Living Dolls: Franois Ier Dresses His Women Article Review Examples

“Living Dolls”: François Ier Dresses His Women
In the 16th century, fashion dolls were used as an international exchange of fashion trends. When François Ier asked Isabella d’Este to send him a doll dressed in her favorite fashions, he intended to copy them for his court and give it to the women in France. Fashion dolls practically played a role of the mannequins.
Whether given as a gift to a child or an adult, the fashion doll always performed the same educational function – the acquaintance with foreign dress styles. The appearance of the doll was not very important, the main criterion for determining its value was the quality of dress. Of course, the doll like this was not to play with, but rather to be admired and carefully handled.
It is fair to suggest that fashion dolls were initially ordered from court dressmakers rather than professional doll-makers. In the case with Isabella d’Este, it’s more than likely that she ordered the dolls from her personal dressmaker, because they were intended to model precise copies of her favorite fashions.
As a means of communication of women about women, fashion dolls represented the exchange and appropriation of sartorial signs of feminine power and cultural sophistication, because for a woman, a fashion arbiter was perceived as a mark of leadership.
In the context of politics, fashion doll became a method allowing François Ier to project his ambitions onto the women of his court, so that their appearance represented his identity. As for the relations with Isabella d’Este, it is possible that the fashion doll that he asked her about, was a fetishistic piece for a woman he admired but could not possess. It is well-known that the king admired the feminine beauty in all its forms – from sculptures and paintings to real women.
Dressing the French women in the court, François Ier intended to transform the court’s medieval traditions into the new image respected both by friends and enemies.

References

Croizat, C.Y. “Living Dolls”: François Ier Dresses His Women. Institute of Fine Arts, New York University 94(130).