I heard about this graphic novel when it was first published, and its premise caught my attention. I recently picked it up and took the chance to read it. Between the characters, the story, and the artwork, it’s quite an enjoyable read.
Frances is a genius of a seamstress working obscurely in a little Parisian shop. When a woman comes in demanding a new gown for her daughter in time for a ball held for the arrival of Prince Sebastian of Belgonia, Frances is selected for the task, and she’s delighted that the young lady has a bold, statement-making fashion in mind. Her design scandalizes the partygoers but catches the eye of the prince himself. Under absolute secrecy, he hires Frances to be his private seamstress, designing exquisite gowns for his hidden persona, Lady Crystallia, to wear.
(Note: the characters don’t have the necessary vocabulary to name Sebastian’s gender identity, though the descriptions given suggest Sebastian might be bigender or nonbinary. For this review, I’ll refer to both Sebastian and Crystallia variously, using male pronouns for the former and female pronouns for the latter.)
I’m all for wider representation in period pieces and fairy tales alike, and I always appreciate acknowledgment of the fact that LGBTQ people weren’t “invented” at Stonewall. LGBTQ folks, of course, have always been here. Why not the prince of a fictional European country? I sympathatize with Sebastian’s dilemma and I love seeing the joy in his eyes at Frances’s designs, how comfortable Crystallia is in her skin. Themes of masculinity and femininity thread all through the story, with Sebastian feeling nervous and cowed by assorted “manly men” around him (including his own father,) but if Sebastian is timid, Crystallia is daring and confident, and it’s interesting to see how the character deals with these expectations. Additionally, I like that the story addresses Sebastian’s gender and sexuality in turn, and that the two are separate from one another. That said, the overarching theme of this story is definitely wellworn when it comes to LGBTQ narratives: hiding oneself, fears about how cisnormative parents will react, etc. Nothing is inherently wrong with this kind of story, and The Prince and the Dressmaker tells it well, but it’s been overplayed for a while now.
Amid all this, Frances isn’t to be left out. She’s caught up in these questions of gender roles as well. Her profession is a traditionally-feminine one, even though she’s often in a position of having to answer to men within it, but it’s also what enables her to support herself in society. And for all that she’s a commoner moving through high-society circles, she isn’t demure and subservient. She has ambitions of her own, and as the story goes on, she finds herself increasingly boxed in by Sebastian’s secret: designing Crystallia’s gowns has given her a fantastic creative outlet, but if she can’t risk Sebastian’s identity by taking credit for her work, how can she ever turn the acclaim over Crystallia’s fashions into her own success?
Author/artist Jen Wang takes full advantage of the visual medium here. Naturally, the sumptuous dresses are to die for, and there are plenty of party/social event scenes in which Crystallia can make an entrance with every head swiveling toward her. But beyond these lush, eye-catching fashions, Wang also frequently tells her story through her artwork, progressing the narrative or revealing a character’s emotional state through pages of dialogue-free panels. It makes for a dynamic, cinematic approach to the story.
Warnings
Brief violence (including sexual harassment,) drinking, and thematic elements (including depictions of transphobia.)
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