From humble roots, Eugénie rose to become empress of France and a leading figure of European fashion
Words MELANIE CLEGG
Eugénie de Montijo
b.1826-d.1920
Born to aristocratic Spanish parents, Eugénie married the nephew of Napoleon I and later became the last Empress of France. When Napoleon III was deposed, the family eventually fled into exile in England.
When the wealthy Spanish heiress Eugénie de Montijo, Countess of Teba, met Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte at a state reception in the Elysée Palace in April 1849, she was already considered to be one of the best dressed women in all of Europe. Certainly, her unique sense of style and vivid good looks immediately caught the eye of the young president of the French Second Republic, although at first he rather insulted her by hinting that she should become his mistress rather than his wife. However, Eugénie was undaunted and when her ardent royal suitor cheekily asked the way to her bedchamber, she instantly responded with “Through the chapel”. Their protracted courtship continued for almost four more years until the beginning of 1853 when Louis Napoleon, who had recently been proclaimed Emperor and assumed the title of Napoleon III, finally proposed. Their betrothal was announced on 22 January and just a week later they were married in a civil ceremony in the chapel of the Tuileries Palace, followed by an opulent religious affair in Notre Dame Cathedral.
Naturally, the stylish Empress’ wedding ensembles attracted a great deal of attention, with women all over the globe avidly devouring descriptions and drawings of the rose-pink taffeta dress she wore to the civil ceremony and elaborate flounced lace and velvet gown made by fashionable dressmaker Madame Vignon for the religious one. Although it was still usual for women to wear eye-catching, colourful dresses to their weddings, Eugénie emulated her peer on the other side of the Channel, Queen Victoria, in opting to wear pure, virginal white on her special day. There was also enormous interest in Eugénie’s opulent trousseau of 54 dresses, which went on public display in Paris so that her fans could admire such splendid items as a green silk gown trimmed with feathers, a pink watered silk dress trimmed with gold fringe and a crimson velvet gown decorated with gold bees and eagles – the symbols of the Bonaparte family that she had just joined.
Fashion magazines, as we know them now, were still in their infancy when Eugénie became Empress, although they were already immensely popular with women (and men) from all social classes. In the 1850s this perennial interest in fashion was given an extra boost by an intense fascination with the lives of not just Eugénie and Queen Victoria, but also the extremely beautiful Empress E
