French Royalty

Her Majesty The Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette.

   I must admit that I'm a huge fan of Marie Antoinette as a fashion icon. Her merits as a monarch are whole other discussion, but no one can ignore the influence she had on fashion. The idea of making a doll inspired on Marie had been floating around my head for some time, but for some reason I kept pushing it aside.

   A few weeks ago the perfect opportunity presented itself. I was invited to include one of my dolls on a showcase that had a "Diamonds and Pearls" theme. The first thing that came to my mind was Marie Antoinette. I went searching for some inspiration online and re-watched two of my favorites movies featuring Marie: Marie Antoinette & The Affair of the Necklace.

   After so much eye candy, I started working. I knew I wanted her to be pale and have her iconic pouf. I also knew that her clothes needed to be breathtaking. I chose Kona Pale Flesh for her skin and found some gorgeous undyed boucle online to use for her hair. The fabrics and trims I used for her dress where a combination of vintage and new from my stash.

  Her hair is decorated with genuine freshwater pearls, a bird, four roses, a pink satin ribbon bow and an ostrich feather. Marie's face and shoes are hand-painted using acrylics and fabric medium.

Oh! and she's a miniature dolly, she measures 9.5" from the tip of her feet to the top of her hair.  
 
  I'm in love with the results and was lucky to have more than one collector fall in love with Marie. I already have some ideas for other versions of Marie, so expect to see more of her.