By Wendy Kendall

“The Essence of Style,” by Joan DeJean
Mais oui, c’est chic to read about the Louis XIV Legacy. How exciting to find an author who makes history fun. She goes the extra mile and relates French life in the 17th century to habits and entertainments in our life today. Joan DeJean writes with energy and humor about living history. You just can’t wait to read the next chapter about the next novelty of the time, and how it has become incorporated into modern society.

This is a story about the original invention of style as an industry. It is very well researched  Louis XIV, the Sun King, was determined to leave a bold, brilliant, and extravagant legacy, much like the life he lived. Never one to do anything in a small way, the Sun King was flamboyant and extravagant. He enjoyed beautiful clothes, luxurious surroundings, and glittering court etiquette.  He built the Palace and Gardens at Versailles and moved his court there, outside of Paris. Whatever he liked he imported, or raided, from other places like Italy and the Orient. Then he made that uniquely French. He found ways to merge style and business, beginning a working class where before there was only the nobility and the poor.

Why must the ash gray that you wore last fall be replaced with the pearl gray this spring? You can attribute this economic stimulus to the 17th century French, who invented fashion seasons. This author associates marketing fashion with the beginnings of the print press. Sitting in the newly designed elegant cafes, enjoying their newly promoted lattes, ladies would discuss fashions they’d see in the brand new daily press. It was the press where the notion that France and the French had a monopoly on style, sophistication, and luxury was marketed. Fashion engravings, “fashion plates” were the early photographic style advertising. It’s implied that if you own the fashion in the engraving, then not just the clothing but the model’s pictured lifestyle can be yours. To look like a fashion plate was to look perfectly French and sophisticated. This included accessories, the invention of high heels for women and men, and coiffeur. It was all meant to be a trickle down of luxury from the nobility, in a less expensive version for the new working class.

Do you have a dining room? Before Louis XIV, there never was such a place. This is when eating became an event. It became “dining” as a culinary art with standards. For the first time a book of instructions, “The French Chef” was published. This cookbook meant that the French delicacies could be copied everywhere. The book was exported to other countries, beginning the desire by others to seek French sophistication.

You’ll be tickled by the story of champagne, where it came from and how it became synonymous with celebrations and all things joyous and elegant. How did Paris become known as the City of Lights? Louis XIV was determined to light up the night to make the city safer for its residents. The author humorously describes several different attempts of technology and logistics, before success was attained. Now people ventured out for entertainment and camaraderie day and night. Theaters no longer had to finish their shows before dusk. Shops stayed open, as did cafes, and restaurants. Tourism began as travelers would marvel at the city aglow. Teenagers and adults both can thank the French for the creation of the shopping mall. And, in keeping with the trickle-down idea from the nobility, buying “antique” meant buying high-end, glitzy, used furniture for sale.

Just like when you experience the first taste of a creamy éclair, now you can sense how much more there is to savor. Try Joan DeJean’s book. She is the author of seven previous books on French literature, history, and culture during the reign of Louis XIV, and is Trustee Professor of French at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught for the past 15 years. Bicultural, she shuttles regularly between her homes in Philadelphia and Paris, with her finger on the pulse of both. C’est la vie!

And thereby hangs a tale . . .

Wendy Kendall is a writer, project manager, wedding officiant and volunteer at the Edmonds Library. She’s enjoyed living in Edmonds for over 20 years.