The Prince and the Dressmaker

The first two chapters of The Prince and the Dressmaker establish the fairytale tropes of the novel. The story begins with an invitation to “the Royal Spring Ball celebrating the Prince’s 16th birthday” (2), evoking the fairytale of Cinderella. Almost immediately, Wang introduces a second fairytale trope—a prince in disguise. Initially, the Prince is not shown at all, building anticipation for the surprise reveal of his character (36). When the Prince and Frances go out into the city, Sebastian takes on the persona of Lady Crystallia. Disguises of all kinds are prevalent in fairytales—from villains such as the queen who turns herself into a “hag” in Snow White to lovers going incognito to woo their beloved like Disney’s Aladdin. The special key presented to Frances at the end of Chapter 2 as well as Emile’s injunction to “keep it safe” (41) positions The Key as a talismanic object, referencing fairytales like Blue Beard or the lesser-known Grimm tale, The Golden Key.

Wang includes a motif of pattern pieces on the chapter title pages—a visual element that ties the novel together structurally and provides a symbolic link to the contents of each chapter they introduce. A “back” piece for Chapter 1 brings to mind backstory, while Chapter 2’s pattern implies that two very different pieces will be joined.

From the first illustration, Wang makes the protagonists’ central characteristics clear. Frances works all night on Lady Sophia’s dress, with another seamstress telling her not to “work too hard” (7), demonstrating Frances’s strong work ethic and powerful ambition. When confronted with the angry tailor, Frances’s explanation that she “was just giving the client what she wanted” and the tailor’s counterpoint that “THE CLIENT IS THE ONE WHO PAYS” (14) show that Frances values style, design, and aesthetic innovation over money—she’s an artist. This small interaction foreshadows the conflict in Frances’s partnership with Peter Trippley, in which she is again pushed toward conservative design in the name of easy profit. Wang also emphasizes Frances’s strong sense of self and willingness to take risks in the name of ambition. She takes a chance on a mysterious offer from a stranger rather than remain working for a boss who would fire her to protect his reputation, telling Sebastian that she “quit working for that unpleasant tailor so she could design dresses for [...] the Crown Prince” (38). Frances’s decision to quit is another piece of foreshadowing, laying the groundwork for her departure from Lady Crystallia’s employment in Chapter 8.

Wang’s depiction of Prince Sebastian also demonstrates characteristics that inform his arc throughout the novel. Hinting at the lack of foresight that causes his eventual rupture with Frances, the Prince attempts to keep his new employee blindfolded, not realizing that if Frances is “going to make clothes for [him, she has] to be able to see” him (27). His second plan—putting a cloth over his head— is reactive and impractical, like his sudden decision in Chapter 8 to keep Frances from meeting Madame Aurelia. This sequence also introduces his anxiety and complicated feelings around his emerging identity and Gender Expansive Self-Expression Through Fashion, underscored by his offer that Frances can “take anything [she] want[s], just don’t tell anyone” (38). His relatively timid demeanor in this early scene is cast in sharp relief against a scene much later in his arc in which Crystallia commands Frances not to leave in Chapter 8.

In contrast to her portrayal of Sebastian as hesitant and less self-assured, Wang draws his debut as Lady Crystallia in Chapter 2 as confident, beautiful and bold—a person coming into their own. This contrast suggests that Sebastian feels more comfortable in the role of Lady Crystallia than the role of the Prince. At the beauty contest, Sebastian exclaims he “didn’t think [he’d] go through with it” (54) but channels what will become recognizable as Crystallia’s signature courage and decides he’s “going to do this” (55). The crowd’s applause for the voguing Lady Crystallia highlights the character’s charisma, and mirrors Crystallia modeling on the Trippley’s catwalk to a flood of cheers at the end of the novel. The very name “Lady Crystallia” demonstrates that the Prince truly listened to Frances’s story about the origins of her love for fashion, hinting at Sebastian’s thoughtfulness. Moreover, the name choice alongside the dress establishes a dynamic of mutual inspiration between the Prince and Frances foundational to the novel’s thematic interest in The Power of Friendship to Support Personal Integrity.

All though none of Wang’s central character appear in the early scene at the ball, Wang employs the observations and commentary of the gathered crowd to establish Familial Expectations Reflecting Social Mores in the world of the narrative. At the ball, Sebastian represents not an individual but a prize to be won, as suggested by the girls giddy over the invitation and the dramatic posters of him going up around Paris (3). The dialogue of the mothers at the ball—each eager for their daughters “to bag” (11) the Prince as a husband underscore this dehumanization since, in the vernacular of late 19th century Paris, “to bag” most often referred to dead game fowl placed in a bag after it was shot. Another woman crows over her daughter getting her hair done “of her own volition” (11), finding pleasure in the idea of her child pursuing traditionally gender-normative standards of beauty.

Wang positions Lady Sophia in direct opposition to these expectations in the opening scene, introducing the theme of Gender Expansive Self-Expression Through Fashion. Lady Sophia rebels against her mother’s expectations by engaging in the more historically masculine pastime of riding, and requests a “ghastly” dress (6), pushing back against the familial and social expectation that she use her appearance to find a husband. In addition to the transparent skirts and black fabric Frances uses for the dress, Sophia also wears a martial band of makeup across her eyes as a symbol of defiance. While Sophia kicks off the idea of fashionable gender subversion, Sebastian’s transformation into Lady Crystallia solidifies this theme as central to The Prince and the Dressmaker.