This, the second installment of a three-part series examining women's clothing during the Napoleonic era by Dr. Melanie Byrd, looks at changes in costume during the Directory and Consulate. It was adapted from her Master's thesis written in 1987 and published here for the first time, along with illustrations done by Dr. Byrd especially for this series.

The Thermidorian reaction in 1794-1795 did more than dismantle the machinery of the Terror in favor of a conservative republic. It also brought an abrupt end to much of the veneration of antiquity that had contributed to the political and intellectual background of the French Revolution. The formerly solemn oratorical expressions, to speak en Brutus and "Je jure sur la tete de Brutus," ["I solemnly swear on the head of Brutus"] held in such esteem during the Terror, were now greeted with ridicule. Concomitantly, the adoption of classical names, once popular, was now forbidden by the Convention; and the Phrygian cap (or "Liberty bonnet"), which had symbolized republican beliefs, invited physical violence to its wearers.

At right, 1803 self portrait of British artist Robert Fagan with his wife, showing the influence of French fashion. British portraiture tended to show sitters in fanciful period costumes or "fancy dress." This portrait is meant to depict the woman in the artist's impression of a neo-classical pose; depicting Mrs. Fagen with bare breasts was done for aesthetic purposes only. It is extremely unlikely any Englishwoman would have adopted the bare breast look as part of fashionable attire. Low cut and transparent gowns drew the ire of moralists and the barbs of pundits, both of whom exaggerated the popularity of such styles. Few Frenchwomen actually wore topless gowns during the Directory, and then probably only for balls or other evening extravaganzas.

These and other displays of the Convention's obsession with the cult of antiquity fell into disrepute through its association with the excesses of the Terror; but, surprisingly, some forms persisted and gained momentum. Painters, playwrights and architects continued to employ classical themes, and the fashionable women of the jeunesse doree (guilded youth, or, more colloquially, rich spoiled brats) exhibited extreme grecomania in their toilettes (washing, dressing, doing one's hair and makeup).

The prevailing fashion of the Empire was the so-called "antique" gown characterized by its high waist, low neck, short sleeves, thin fabric, and classical motifs. This use of Greek, Roman and Etruscan subjects in costume was clearly divorced from the earlier attempts to link classical ideals and contemporary French political beliefs. The merveilleuses (a term coined during the Directory for young women who were excessively fashion conscious and who wore, to conservative eyes, extreme clothing) who adhered to the classical styles were often of conservative background and, in fact, opposed radical Jacobinism. Some, such as Mme. Tallien, popularly known as "notre dame de Thermidor" had narrowly escaped execution during the Terror. To such women the new mode of costume was merely a fashionable preoccupation to be followed for its own sake. Classical motifs in costume had not suffered through association with the Terror.

In addition to the use of the classically inspired theatrical costumes in Jacobin festivals, such costumes were also featured in counter-revolutionary observances. The embrace of antique styles by the new fashionable society, therefore, reflected the integration of one manifestation of classicism carried over from the Revolution with the change in manners and morals that subsequently followed the Terror.

At left, a reproduction of a black and white illustration from a French fashion plate, circa 1790s. The ensemble costume shows a plain chemise dress with drawstring neck, but crosslaced vest gives it a distinct English look. "In the style of Elizabeth" description foreshadows Elizabethean details such as neck ruffs. It has a slightly raised waist, and sleeves may be detachable. The headgear is a simple cap topped by a lavish plumed turban inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. The trend of borrowing features from other cultures and eras would continue during the Empire.

Styles in this period were influenced not only by antiquity but also by English fashions. When, for example, the Duchess of York discovered her impending motherhood, her condition was imitated by the fashionable subjects of London and Paris who moved the cul de Paris, or small bustle, from the back of the gown to the front. This caused the waistline to rise up under the breasts, establishing the forerunner of the Empire style. This so-called short waisted gown, still worn with a full skirt, provoked much ridicule. The anonymous lines: "Shepherds I have lost my waist, have ye seen my body?" appeared in numerous contemporary satires.

Though England set the pace for the high waisted gowns of 1794-95, French women far exceeded their English counterparts in their exaggerated pseudo-classical toilette. From approximately 1796 through the early 1800s, the chief target of moralists, satirists and chroniclers of customs and manners was the fashionable lack of clothing among young women that paralleled an apparent lack of morals. The Ladies Monthly Museum, a leading English periodical of the era which frequently reported on events in Paris, translated from an unnamed French journal a caustic invective against the habits of modern French women. It assailed women for their lack of interest in needlework and other traditionally respectable pastimes. Instead, women are lightly clad in "transparent shawls, which float and flutter over their shoulders and upon their bosoms, which are seen through them . . . with robes so light, so loose, so thin that the wearer seems to be almost naked. In this sylph's dress, they run from place to place all morning, noon and night; one sees nothing but white shades flitting through the streets."

At right, a transparent "Grecian" ball gown, circa early 1800s. Some daring fashionable women did wear sheer bodices, but the practice was not widespread and probably would not have been seen outside Paris. Ironically, Greek and Roman women wore very modest, concealing clothing in public.

Women were undressed in the most stylish antique mode. The younger women abandoned the chemise (a shift or basic undergarment), stays and most corsets in favor of flesh colored knit garments which accommodated the high waist and low necks of the era. Admiration for the Grecian figure with high round breasts was in vogue. References from French and English indicate that those fortunate enough to possess an ideal figure could evidently forego wearing stays. In some cases, the women wore the zone (a Greek-inspired style of belt worn under the breasts), based on the support devices used by the ancient Greek women, or they might wear abbreviated corsets.

Corsets and stays as they existed placed much emphasis on display of the breasts. This was not new; 18th Century fashion plates showed nearly bare breasted costumes, and journals offered beauty tips on the display of one's natural assets. Through the 1780s and early 1790s, stays and padding were used to push the breasts up and to thrust them into prominence. Unsurprisingly, false bosoms of wax or stuffed cotton were also used.

Emphasis on the attention given to breasts in art and fashion has often been attributed to the impact of Rousseau's writings which stressed the virtue of maternal breast feeding, and this did increase during the early 19th Century. A report to the General Council of Hospitals for the Year X (1801-02) revealed that fifty-one percent of the babies born in Paris were believed to have been nursed by their own mothers, a dramatic increase from only five percent of nursing mothers twenty years previously. Some daring fashionable mothers breast fed in public, an act condemned as lascivious. One anonymous German physician in particular inveighed against women who presumably drew sexual satisfaction from breast feeding and expressed hope that the promiscuous mother's breasts would become deformed and her milk become sour!

Louis Sebastien Mercier, a leading commentator on manners and customs of pre- and post-revolutionary Paris reported in Le Nouveau Paris, a six-volume work detailing the Directoire and Consulat (Directory and Consulate), that motherhood was definitely vogue. In a chapter entitled "Les Meres sont nourrices" ("Mothers are wet nurses") he described the abundance of children promenading with their parents throughout Paris. In his description of French women Mercier wrote: "toutes nourrissent, toutes s'honorent d'etre meres, et toutes sentent que la seule et bonne nourrice, est la veritable mere" (all nurse, all are proud to be mothers, and all think that the only and best nurse is the true mother).

Though breast feeding seemed to have been widely practiced in the late 18th and early 19th Century, there is little evidence that specifically linked fashion of the Directoire and Consulat to Rousseau's writing and breast feeding. Mothers were depicted with babies in fashion plates of the period, but a plate of 1778 also showed a fashionable mother in the act of breast feeding. While the low bodices could easily accommodate the nur-sing mother, it is unlikely that breasts became emphasized in high fashion solely because of breast feeding.

Though women displayed their breasts in the gowns of the period, the main objection of moralists seemed to be the thin, almost transparent nature of the gown itself. 18th Century fashion plates attested to the low bodices of that era, but long sleeves, boned bodices and full, heavy skirts held by various undergarments concealed the rest of the body. During the Directory, however, long sleeves, full skirts and underclothes were discarded, at least by the young, well-proportioned and fashionable who instead wore the minimum of underclothing.

Mercier described the downfall of the chemise among the young: "Il y a long-temps que la chemise est bannie; car elle ne sert qu'a gater les contours de la nature: d'ailleurs c'est un attirail incommode; et la corset en tricot de soie couleur de chair, qui colle sur la taille, ne laisse plus deviner, mais apercevoir tous les charms secrets." (The chemise has been banished for a long time; because it served only to spoil the contours of nature: moreover it is an inconvenient device; and the knit corset of flesh colored silk, which is tight at the waist does not leave more to the imagination, but allows one to see all the secret charms.)