How did the King's courtiers dress at the palace of Versailles? What attire did they wear? Men and Women?

Question

I would like to know specifics, not just "they dressed opulently (wealthy looking)

Answer 1

The French began a fashion for trimming everything with bunches of ribbon, a style that got taken to the extreme in the early 1660's, when Louis XIV (popularly known as The Sun King) reached his majority and started setting the style for men's dress covered in ruffles and ribbons in a style known as "petticoat breeches".

Fashion in the period 1600-1650 in Western European clothing is characterized by the disappearance of the ruff in favour of broad lace or linen collars. Waistlines rose through the period for both men and women. Other notable fashions included full, slashed sleeves and tall or broad hats with brims. For men, hose disappeared in favour of breeches.

Fashion in the period 1650-1700 in Western European clothing is characterised by rapid change. Following the end of the Thirty Years' War and the Restoration of England's Charles II, military influences in men's clothing were replaced by a brief period of decorative exuberance which then sobered into the coat, waistcoat and breeches costume that would reign for the next century and a half. In the normal cycle of fashion, the broad, high-waisted silhouette of the previous period was replaced by a long, lean line with a low waist for both men and women. This period also marked the rise of the periwig as an essential item of men's fashion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1600-1650_i...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1650-1700_i...

Answer 2

The website below has tons of photos, pictures, and tips abpit men and women's clothing of that period. You will be pleasantly surprised and pleased. Look specifically for this heading: www.costumes.org/history

Pages Related to Theatre UAF's Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Fashion in 1785, and Links to Social Customs and s*x in the 18th Century

gatita_63109

Answer 3

Some pictures of court

http://crcv.revues.org/document132.html

Court parties at Versailles  - (sorry French only) "Versailles et les fêtes de cour sous le règne de Louis XIV"

http://www.chateauversailles.fr/upload/a...

Here is the English version of the Palace web page http://www.chateauversailles.fr/index.cf...

Here is a way to see some clothing: go to this search page to digital versions of collections of French museums. To see the art at Versailles you select under Musée , it says something like Versailles Chateaux de Versailles et Trianon .

Then you could under Fonds, select Peintures. (Paintings)  Then click on Rechercher.  You will get a lot of paintings, some of them are portraits, and you can hold your cursor over each and see who they were and what time period

http://www.photo.rmn.fr/cf/htm/Search_Ne...