me at d_angus323@yahoo.com.

The Costumes of Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette

AUSTRIAN NIGHTGOWN

ARRIVAL IN PARIS

This lovely gown was designed to show Marie Antoinette’s innocence and freshness when she entered the French court. The gown featured hand-painted flowers, ribbons and a straw hat.

WEDDING DRESS

The wedding dress was a stunning example of just how much fabric can be put into a single dress. The gown was created from over 500 hundred yards of satin, weighing in at a whopping 108 lbs. The train of the gown featured silver fluer de lis surrounded by tiny seed pearls. For this and other gowns the shop department created steel hoop frames to support the gowns. The costume department also designed a support system that let the shoulders do most of the work.

WEDDING NIGHTGOWN

STRIPED ORGANDY

This gown like many others in this movie was inspired by an actual portrait of the queen.

FIRST BALLGOWN

This gown represented the beginning of the Dauphin’s rise to become “the brightest, highest figure in the court.” From here on each dress got more elaborate the wigs higher and feathers of every kind of bird. This rise culminated with the rocket dress.

FIRST OPERA GOWN

GARDEN PARTY GOWN

This delightful gown featured swags of flowers and a sliver, mechanical birdcage headpiece. This gown was also worn by Ms. Shear to a Halloween party. The Headpiece is still in existence and was displayed at FIDM, but alas no pictures of it.

MASQUERADE GOWN

This over the top creation featured a massive wig that had been designed to be very historically accurate other than the side width, which would have overpowered Ms. Shear’s face the wig is very accurate. The gown itself was a gold, green and yellow creation.

ROCKET DRESS

This gown was designed around the French’s love of fireworks. The gown is still existence and was displayed at FIDM. The gown is a gold or silver tissue with a cream organza overlay with paste stones and passementaire trim and tons of sequins.

SECOND BALLGOWN

This gown was created out of silver tissue and featured bias-cut swags. The bias cut was an element of the 1930’s fashion, but the overall beauty of the garment surpassed any criticism on accuracy. The gown was designed to be worn opposite Madame du Barry’s garish red or black gown (not sure about the color) to show her innocence. This gown was later reused in the movie “Two Sisters from Boston”. To see pictures from this movie scroll to the bottom of the page.

PORTRAIT GOWN

This gown was designed after another portrait of the queen. The Cape reportedly features a fur trim that was dyed the same shade as Ms. Shear's eyes.

MOURNING & SECOND OPERA GOWN

This gown was worn in the film during the death of the King, for publicity photos this gown and the wig from the second opera dress were paired together.

MIDNIGHT GOWN

The gowns for this movie were so immense in size and so heavy that they ripped the existing holders out of the wall, so the shop department of the movie created the largest hangers ever made to hold the gowns.

TRAVELING GOWN

This gown was later reused in two movies, the first being “The Fighting Guardsman” and later in the Lucille Ball movie “DuBarry was a Lady”. The last movie being shot in color revealed the gown to be a dark grey.

GRAPE GOWN

This gown is still in existence and the owner of it has graciously allowed me to post his pictures of it on this site. The gown features grape clusters on the bows thus the name

FLORAL GOWN

This gown was later reused in the movie “Singing in the Rain”. To see pictures of this film scroll to the bottom of the page.

DARK SILK

GOLDEN GOWN

The process of dressing in this movie involved the massive hoop frame, then three frilled petticoats and finally the gown. In the 18^th century it would have taken awhile to dress, but with the invention of zippers and various hooks, the actresses averaged 15 minutes.