In real life, Queen Marie was a quiet, religious soul, who lived as peaceful and secluded a life as it was possible to do in the frothing court of King Louis XV. She enjoyed various artistic hobbies, heard Mass twice a day, and was greatly loved by her many children. She died peacefully at age 66. Well done, Marie.

In the anime, she's a BODACIOUSLY POWERFUL SORCERESS. She puts the hero in a dress. She carries a talking toddler skull. She wields the might of the French monarchy like a paper fan. She is, in short, awesome beyond all measure.

As for some construction notes...

No pattern was used here. None. Zip. Marie's dress is a freakish hodgepodge of French, Spanish, and Dutch styles, spread over about a seventy-year period. Nothing like her dress was ever actually made or worn. I drafted a basic body block using instructions from the very excellent Renaissance Tailor (www.vertetsable.com) and kinda winged it from there.

The gown has a fairly standard lined bodice with a wide boatneck and a ropa back with a narrow train. Due to my being basically rectangular, I was able to tailor it in period fashion without any fasteners; normally Marie would have been sewn into her dress by ladies-in-waiting, but I just have to spend a couple minutes wrestling it over my head. :D There are about ten yards of silk pleated into the under- and over-skirts, which makes getting it over my head in the first place feel a little like swimming upstream.

The stomacher was hand-embroidered with basic cotton floss and gold metallic thread, and embellished with faceted tabular rounds of smoky glass, brown iridescent pearls, and fiddly little gold seed beads. There is no way my embroidery or my beadwork are up to courtly standard, but I know my limits.

Under the gown there's a separate smock-necked cotton chemise, a completely non-period waist cincher, a tulle petticoat and a drawstring hoopskirt. The hoop's just a four-yard cylinder sewn with bias-tape channels for the hoops. Not historically accurate, but it does make for a softer line that requires less petti. I approve of this.

The hoop's hoops, if you will, are made of 1/2" Home Depot plastic tubing--it's actually a soaker hose. :D