louis XIV French, 1638-1715
There was no court in 17th century Europe that was as fashionable as the Sun King’s at the glittering Palace of Versailles. When he ascended the throne in 1643, France was languishing in comparison to Spain, the most dominant power on the continent. With finance minister, Jean-baptiste Colbert, Louis developed a clothing and textile industry to rival the Spanish. To ensure that his subjects bought French cloth, Louis even made it illegal to import material from other countries. The king also implemented a strict dress code and many nobles bankrupted themselves in order to get their hands on the latest fashions to maintain their place at court.
The original power dresser, Louis XIV once ordered one of his son’s coats to be burned because, in his words it ‘was not made of our cloth’