CHAPTER XXV.

REIGN OF NAPOLEON III.

1851 TO 1854.

Ready-made mantles—Talmas, mousquetaires, and rotondes—The Second Empire; reminiscences of the reign of Napoleon I.—Marriage of Napoleon III.; dress of the new empress; her hair dressed by Félix Escalier; court mantle and train—Four kinds of dress—Opera dress in 1853-4—Bodices “à la Vierge,” Pompadour bodices, and Watteau bodices—Skirt trimmings—A new colour, “Théba”—Light tints—Social and theatrical celebrities—The Eugénie head-dress and Mainnier bands—End of the first period of Imperial fashions.

Dressmakers, like tailors, had begun to deal in ready-made garments; and found purchasers for their cloaks, mantles, and trimmed shawls. Special shops were established all over Paris, where customers might make selections from immense assortments of goods. Some of these houses have developed since then into monster bazaars.

A “Talma” was a cloth mantle, with or without a hood, and trimmed in various ways, and was a special favourite with ladies. Some other shapes were extremely simple. Talmas were also called “Cervantes,” or “Charles X.,” or “Valois,” or “Charles IX.”

The Talma clearly derived its origin from Spain. A cloak called “Andromache” was also worn; it recalled the fashions of Greece, and still more the stage triumphs of Rachel. So ineffaceable is the influence of genius!

Next came “Romeos,” “mousquetaires,” “Charles the Fifth’s,” and “rotondes.”

Mousquetaires were trimmed with velvet “chevrons,” and were fastened by tabs and large buttons. The others were all shaped like the talma, with a few unimportant variations.

On the establishment of the Second Empire, the fashions of the First were not immediately adopted, notwithstanding the prognostications of certain enthusiasts. We must note, however, that waists became shorter, and that reminiscences of the time of the Great Napoleon were perceptible in some of the accessories of dress, although they took no real root among us. Frenchwomen showed a reluctance to wear costumes that had been severely criticized in their hearing.

Many years were destined to pass by before any attempt should be made to revive the shapes of the First Empire.

The marriage of Napoleon III., however, gave a new impetus to feminine fashion, and every woman set herself to imitate as far as possible the style of dress worn by the Empress, now suddenly become the arbiter of attire.

The dress worn by the Emperor’s bride at the marriage in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, was of white terry velvet, with a long train. The basque bodice was high, and profusely adorned with diamonds, sapphires, and orange-blossoms. The skirt was covered with “point d’Angleterre.” This kind of lace had been selected on account of the veil, which it had been impossible to procure in “point d’Alençon.” Félix Escalier dressed the new Empress’s hair. There were two bandeaus in front; one was raised and peaked in the Marie Stuart shape, the other was rolled from the top of the head to the neck, where it fell in curls that, according to a poet, looked like “nests for Cupids.”

This costume was long the subject of conversation in both aristocratic and bourgeois salons, especially among the adherents of the Imperial Régime.

We must say a few words concerning the court mantle, and the court train, which soon took its place in official attire.

The true court mantle falling from the shoulders was reserved, it is said, for the Empress, the princesses, and some few highly honoured ladies exclusively; for the Imperial Court wished to imitate exactly the magnificence displayed by Louis XIV., and the first ranks of Society became luxurious in the extreme.

A court train consisted of a skirt opening in front, but falling low at the sides, and ending in a long train. The train was attached to the waist. Ladies found it necessary to consult a dancing-master in order to learn, not how to advance with a train, which was easy enough, but how to turn round, and especially how to retreat, which was extremely difficult.

Lappets were necessary for court dress; they fell to the waist, and were generally made of lace, and occasionally embroidered in gold or silver.

At full-dress assemblies, elegance and splendour of attire increased day by day; the most brilliant inventions in millinery succeeded each other uninterruptedly.

The first dressmakers in Paris were employed in making for the new Empress four series of gowns, if we may so describe them, viz. evening gowns, ball-dresses, visiting dresses, and morning-gowns. Among those for “full dress” was one of pink moire antique; it had a basque bodice trimmed with fringe, lace, and white feathers; another was of green silk, the flounces trimmed with curled feathers; and a third of mauve silk, the flounces bordered with Brussels lace. All were made with basques, long-waisted, and either with trains or demi-trains rounded off. The bodices for the most part were draped.

However great the desire of many persons to see the fashions of the First Empire revived, those I have just described were certainly far from resembling them. Although waists were slightly shortened, the general aspect of dress retained the youthful, elegant, and slim effect which has always been, and will always remain, so creditable to the French taste.

The majority of ladies felt no temptation to recall the times of that Maréchale Lefebvre, who was as famous for her finery and feathers as for her singular choice of language and her extraordinary remarks. Nothing of the past can be enduring, except that which has succeeded.

During the winter of 1853-4, dresses were worn at the opera, of which I will describe one as a typical example.

The gown was of grey “poult de soie,” the high bodice was fastened by ruby buttons, and the basques, open on the hips, were trimmed with a knot of cherry-coloured ribbon. The five flounces of the skirt were trimmed with ribbon of the same hue, laid on flat, and terminating in bows with long ends. This was very unlike the dresses of 1810.

Bodices “à la Vierge,” Pompadour and Watteau bodices with trimmings of lace, velvet, flowers, and ruched, quilled, or plain ribbon, were extremely fashionable. There was a certain grace about them.

On the whole, women greatly preferred the stomachers of the eighteenth century to the short waists of the first years of the nineteenth. They modelled themselves rather on the ancient order of things, than on the commencement of the new order, because above all they sought for pure and delicate outline.

The fashions of the reign of Louis the Eighteenth were resorted to for trimming the skirts of ball-dresses. Large puffings of muslin or lace came almost up to the knees. Here and there little butterfly bows of ribbon nestled in the interstices of the puffs, and produced a charming effect.

The number of new colours was considerable. “Théba” was a brownish-yellow tint, much favoured, it is said, by the Empress, and consequently a good deal used by authorities on dress. But it did not remain in fashion longer than was considered desirable by persons always in quest of fresh novelties.

Light colours were generally preferred, and every imaginable tint was tried in turn with inconceivable rapidity.

A glimpse of the Empress Eugénie as she drove through the Bois de Boulogne sufficed to set the fair observers to work upon a faithful reproduction of her costume. The toilette at a ball at the Tuileries afforded food for thought during many days to those who had been present.

A few of the court ladies seemed to legislate for Fashion, and sometimes they even competed with their sovereign. Scores of newspapers described the shape and colour of their dresses, their jewels, and the flowers or feathers in their hair, and gave minute details of the fêtes which they adorned as much by their attire as by their beauty, when they were not tempted into eccentricity.

Only a few actresses of celebrity rivalled the influence of the Empress and her court, especially in the matter of hair-dressing. The modes adopted by Princess Mathilde, Mme. Espinasse, Mme. de Mouchy, Princess Murat, and the Duchess de Morny, were admired, it is true, but so also were those called Marco-Spada, Favart, Miolan-Carvalho, Doche, Traviata, Biche-au-Bois, Pierson, Cabel, Ophelia, Marie Rose, and Adelina Patti.

One “coiffure Eugénie” was effected by raising and drawing back the hair from the forehead, and arranging it with the aid of the “Mainnier bandeau,” a simple and easily used contrivance. It was only necessary to divide the bandeau into two equal parts, reserving in the middle a small lock that was tightly plaited. This plait was fixed by a comb, and it supported the foundation on which the “coiffure” was arranged; the firm, puffed-out bands then only required smoothing. With this very few curls were worn. With the help of the Mainnier bands, the Eugénie coiffure formed a roll that increased in size from above the forehead until it reached the ear, where one or two curls falling on the neck completed the arrangement.

Such were the fashions of the first Imperial period, which inaugurated an era of luxury in every rank of society, but did not as yet produce those successive inventions in dress that we shall afterwards have to note, and which are continuously developed in the present generation.

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