1. Marie-Jeanne "Rose" Bertin was a French fashion merchant and businesswoman.
21 Facts About Rose Bertin
1. 2.
Rose Bertin was particularly noted for her work with Queen Marie Antoinette.
3.
Rose Bertin was the sixth of seven children born to the couple.
4.
Rose Bertin's family was of small means; her mother worked as a nurse, which at the time was a profession with very low salary and status, and the financial situation became even worse after the death of her father, who had worked in the local constabulary.
5.
Rose Bertin probably acquired knowledge of textiles from a young age.
6.
When she was nine years old, Rose Bertin was apprenticed to a fashion merchant in Abbeville, Victoire Barbier, who appears to have been a distant aunt.
7.
In 1770, Rose Bertin opened her own shop, Le Grand Mogol, on the Rue Saint-Honore with the support of the Duchesse de Chartres.
8.
Rose Bertin quickly found customers among influential noble ladies at Versailles, many of whom followed her from Mademoiselle Pagelle's, including many ladies-in-waiting to the new Dauphine, Marie Antoinette.
9.
Rose Bertin was introduced to Bertin in the summer of 1774.
10.
Marie Antoinette commissioned Rose Bertin to make her robes for the Coronation of Louis XVI, which were reportedly so heavy that they had to be carried to Rheims from Paris on a stretcher.
11.
Rose Bertin's creations established France as the center of the fashion industry, and from then on, dresses made in Paris were sent to London, Venice, Vienna, Saint Petersburg and Constantinople.
12.
Rose Bertin used and exaggerated the leading modes of the day, and created poufs for Marie Antoinette with heights up to three feet.
13.
Antoinette and Rose Bertin popularized English-inspired, sporty fashion, inspired by equestrian fashion.
14.
Rose Bertin was to provide the former queen's mourning outfit following the execution of Louis XVI, recalling a dream that Marie Antoinette had had years before of her favorite milliner handing her ribbons that all turned to black.
15.
Rose Bertin made several journeys abroad during the Revolution, which attracted attention.
16.
Rose Bertin is alleged to have acted as a secret messenger for emigres during this trip, and it is known that she provided them with funds, but this could have been merely a sign of her well-known generosity.
17.
Rose Bertin was eventually replaced as the leading fashion designer by Louis Hippolyte Leroy.
18.
The nickname Rose Bertin came to be associated with female fashion merchants in general after the publication of Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Nougaret's 1769 novel Ainsi va le monde, which featured a heavily romanticised fashion merchant character called Rose Bertin.
19.
Peuchet took several liberties in his account of Rose Bertin's life, including inventing love affairs.
20.
Rose Bertin used the name Rose to associate the real figure of Bertin with the romanticized image of fashion merchants in the popular imagination.
21.
Rose Bertin is said to have remarked to Marie Antoinette in 1785, when presenting her with a remodelled dress, "Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui est oublie".