IMPERICAL OPULENCE
France during Napoleon III’s Second Empire (1852 - 1870) was a place of prosperity, quickly made fortunes, and rampant consumerism.
Visitors flocked to see Baron Haussmann’s transformation of Paris into a city of grand boulevards, and the theaters, opera houses, and new department stores buzzed with life.
The favorite court painter, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, who painted the scene opposite, captured a glittering imperial life, providing powerful public relations for the regime.
At the center of this court life was Napoleon’s striking, Spanish-born empress, Eugenie — a leading fashion icon of her day, whose patronage of designer Charles Frederick Worth made him the first real “dictator” of Paris fashion.
Eugenie (fourth from the left) wears trimmings in purple, a color she loved.
Purple was an expensive natural dye, suitable for royalty, when this was painted in 1855, but just one year later a synthetic dye was made and soon “mauve madness” swept Europe and the United States, fueled by Eugenie’s example.
The luxuriantly stylish court ladies, shown in tulle, taffeta, silk, muslin, lace, and ribbons, also display the newly fashionable crinolines, which became enormous during the Second Empire.
In 1861 one English fashion magazine noted: “ The Empress Eugenie’s petticoats stood out a great deal: and following her example, all the Paris ladies are wearing their skirts very wide and ample.”
富饒帝國
拿破侖三世第二帝國期間的法國（1852 - 1870）是一個(gè)繁榮昌盛的地方纤壁，追求快速享樂左刽，消費(fèi)主義猖獗。
到訪者蜂擁至哈斯曼男爵改造的巴黎林蔭大道酌媒，劇院欠痴，歌劇廳和百貨公司，到處人頭攢動(dòng)秒咨。
作為最受歡迎的宮廷畫家Franz Xaver Winterhalter喇辽，創(chuàng)作了許多與現(xiàn)實(shí)場景相對的作品，捕捉下閃閃發(fā)光的帝國生活雨席，為當(dāng)時(shí)政權(quán)配備了強(qiáng)大公共關(guān)系菩咨。
這幅皇室生活場景圖的中心，是拿破侖引人注目的皇后陡厘，出生西班牙的Eugenie尤金妮旦委。她是當(dāng)時(shí)的時(shí)尚先鋒，由于她對設(shè)計(jì)師查爾斯 弗雷德里克 沃斯的贊助雏亚，使他成為巴黎時(shí)尚界第一個(gè)真正的“獨(dú)裁者”。
尤金妮（左四）衣著帶有紫色飾邊摩钙，那是她最愛的顏色罢低。
紫色是一種昂貴的天然染料，適用于皇室成員胖笛。當(dāng)這幅畫1855年被繪制网持，僅一年后合成顏料被制成，很快“紫色瘋狂”便席卷歐洲與美國长踊，因?yàn)橛冉鹉荨?/p>
奢華造型的皇室女士們功舀，以薄紗，塔夫綢身弊，絲綢辟汰，薄棉布列敲，蕾絲與絲帶展現(xiàn)這種嶄新的時(shí)尚瘋狂，同時(shí)第二帝國變的越來越強(qiáng)大帖汞。
1861年有英國時(shí)尚雜志表示：“皇后尤金妮優(yōu)雅的襯裙獨(dú)占鰲頭戴而，以她作為榜樣，所有巴黎的女士們都穿著非常寬闊與豐滿的裙子翩蘸∷猓”
