Gigi Vernon

“Let them wear cake” is my latest publication, a 400 word flash fiction about Marie Antoinette’s hair.

It was written for the Great Flash Fiction Festival, a fantastic and highly recommended series of three one day online workshops with three contests modeled on the Great British Baking Show. My “Let them wear cake” was written for the signature challenge’s prompt of haircuts. It got a handshake–it was a runner-up! I’m absolutely thrilled because the standards are incredibly high and the competition was very stiff. I’m also delighted that it was published online for anyone to read (my first online publication) Winners: Great Flash Fiction Festival Day October 2024 and is forthcoming in an Adhoc print/ebook anthology.

Truth is Stranger than fiction

“Surreal” was the judge’s comment, and it can certainly be read that way. It’s also very real and accurate and based on deep historical research.

I recommend this freely available article: “The Political Power of Marie Antoinette’s Hair,” by Erin Blakemore, JSTOR Daily, 5 Sept. 2016.

Some other sources:

• Bashor, Will. Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution. Lyons Press, 2013.
• Chrisman-Campbell, Kimberly. Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Yale University Press, 2015.
• Hosford, Desmond. “The Queen’s Hair: Marie-Antoinette, Politics, and DNA.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 38, no. 1, 2004, pp. 183–200.
• Weber, Caroline. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. H. Holt, 2006.

The hairstyles

The hairstyles are real and those are more or less the names. In some cases, I tweaked the original French to be easier to understand for English-speaking readers.

Here’s a caricature from the time of Coiffure belle-poule, a celebration of a naval victory.

A great deal was written at the time about hair and hairstyles:

• Legros. L’art de la coëffure des dames françoises avec des estampes, ou sont représentées les têtes coeffées, gravées sur les dessins originaux de mes accommodages, avec le Traité en abrégé d’entretenir & conserver les cheveux naturels. Maxtor, 1767.
• Donald, Diana. Followers of Fashion: Graphic Satires from the Georgian Period. National Touring Exhibitions, 2002.

Monsieur Léonard, the hairdresser
He’s real and was a superstar of his time. He continues to be famous today and was played by James Lance in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette.

There is some doubt about whether Monsieur Léonard’s autobiography is genuine, but two editions are readily available:

• Lamothe-Langon, Étienne Léon. Souvenirs de Léonard, coiffeur de la reine Marie-Antoinette: Illustrés d’estampes et tableaux des plus grands artistes du xxviiie siècle. A. Fayard, 1905. Online at Gallica
• Translated edition: Recollections of Léonard, Hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette, translated from the French by E. Jules Méras. Online at Internet Archive

Vive la révolution!

The painting that inspired the ending of my story:

Some Observations on Writing Historical Flash, and This One in Particular

This is not my first historical flash. If historical fiction is challenging, historical flash is ridiculously challenging.

For every writing rule there is a successful example of breaking the rules. But here are some thoughts.

Obscure historical facts, personages, or situations do not work for historical flash. You’ll need to rely on the reader bringing some basic knowledge of historical facts because the writer won’t be able to spare the words to explain. You’ll want to choose very well-known people and events. However, historical flash doesn’t need to be about famous historical situations– and I think this flash might be my one and only that does so. The historical period could be backdrop to a story and that’s easier to write and for readers to recognize and understand as long as the setting is not obscure.

Titles are crucial for flash! This title is meant to be intriguing, to raise a question in the reader’s mind that makes them want to read. In this case, it also prepares the reader for the story. If people know one thing about Marie Antoinette it’s likely that she is said to have quipped, “Let them eat cake.”

I used the names of styles as “chapters” to structure the story and move through a history of Marie Antoinette’s reign as told by hairstyles. The structure helped keep the focus on hair.

My Marie Antoinette is a bit different and required consideration. I didn’t change the facts of her reign, but my version is very much fictional. Was she the 2006 Kirsten Dunst any woman version of Marie Antoinette, for instance? Or something else? In the end, I decided on a version which worked for my focus on hair. My Marie Antoniette has a slight character arc– she goes from passive –allowing her hairdresser to take charge of her public persona to more active–asking for a vaccine hairstyle to most active–her hair turning white.

I hope you enjoy my story!