Tag Archives: marie Antoinette

THE BIRTH OF THE BOUFFANT by Peter Nolan Smith

In the late-18th Century Marie Antoinette’ coiffeur sought to camouflage the queen’s baldness by upsweeping her thinning tresses to cascade over her ears. The femme fatales of the ancien regime imitated ‘le bouffant, until the royal coif lost its popularity with the Marie’s final haircut by the guillotine. Two centuries later Jackie Kennedy, JFK’s wife, […]

Le Beaute de la Haute Savoie

northern wind hummed against the hotel room’s windows. The blonde actress stripped off her clothes and lay naked on double bed. The pillow embraced her face. Downstairs in the hotel bar the film crew celebrated the film’s wrap. Wine wine and more wine. The English loved their drink and loved the cold. Belgrade gave them […]

Shut Your Hole

The quote “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” or “Let them eat cake” has been wrongly attributed to Marie Antoinette to highlight the contempt of the aristocracy or upper classes for the poor, however the phrase iriginating from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s CONFESSIONS didn’t prevent the mob from taking their vengeance on the Bourbon queen and today Asia’s […]