Review: The Prince and the Dressmaker

The Prince and the Dressmaker | Jen Wang

First Second

2018

288 Pages

Rating: 4 Stars
Book 2/50 of 2019

Synopsis:

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart.

So this came out early in 2018, so anything to say about it has already been said.  I looked up a few reviews after I finished reading it, and they were all positive, which made me very happy.  Because this was really, really great.

The Prince and the Dressmaker is a graphic novel by Jen Wang, following Sebastian and Frances (the prince, and dressmaker from the title).  Sebastian is a prince with a secret - he likes to wear beautiful dresses and go out as Lady Crystallia, a fashion icon taking Paris by storm.  Frances keeps Sebastian's secret and designs the stunning creations he wears.  But Lady Crystallia isn't real, and to keep Sebastian's secret, Frances is forced to keep her talents a secret, too.  This beautifully drawn and colored story is about identity and acceptance, friendship, and what we owe to ourselves and others.  It's a lovely story and Wang's just so talented, it's lovely just to look at.  Seriously, the art is great.  I've read In Real Life, which I believe Jen Wang drew and Cory Doctorow wrote, and also really enjoyed it, so that's why I picked this up.

Besides the art, which I really could gush about, the characters are wonderful.  They all feel fully realized, and the story and the art work together to really inject life into everyone.  I particularly liked Frances.  She's a bit quiet, and not wealthy, but given the opportunity to let her creativity soar she absolutely excels.  In an interview, Wang said that she was less concerned with period accuracy, and more concerned with showing Frances' creativity and vision.  And that's one thing that I really liked.  This has the trappings of a fairy tale, but it's set in the real world.  In a mundane world where there are department stores cropping up.  No magic, nothing of the fantastical.  Which places Sebastian, a boy who likes to wear dresses, firmly in the real world.  The text doesn't try to offer a lesson of acceptance through any sort of magical lens, it paints Sebastian as a totally normal teenage boy.  And I loved that, I really loved that he expressed himself how he wanted, playing with masculine and feminine, and as Frances says, that's just who he is.  There's no labels or anything put on Sebastian, and the author said she wants readers to interpret it how they want in regards to his gender fluidity.

It's a great story, and a graphic novel I really enjoyed.