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What are the basics of a noble womens clothing in france in the late 18th century?

once again i am doing a french project on the french revolution and fashion during the time. It is hard to find accurate information on the internet about the topic and there just arent enough books with information either. thank you.

Public Comments

1. You won't find anything about what a noble woman wore during the revolution simply because it was during the revolution that all persons, signs, symbols and privileges of nobility and the aristocracy was banned and outlawed, punishable by death and she was one of the condemned. She would have been imprisoned in 1789 and by the 1790's she would be dead. Many members of the aristocracy were killed in the September prison massacres of 1792. IF she survived the September Prison Massacres a noble woman of late 19th century woman if she lived in France would be lacking one important thing: any clothing or marks that distinguished her from the revolutionary crowd. She certainly wouldn't advertises herself as a noblewoman with lace and silk and jewels during the time of the Terror. The aristocracy was en masse condemned to death, no exceptions. Simply to be born into a noble family was enough to have you sentenced to the guillotine. To wear anything other than the revolutionary uniform would mark her as a sympathizer of the aristocracy and she would be immediately denounced and sent to the guillotine. Those who escaped France kept a very low profile and once again didn't draw attention to themselves. Only after Napoleon did the last of the aristocracy return, but it was never as it was before the revolution, no more lavish parties, no more silk gowns, no more power and privilege as under the ancienne regime. So the reason you can't find any information about what a French noblewoman would wear is because she simply did not exist and would not wear anything that would draw attention to her. You might want to try looking up french exiles and the emigration and look up what was worn in Germany and Prussia, many emigrated to those countries. Prussia especially sympathized with the aristocracy: it was the Brunswick Manifesto that led to the massacres by the people's army or the revolution.