I Heart History Challenge~Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette, my original inspiration for starting Feathers of Artemis.  It all started with a painting. 

I had designed the painting as a tribute to a gate I had loved in Japan.  The gate was beautiful, ornamented with dragons and phoenixes on the top, but nearly bare underneath.  

The gate, as I was told by an old man, was so beautiful and heavily ornamented on the top, yet it was nearly a ruse, as it was truly the base that was most important.  The ornamentation of dragons acted as guardians, yet only through the plain part of the gate could the Emperor himself only pass

My painting reflected that, with the ornamented top, but it was her long smooth bare back that was the portion only touched by kings. 

It was then I made the headband

It was my modern version of Marie Antoinette. She had lost her model ships, live birds and towering hair  (in fact, lost her whole head..)

Instead she was simpler, like her days she spent frolicking in le Petit Trianon. The pink feather was adorned with golden shells I had gathered walking the beaches of Florida, and nothing else.

She was simple, but just as elegant as ever.