Recordings of What Women Wore to the Revolution: 1770s-1840s
In this pre-recorded, four-part class, fashion historian Cassidy Zachary will take you on a journey through the evolution and revolution of Euro-American women’s fashion from the 1770s to 1840s, looking through the lens of three of history’s most iconic figures: Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), Jane Austen (1775-1817), and a young Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Despite living in different times and places, all three women influenced and reflected pivotal moments in fashion’s trajectory from courtly artifice to revolutionary reinvention, from Regency refinement to moral propriety and industrial innovation. Throughout this course we will learn to date and identify these changing fashions while learning about these three remarkable women and the times during which they lived, all of which have left an indelible mark on the fabric of history and our imaginations to this very day.
You are purchasing recordings of a previously live, online, lecture class. Upon purchase, you will receive a downloadable pdf with individual links to four class sessions. Each class is 60-90 minutes long and will include occasional audience interaction throughout, as well as a Q and A at the lecture’s conclusion. The downloadable pdf will also include a “Further Learning” reading and resource list.
The cost is $75 for all four classes. Classes cannot be purchased individually
By purchasing this class, I accept the terms and conditions as outlined below.
*Once purchased, this class is non-refundable.
*I agree the information provided on the purchase page is correct and I will not hold The Art of Dress LLC, the class teacher, or any other party affiliated with the class responsible for any loss due to incorrect registration.
*The cost of the class includes all applicable fees.
You are purchasing recordings of a previously live, online, lecture class. Upon purchase, you will receive a downloadable PDF with individual links to four class sessions. Each class is 60-90 minutes long and will include occasional audience interaction throughout, as well as a Q and A at the lecture’s conclusion. The downloadable pdf will also include a “Further Learning” reading and resource list.
The cost is $75 for all four classes. Classes cannot be purchased individually
Class Details
No other figure in the history of Euro-American fashion is arguably more iconic than the “The Queen of Fashion” Marie Antoinette. In this class, we will step into Marie Antoinette’s public and private world at Versailles where the young queen harnessed fashion as a form of both political power and personal expression. From the towering pouf hairstyles and highly structured gowns she wore at court to the stripped down chemise gowns worn in the intimacy of her private abode the Petit Trianon, we will examine how fashion cemented Marie Antoinette's legacy as one of the most memorable—and misunderstood— women in history. In celebration of the V&A's exhibition Marie Antoinette Style and Marie Antoinette's enduring influence today, we will go "behind the seams" to uncover the truth behind the legend.
Class 1:
The Queen of Fashion: Marie Antoinette 1770s-1780s
If Marie Antoinette is history’s greatest fashion icon—she is also its most tragic. In this class, we will examine the downfall of the Queen of Fashion and the French monarchy during the political and societal upheaval of the French Revolution, when the clothing one wore could be the matter of life and death. From the opulent excess of the royal court to the austerity of revolutionary ideals, we will examine how shifting social values of liberty and loyalty were reflected in the fabric and form. At the heart of this transformation was the groundbreaking chemise gown, a simple, white muslin dress that became charged with meaning. First popularized by Marie Antoinette in the pre-Revolutionary era when its informality caused a public scandal, she would wear a version of the dress to her death by guillotine in 1793. In the aftermath, the corset-free gown evolved to become a symbol of revolution in and of itself, becoming an emblem of democratic and "natural" Neo-Classical beauty ideal and the changing roles of women—and fashion—at the beginning of a new era.
Class 2:
The Queen of Fashion is Dead: Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution, 1784-1799
In this class, we step out of Marie Antoinette’s France and into the real and storied world of Jane Austen’s Regency England where “empire”-waisted gowns and Kashmiri “cashmere” shawls, reveal as much about the post-Revolution landscape as the beloved author's novels themselves. Despite the countries being at war for centuries, British and French fashions were in constant conversation with one another. And when Jane Austen began publishing books at the dawn of the new century, she—and by extension the characters she imagined—inherited a world fashioned by Neo-Classical ideals and altered by decades of radical change. Through excerpts from Austen’s works, her personal correspondence, and visual examples of fashionable dress, we’ll uncover how style and storytelling merged to shape the elegance, restraint, and romanticism of this period that continues to captivate us to this very day. This class is purposefully timed with the release of Season 4 of Bridgerton (January 29th, 2026) which, despite its quasi-historical setting, you can now watch with a fresh and questioning eye for accuracy.
Class 3:
Style, Sense, and Sensibility: Jane Austen's Regency, 1775-1817
IIn our fourth and final class, we immerse ourselves in the Youthquake fashion revolution of the 1960s, one of the most exciting and rebellious periods in the history of women's (and men's!) fashion. In an era defined by sweeping political, societal, and cultural change, so too were established sartorial conventions shattered at the hands of young people hoping to transform the world. The 1960s witnessed the rise of hemlines, fast fashion, boutique culture, and radical self expression. The hippie counter culture defied the dressed gender binary, Black models and designers redefined the face of fashion, and a new generation of young ready-to-wear designers overthrew the century long reign of the Parisian haute couture. By the end of the decade the world was changed and so too was women's fashion.
Class 4:
The Return of the Corset, the Rise of a Queen: A Young Queen Victoria, 1819-1849
You are purchasing recordings of a previously live, online, lecture class. Upon purchase, you will receive a downloadable pdf with individual links to four class sessions. Each class is 60-90 minutes long and will include occasional audience interaction throughout, as well as a Q and A at the lecture’s conclusion. The downloadable pdf will also include a “Further Learning” reading and resource list.
The cost is $75 for all four classes. Classes cannot be purchased individually
By purchasing this class, I accept the terms and conditions as outlined below.
*Once purchased, this class is non-refundable.
*I agree the information provided on the purchase page is correct and I will not hold The Art of Dress LLC, the class teacher, or any other party affiliated with the class responsible for any loss due to incorrect registration.
*The cost of the class includes all applicable fees.