The Prince and the Dressmaker

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | YA | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Literary Devices

Loosely Historical Setting

The Prince and the Dressmaker is set in a loosely historical Fin de Siècle (end of century) Paris. The art and literature of “Fin de Siècle”—a term that often refers specifically to the end of the 19th century in Europe—encompasses work made with a sense of decadence and hope for the future as well as emerging from concerns over social collapse and despair. Wang chose the former interpretation and created a visual world inspired by the lush aesthetics of the era with its hopes for progressive social change. In a nod to late 1800s Paris, Wang’s illustrations of Trippley’s mimic the architecture and aesthetic of a real department store in Paris called Le Bon Marché (meaning “the good market” or “good deal” in French) which opened in 1888, taking up an entire city block.

As shown by the King having to pull rank on a middle-class department store owner in Chapter 11, Wang’s version of 19th-century Paris captures the inherent ideological tension of an era that simultaneously privileged antiquated notions of monarchy and aristocracy and made space for emerging bold and progressive ideas of more contemporary city. This combination, reflected in The Prince and the Dressmaker, creates a setting in which Sebastian can be both the Crown Prince and the scintillating and unchaperoned Lady Crystallia enjoying Paris’s cabaret and salon-filled nightlife.

Fairytale Structure

The structure of The Prince and the Dressmaker’s plot adheres to a traditional fairytale structure, with notable references to traditional tropes of the genre. Several hallmarks of rags-to-riches fairytale narratives appear in the graphic novel, such as a working-class girl being plucked out obscurity and brought to a palace based on her talent or other good qualities (Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast). Wang borrows this trope but invests Frances with her own career ambitions, adding depth and interiority to a character traditionally relegated to a flat love interest. Wang’s story also references the trope of a person in disguise restored to their rightful place by love (The Goose Girl, The Wild Swans, the Frog Prince), which The Prince and the Dressmaker upends by allowing love to free Sebastian from keeping his identity hidden.

In the 21st-century imagination fairytales typically include happy endings, in large part due to Walt Disney’s movie adaptations of classic fables that historically included tragic endings as cautionary tales of traditional morality. Wang invokes the “happy ending” element through her cartoon-inflected visual aesthetic and recognizable plot points, pointing to The Prince and the Dressmaker’s promise of a happy ending, assuring a reader that the more painful parts of the book won’t define it, and that the text will ultimately resolve with LGBTQIA+ affirmation and joy.