After the French Revolution, the fussy styles previously affordable only by the very wealthy were replaced with ideas of simplicity in dress, behavior, and decorating.  The neoclassic style was adopted and carried through the Napoleonic War years, partly because of Napoleon Bonaparte’s love of anything Greco-Roman. The Empire silhouette copied the chiton worn by the Greeks and Romans. The chiton was a tubular garment draped from the shoulders and sometimes belted beneath the bust and this style of garment was completely different to the rectangular panniered skirts of the 18th century.

1802 Mother and Child, French. Mother wears a long green cape over a loose and flowing white dress. The child wears a similarly flowing pink dress. Both wear fitted hats. Fashion Plate via Journal des Modes et des Dames, or Costume Parisienne. suzilove.com

The Empire style of clothing began as children’s wear made from fine white cotton. Women adopted the same fabrics in England and turned them into light and airy tubular dressed with skirts gathered under the bust and often with more fullness at the back to allow women to walk and move freely.

1807 Empire style, or high-waisted, white walking dress, French. Worn with a red draping shawl and long white gloves. Fashion Plate via Journal des Modes et des Dames, or Costume Parisienne. suzilove.com

Empire style dresses were high waisted and were worn almost exclusively by women from 1800 until around 1820.

In the 1820’s, waists began to drop from under the bust and skirts went from tubular to bell shaped by flattening the front and adding fullness at the centre back.

By the 1830s, waists were almost back down to their natural waistline and they stayed at a woman’s natural waist as skirts widened even more until they became the conical hoop skirts of the later 19th century.

During the Empire years in France, fine Indian muslin was manufactured and embroidered in India and then exported to Europe and America. French women wore the finest and most sheer cottons and dresses became more an more daring as bodices were cut lower and lower and gowns became transparent.

1805-1815 ca. Three Women’s Empire Style Dresses. landeskunde-online.de suzilove.com

Naturally, English women copied this French trend. Some supposedly ‘damped down’ the skirts of their gowns with water to make them even more see through, and therefor even more enticing to the gentlemen. As the Prince Regent, George IV, was a known connoisseur of women, the boldest of ladies wanted to catch his eye, and perhaps become of one of his mistresses.

1805-1810 ca. Lemon Dress, Regency style, Light and Floaty Dress. via Manchester Galleries manchestergalleries.org suzilove.com

This trend to sheer fabrics, which would have been freezing in winter in England or Europe, also led to the creation of other fashion items that women needed to stay warm.

Long draping shawls were worn over these sheer Empire style gowns, as were Spencers and Pelisses, or Redingotes. Tunics were often added to give gowns an appearance of decency, especially from the back.