Unusual for its time, this narrowly cut festive gown is of dark red silk velvet. Its short bodice has a broad, tapered neckline that is embroidered at the edges with a garland. Embroidered, epaulette like ornamental pieces likewise emphasize the shoulders. The edges of the long, narrow sleeves display similar embroidery with pearls. The skirt falls flatly down the front and is suspended from the bodice by hooks and eyes that are concealed by the waistband.The front centre of the skirt is emphasized by broad, vertical embroidery in a tall repeating lyre-shaped motif. The skirt back lays in folds and the gown is unlined. On the occasion of his 1804 coronation as Emperor of France Napoleon reintroduced courtly dress, which led to the return of laboriously embroidered silk and velvet. In so doing Napoleon deliberately supported the French silk industry. His wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, an eager advocate of “antique fashion”, thus wore a dark red, velvet train with golden embroidery on the occasionof the coronation. That may have been the model for our festive velvet gown.
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