What started as a fun, shared secret now controls their lives and has ruined their friendship. Frances and Crystillia go to the gala event, but afterwards the Prince refuses to let Frances meet Lady Aurelia in person, fearing if the Crystillia and Frances are seen together, it will reveal his secret.įrances is angry and hurt at this failed opportunity of a lifetime.

Then Lady Crystillia meets Lady Aurelia, who gives Lady Crystillia tickets to the Paris ballet. All the ladies covet her dresses and her beauty captivates the gentlemen. Peter Trippley, whose father is soon to open the big new Trippley’s Department store, befriends them without knowing their secret.īut you can’t be a fashionista without getting noticed. The two become tight friends, bonding on secret excursions out with Prince in drag and Frances as his dressmaker. Francis creates elegant, nouveau gowns for Lady Crystallia (the Prince’s female persona) the Prince pays her and gives her the opportunity to design instead of just stitch. Although initially shocked, Francis and the Prince realize they can be mutually advantageous to each other.

When Frances trips and falls, her hand accidently brushes away the enigmatic guest’s veil, and she discovers Milady is the Prince. Still, the dress draws the attention of a mysterious client, who wants to both wear her dresses and pay for them. “The client is not the one who wears the dresses. Lady Sophia is pleased, but her parents are not, and the dressmaker chides Frances by saying, Working as a minion to a dress designer, Frances creates a cutting edge dress for the young Lady Sophia Rohan. Lucky for him, he finds the perfect dressmaker instead.įrances has longed to be a fashion designer ever since she first visited the city and was awed by a poster for the ballet “The Muse of Crystallia,” with costumes designed by Lady Aurelia. But the prince has a secret: he likes to wear dresses. His parents are invested in maintaining the royal lineage the prince has just turned sixteen and they want him to find a bride. Our story opens in true fairytale fashion, with the announcement of a spring ball hosted by Prince Sebastian.

The jacket blurb for The Prince and the Dressmaker describes it as a “fairytale for any age,” set in “Paris, at the dawn of the modern age.” Welcome to the Belle Époque, the late 19 th century Paris of Jane Avril, Toulouse Lautrec, the Eiffel Tower, trains and bicycles, Arthur Rimbaud and Puccini’s opera La Bohème-a time when industrialism was quickly modernizing both ways of life and ways of thinking. ‘The Prince and the Dressmaker’ by Jen Wang

Jen wang the prince and the dressmaker