Marie Antoinette's

Marie Antoinette set many fashion standards, as we all know so well, with the help of Rose Bertin.  The woman became a household name, her shop, Le Grand Mogol in Paris, infamous.  The façade was done up in marble and inside featured portraits of the royal queens of Europe and beyond (if they were clients of Mdm Bertin!) If you weren't convinced her shop was the place to be, the new gowns on display would have done the trick!

Two rooms of her shop held her designs, and customers could browse and choose what they liked.  She owned the upstairs of the shop, as well, where her employees worked.  She employed thrirty seamstresses who worked adding the flowers, ruffles, ribbons, lace and trim to all the custom orders that were received.

This dressmaker, if you will, was well known to dabble in haberdashery, and her hats were truly a big seller.  She designed hats for all occasions and had them displayed at her shop.  If you were in the market for a hat, you could visit her store and be shown up to thirty unique hats at once!

One reason the hats were so in demand was their affordable price.  Although they were still pricey, in comparison with a Bertin gown, it was quite manageable.  Fashionable women with smaller annual incomes would do just as well to have three Rose Bertin hats than one gown.

Her hats also became popular gifts for men to buy for ladies.  There was no sizing or worries about color.  At Mdm Bertin's shop, gentlemen could only be sold items that were at the height of fashion, so ladies could rest assured the gift would be perfect every time.