Overview

"Joséphine Bonaparte, future consort of Napoléon; Térézia Tallien, the most beautiful woman in Europe; and Juliette Récamier, muse of intellectuals, cast off the rigid clothing regime of the past. Overcoming forced marriages and imprisonment during the Terror, they became the first self-made fashion celebrities. From one year to the next, the Three Graces led a rebellion against corsets, petticoats, and enormous skirts. Their flowing garments not only embodied freedom for modern women, but also marked the emergence of global capitalism, shopping culture, and the rise of powerful style influencers. Joséphine combined the style of Black women from her Caribbean childhood with garments from India and Kashmir to fuse cultures and bend gender rules. Her best friend and style collaborator, Térézia, celebrated the female body and her own erotic independence. Juliette pioneered a radical minimalism, posing for portraits in pure-white, virginal gowns. After the French Revolution, a conservative reaction would keep women ""buttoned up"" for two centuries, making the fashion-forward story of the Three Graces even more resonant today."

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Reviews

"""A deeply scholarly, impeccably researched book that’s also a genuine page-turner. Liberty, Equality, Fashion reveals how inextricably global politics is woven into—even forged by—fashion and women’s personal, domestic lives. Using three influential women as a prism through which to examine one of the most critical and volatile eras in French history, Higonnet combines the fine-grained observational skills of the biographer with the assured vision and far-ranging perspective of the historian. This is important and ground-breaking scholarship – exciting, new, and profoundly feminist."" -- Rhonda Garelick, author of Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History"

"""A deeply scholarly, impeccably researched book that’s also a genuine page-turner. Liberty, Equality, Fashion reveals how inextricably global politics is woven into—even forged by—fashion and women’s personal, domestic lives. Using three influential women as a prism through which to examine one of the most critical and volatile eras in French history, Higonnet combines the fine-grained observational skills of the biographer with the assured vision and far-ranging perspective of the historian. This is important and ground-breaking scholarship – exciting, new, and profoundly feminist."" -- Rhonda Garelick, author of Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History ""I read Liberty Equally Fashion with enormous pleasure. It’s such an original way of looking at history and the female sex in particular. I couldn't resist galloping through it."" -- Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette: The Journey"

I read Liberty Equality Fashion with enormous pleasure. It's such an original way of looking at history and the female sex in particular. I couldn't resist galloping through it.--Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette: The Journey A deeply scholarly, impeccably researched book that's also a genuine page-turner. Liberty, Equality, Fashion reveals how inextricably global politics is woven into--even forged by--fashion and women's personal, domestic lives. Using three influential women as a prism through which to examine one of the most critical and volatile eras in French history, Higonnet combines the fine-grained observational skills of the biographer with the assured vision and far-ranging perspective of the historian. This is important and ground-breaking scholarship - exciting, new, and profoundly feminist.--Rhonda Garelick, author of Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History

Author Information

Anne Higonnet is professor of art history at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she teaches a course called “Clothing.” She has received many awards, including Guggenheim and Harvard Radcliffe Institute fellowships.

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