In 1765 a new French ship was born, the Belle Poule, a frigate of 26 guns. The Belle Poule would sail to Antilles, the Indian Ocean and in 1778 would return Benjamin Franklin to America after a trip to France.
On June 17, 1778 between the coast of Plouescat, Brittany and the Cornwall Cape Lizard a battle began between the French and the British. The Belle Poule was in the thick of it against the HMS Arethusa. Canons were fired at each ship, the mast of the Arethusa was destroyed and fell and for the first time since 1756 the French were victorious in a maritime battle. With this act Louis XVI declared war on his cousin King George III.
France was united and caught up in national patriotism that would even inspire the queen’s hairdresser. Léonard-Alexis Autié, arrived in Paris in 1769 and first worked with actresses of the theater. Catching the attention of Madame du Barry, word spread through the court of Versailles of the talented stylist. At the time Marie Antoinette already had an official hairdresser, but would still see Léonardo for special designs as he liked to be called. With Léonard & Rose Bertin who designed her clothes, Marie Antoinette funded one of the very first fashion magazines, Journal des Dames.
In 1774, he created the “pouffe” hair style which became all the rage, all the ladies wanted it.
After the victorious voyage of the Belle Poule in 1778, Léonardo designed a hair design never seen before. With a wire frame structure under hair pieces he recreated the multi mast ship on top of the queen’s head. Wearing it only once for a party at Versailles, Marie Antoinette made quite the statement. Léonardo would go on to create all sorts of lavish hair styles, including flowers, baskets of fruits, bird cages and even the signs of the zodiac. Many of which would be more than three feet high and weighing over 12 pounds and could cost a small fortune.
During the Revolution Léonardo escaped France like anyone else associated with the queen. Living in Russia until he could return to Paris in 1820, he was a very wealthy man that was able to die of old age instead of the guillotine