Unraveling the Caribbean Origins, Makers, and Wearers of the Robe à la creole , c. 1780–1815

Abstract

Abstract: In 1783, Marie Antoinette shocked the French public with a portrait that depicted her in a thin, white muslin dress. Although later known (because of its connection to the queen) as the chemise a la reine , the dress was originally described as a " robe à la creole " in her diary and was inspired by the gowns worn by the wives of plantation owners in the French Caribbean. This article investigates the "creole" origins, makers, and wearers of this garment in the British and French Caribbean, arguing that it was not only the product of the labors of enslaved and free Caribbean women of color, but that their parallel interactions with the robe also worked to disrupt and subvert the racist neoclassical connotations that came to surround the dress in Europe. Moving back and forth between Europe and the Caribbean, this essay explores how the dissemination of fashion was not a one-directional flow from the metropole to its colonies, but rather part of a wider network of circulation and dialogue between the two.