Royal Style: A History of Aristocratic Fashion Icons

From Louis XIV, a shoe aficionado of the Baroque Age, to the latest club-hopping progeny of the British royalty, this colorful survey of aristocratic fashion through the ages will delight royal watchers of every generation. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton helped reclaim the fashion credibility of Britain's royal family, ushering in a generation of hip but genial personalities that appeal to every age and station. But royals have been setting fashion trends for centuries. This fascinating overview of aristocratic icons reaches back to the middle age, and from Europe to the Middle East, to profile the most renowned promoters of elegance and style ever to don their empires' crowns. Author and royals watcher Luise Wackerl juxtaposes the fifteenth-century Duke of Burgundy's penchant for black with Elizabeth I's taste for virginal white. She presents history's first "It Girls": Marie Antoinette, Louisa of Prussia, Empresses Sisi of Austria and Eugenie of France. She relates how Queen Victoria's sorrow and propriety transformed her country, and how an impeccably styled American's love for Edward VIII upended the British monarchy. From the irreproachably elegant styles of Grace Kelly to Lady Diana, Jordan's Queen Rania to Princess Letizia of Spain we move on to the newest icons, the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York, whose faces and party antics grace the tabloids on a weekly basis. Hundreds of photos and a lively text make this irresistible reading for anyone interested in fashion, royalty, and the lively intersection of both worlds.