For the love of Fashion #2...In memory of the empire line dress.

The greater part of 18^th century fashion was governed by tightly bound corsets and heavily adorned full skirts, but at the turn of the century during the period 1800-1815 fashion was ruled by one of my personal favourite styles, the empire silhouette. Dresses were closely fitted to the torso up to just below the bust, falling loosely below. Evening dresses were extravagantly trimmed with excess of lace and ribbons while so-called ‘morning dresses’ were kept slightly more subdued.

The empire silhouette made a comeback in recent years with lots of designers taking a leaf out of the 1800 seamtress’s book.  

Check out my previous trip into the fashion history books here. All photos are from Old Rags, an awesome fashion history blog.