I'm going to the ball at Versailles (and you can too!)

imagine walking through the tall golden gates of Versailles and you head into the courtyard the floor is filled with black and white squares you walk up the steps surrounded by other people also cloud in their finest 18th century clothing the excitement is tangible there are panniers and silk and glittering jewels as far as the eye can see you enter the palace upstairs of marble and walk into the Hall of Mirrors the room Glitters with candles and catches a light in the antique mirror there's Baroque music played by a live quartet and you spend the evening drinking champagne and dancing it's utterly magical this is not just a fantasy this can in fact be a reality today so hi I'm sosene and I'm here to tell you all about it Versailles holds a historical ball once a year on the last Monday of each May it's called the Galant and it's real they also hold a fantasy one later in the summer in the gardens I'm here to talk to you about the one held in the palace itself this year it's going to be May 22nd and this girl has two thumbs and two tickets for herself and her husband in today's video I'll talk talk to you about the ball what it is how to get tickets as well as some tips I have about the ball itself finally I'll show you this year's plans for the ball and what I'm making for and what I plan on wearing and what I plan on having my husband wear I first heard about this ball back in 2015 2016. I was still a resident and I'd long had an obsession with Versailles after all it's generally considered to be the palace that other palaces aspire to be back in the 18th century I also want to add as someone who's been to at least oh my God so many balls at this point this one is always going to be my favorite I think the moment where you walk in it is the most ethereal and transporting moment it almost feels dreamlike to be honest now before I get into talking about the ball let's just talk about dreams in general which leads us to today's sponsor Birch living Birch living is a mattress in a box company that specializes in making organic 100 non-toxic mattresses made right here in the United States that are super comfortable and give great support moreover they do so using reliably sourced and sustainable materials such as organic cashmere organic New Zealand wool fair trade cotton and 100 natural latex while I've been using their mattress for the past year and have loved it I'm proud to discuss the new Birch kids Line featuring mattresses made of sustained natural and wonderful materials that they use for the adults that's specifically designed to grow with your kids and their special needs as they get older and get bigger now Malcolm has alph brown has adorable pirate bed and mattress he's had since he was born so we just decided it was time for him to go into his first real new mattress the new Birch kids mattress is double sided with one side being firmer for the extra support kids need as they grow with a softer size for older kids who might want a softer feel rather than more back support So this particular mattress is designed to grow with your child through their entire childhood which also helps the environment by decreasing waste but not only is this mattress made of all natural responsibly Source materials that didn't harm the environment in their production I'm always surprised at how comfortable it is it's genuinely so comfortable breathable and cozy that I'm tempted to sleep in his bed in fact he had to kick me out several times after Story Time is your bed yeah so luckily I have my own in my Art Nouveau bedroom if you have concerns about mattress longevity or satisfaction I would like to add that with your Birch mattress you get a 100 night sleep trial along with a 25-year warranty Malcolm has been sleeping on his mattress now for two weeks and he and I both love our Birch kids natural mattress and I think you will too if you're looking for a new natural non-toxic mattress for your little one check out Birch you can click the link below and get 20 off your mattress plus two free pillows thank you to Birch living for sponsoring this video and my future trip to Versailles so back to fesca loans first off what is it it's a ball afrozai held once a year pandemic one notwithstanding this ball has been going on since 2014 and typically is the last or second to last Monday of the Year typically the palace is close to visitors on Monday so it makes special sense that they'd hold the ball on this day for those of you who have been to Versailles before you'll know that it's incredibly crowded we're talking 30 000 people going through those golden gates on any typical day for effect alarms we're talking hundreds hundreds of versus thousands of people there for the whole ball so the whole Palace does not feel especially crowded at all and it gives everyone a chance to move around better and really explore and see the palace the way it's meant to be for those of you who know Versa even better you'll know that typically no costumes are allowed of her size so this is a truly unique chance that you'll have to actually go to Versailles in costume which of course is why I was so absolutely desperate to go even before I could afford tickets my first year there was actually in 2017 I had just finished medical residency about 11 months before and was absolutely desperate to get to go in fact one of my very first paychecks went to buying these tickets for years I've been looking at blogs of people who had went with Envy I was so enthused about making my first Roblox Frances and I was also really happy to make my husband the first of his many court suits all stitched out and embroidered on a one needle embroidery machine with me changing the thread color every 30 seconds to every eight minutes for a total of over 1 000 threat changes over the life of that one Court suit while I now look at this course and wouldn't set the mistakes I leave this painting up in my foyer because it reminds me of the absolutely Splendid time that I had there one question I get asked all the time is does everybody have to make their own costumes and the answer is absolutely not honestly I think that less than 10 make their own costumes most actually do buy or rent and there are some truly fabulous makers on Etsy and on the internet if you care to look you can also rent the gowns and I think most people do exactly that the website even lists a bunch of places where you can rent your gowns and now if you look at the fecalon's website run by Chateau de Versailles you'll notice they have a dress code it's relatively vague in terms of time period for the website actually says to preserve the magic effect Galant you must come dressed in a quality Baroque style costume and be wearing it when you arrive at the palace all guests must find their own costumes no access will be granted to anyone for not respecting the appropriate dress code now generally speaking Baroque extends from the early 1600s to the 1750s after that's it's Rococo and considering it's Versailles I think it really means a year that Versailles was actually active so let's take a minute to talk about the history of Versailles first off Versailles is not in Paris itself but it's conveniently located 12 miles outside of it it was originally built in 1623 as a beloved hunting lodge of King Louis XII the often forgotten father of the Sun King AKA King Louis XIV of course the Sun King was the one who turned it into the splendid Palace it is now he moved into it in the 1680s so generally speaking when I think of Versailles fashion I think of 1680s 1789 the year when King Louis XVI and his Queen the famous Marie Antoinette were forced to leave and this of course spans a very wide area of time from the distinct mantuas of the 17th century to the Roe volange of the mid 1700s to of course my favorite the robot Frances of the mid to late 1700s this time period even includes the shamisa Loren the famed dress named after Queen Marie Antoinette obviously to mocker but named after her nonetheless I don't think I've seen many shamisa Lorenz there so both times that I went there I found that most people actually went for the robal of Frances or the robala on glasses with the big hair but I did see a few Renaissance dresses um and dresses that were definitely not in the right time period but they were still there and they were definitely allowed in and not turned away so I don't see them being too exclusive with it which I personally found to be quite a relief I honestly didn't have the heart to imagine how sad it would be to be turned away at the golden gates of Versailles for not having a high quality enough costume like it would literally be gatekeeping I I don't even I can't even imagine so there's that now what do you do there there's a bunch of different activities that you can do namely there is listening to music in the chapel the there's dancing lessons and then there's tours through some of the runes that you wouldn't normally get to see like the king's Chambers the Queen's Champion the mesdoms chambers The Madame do pompadour Suite which I still have to get tickets to someday and your ticket includes a time to go to these different activities but oftentimes most people don't don't choose to go to any of these instead choose to mingle and meet with their people I mean these are in fact our people these are costume lovers all of them in fact I'm at one of my very good friends time traveling redhead on one of these trips and finally after a night of fun and activities around midnight everyone is encouraged to go to the windows of the Hall of Mirrors or step outside to watch the fireworks over Versailles it's utterly magical there is also food but that's in a separate area from the Hall of Mirrors so when I said drinking champagne in the Hall of Mirrors I don't quite literally mean that because you're not allowed to have champagne or any drinks there but you can get tipsy in costume and then go back to the hall of yours but there is a wing of bite-sized food that starts as main course is in the early evening and goes to desserts later on at night honestly in 2017 and 2018 the food was amazing so highly recommended that you get the Duke and duchess's tickets or above speaking of tickets and levels let's talk about the ticket tears and how to get the tickets first off you don't need an invitation to go I didn't get to go because I was a YouTuber or anything I wasn't even a YouTuber back then you just have to go bookmark the effect of alarms website I've also linked it below and buy tickets when they open up in September I highly recommend getting there early since the higher tier tickets like the king and queen and the Doge level sell out really fast in fact I was unable to get either one of those this year even though I really want to see what the special surprise was and I'll talk about that later the tickets themselves are priced accordingly these are the 2023 prices by the way so if you're watching in the way future and it makes you sad because inflation is a thing I do apologize the bottom tier is the Marquis and marquis's and that starts at 170 to 190 Euros this one does come with set activities but please don't you don't get access to the food or drinks there is a cash bar there but in 2018 I did feel bad for all the people who are waiting on an incredibly long line there is a water fountain downstairs if you don't mind using one of those the second tier is the Duke and duchesses and this is the tier I went in at these start at 330 to 350 euros and I highly recommend it definitely the best bang for your buck these come with unlimited champagne and food and easy access to water which honestly is definitely worth it since you will get very dehydrated in the very hot Versailles the tier on top of that is Kings and Queens they have their own sitting area and they get to come in a little earlier through a separate entrance which I hear is stunning this is significantly more expensive at 495 Euros per ticket this tier is definitely worth it if you need to sit since they have their own dining area with little tables that you can sit at and I think this is really the only place where you can be guaranteed see the Doge level is of course the highest and the most exclusive last I heard they were only 30 35 of these tickets available and this gets you entrance into any of the activities one you want there's also a special surprise associated with it which I still have no idea what it is no one will tell me so if you do know please let me know in the comments of course this is also way more expensive as well there are places on Facebook where you can go and try to buy tickets off of each other but please be careful a lot of ticket sellers will ask for a direct wire transfer since this is an international sale and several people lost out on thousands of dollars from con artists one of these con artists actually even approached me trying to sell me on two Doge level tickets and I nearly fell for it so it is convincing be careful as for the ball itself it's magnificent I personally have been there twice as I said the first is when I was a burgeoning customer in 2017 while I had been making costumes for years it was as a medical student and a resident and I had very little time to focus on costume making so I felt like my skills really didn't have a chance to improve until after residency so this is what I wore I'm particularly proud of my husband's Court suit Honestly though I do want to add that I was not able to digitize at that didn't actually know how and so this was digitized for me by cabinet creative and then stitched out by me I had such a great time making it and that what leads to hint number one stay at Versailles the first time I went I had planned to take a cab from Paris to Versailles for the ball while I had given myself a like a full hour to get into Versailles there was a surprise visit to Versailles by Putin that day so the roads were absolutely jam-packed and we arrived at the ball 45 minutes after it started and I was honestly nearly in tears I highly recommend Hotel labor size which is quite affordable and is literally across the street so definitely an easy walk tip number two bring a fan oh goodness France can get very warm in late May and Versailles as well while they do have some air conditioning it's very limited moreover silk I assume you will wear silk since most people do it does not breathe in 2018 when I went I was nine weeks pregnant with my son and I was so overwhelmed and had such severe morning sickness that I had to leave early and go back to the hotel after about an hour and a half it was worth it for a healthy baby and I can definitely say that Malcolm was at Versailles as a wee fetus but bring a fan either a battery operated one or a folding one will do but you will need one I highly recommend not bringing an antique fan that you're going to be fearful of moving briskly or may snap if you fan yourself too hard it will get hot in there and you will love having it on you I'm talking High 90 degrees inside three to keep your ticket close while you may or may not decide to actually do your activities every time you want to go they're going to want to double check your ticket before they let you in anywhere so make sure that you have a pocket somewhere on your person and to keep it close at all times or hydrate champagne is delicious but it is also dehydrant so please remember to keep going back back and having water as well because my husband literally doesn't gets a sinus infection whenever he doesn't hydrate enough and he got one the first year five out of pockets ladies and gents this means definitely make sure you have one of those Pockets or something like it under your gowns I have always made sure to put giant pockets on Matt's coats for the same reason so definitely keep your pockets close and don't choose any gown without one or abuse pocket pennies but seriously half Pockets six buy tickets early I kind of went into it a little before the ball is getting more and more popular every year and especially the ones with more desirable events like the chapel and dancing lessons those sell out immediately so please go buy it fast you can follow along on the Facebook page to get information faster so those are my tips let's take a quick peek into my sewing room and I'll show you my plans for this year I really contemplated making a corset to wear for the ball in fact I had been working on that purple Court suit for Jeff the accountant but I really just have to live my best ball life and I honestly just feel prettier and dresses you'll notice I'm wearing one by Lynn and naive today so I chose to use the gorgeous gold skeleton fabric I bought at a huge discount a few years back when it got retired and I'm going to making a robe La Frances using the pattern from JP Ryan merged with the pleading instructions from Janet Arnold's patterns of fashion one meanwhile I'm also making my husband a new court suit I'm starting to realize I might have bitten off more than I can choose since each front panel is 17 repetitions and I need two front panels two back panels a collar two pockets and four sleeve panels along with about 36 buttons not counting actually putting it together so I don't know if it's gonna happen in time the original embroidery design is based on one in the collection of the Hermitage I actually spend about 30 to 40 hours over the past two years digitizing the design it's so complex like figuring out how to make the feathers on the bird doing multiple samples and all the different parts of the design it took months and months to make this but I love the design and I'm really excited see this come to fruition as Matt's Court suit so I'll give it a shot and see how far I get into it without driving myself insane but it would be really nice to see this at First Eye that's the plan I'm excited to go to effect alarms this year and if you've ever been or going this year please let me know in the comments so I can look for you if you know of another similar event and want to share it with me please let me know I would love to go just curious which era and style of dress would you want to wear this ball is again on May 22nd so the video of the ball itself will be coming out in June please remember to subscribe so you can see what I've made and see me wearing it at actual Versailles this year thanks for watching

Channel: Sewstine

Views: 42,192

Keywords:

Id: T9vMcf6_iIk

Length: 16min 56sec (1016 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 24 2023