Marie Antoinette was, in every way, the pop superstar of her time. At the age of 14, she became a ripe offering of peace as the promised bride to young king-to-be, Louis XVI. From that moment forward, her life was launched into mega-celebrity status. Along with that came all the tabloid speculation that today’s young superstars experience.
Gossip, myths and outright lies about her extravagant lifestyle and her equally extravagant sexual escapades abounded. Adding fuel to the fire, she clearly had a flare for the dramatic, and she happily drank up all the attention that her famous, gravity-defying pouf hairdo – with its many trinkets and embellishments – brought her. Like Marilyn Monroe, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, the public image of Marie Antoinette ultimately became a cultural phenomenon, and her life’s story – real, imagined or otherwise – became more and more provocative right up to her dramatic demise.
This photographic series seeks to take a fresh look at all the tantalizing, excessive and scandalous rumors, confessions, myths and lies that made the world’s most extravagant femme fatale who she was – and who we still long for her to be.
Rob Linsalata
