By Susan JAMES

Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie de Beauharnais de Bonaparte, known to history as Napoleon’s Empress Josephine, was a woman who defined an age. Where she led, fashion followed. Known for her élan, her beauty and her extravagance, she was arguably the founder of the French fashion industry and the originator of Parisian elegance. When she was crowned Empress of France in 1804 she chose Louis Hippolyte Leroy, a former hairdresser turned couturier, to design the dress for her coronation. Aided by painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey, a favorite artist of the imperial couple and probably the gown’s actual designer, Josephine’s royal regalia is on full display in the massive portrait of the coronation by Jacques-Louis David in the Louvre.

Pieces of a second gown, probably created for the empress by the same designers and constructed with the same sumptuous sophistication, is now on display through Saturday, Dec. 22, at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) at the corner of 9th and Grand in Los Angeles. This lavish couture creation of golden silk and silk net is decorated with thin strips of precious metal hammered flat and then woven into the skirt’s net yardage in geometric and floral patterns. Elaborate gilt fringe finishes the edging. A reconstruction on display in white silk suggests the silhouette of the original.

The dress, so the story goes, was so extravagant and so expensive that even though Josephine had already worn it, Napoleon refused to pay the designers. It was sent back and a wealthy British couple, who were on the Grand Tour of Europe, saw it and bought it as a souvenir. It is the only gown known to exist outside of France thought to be worn by the empress.

These pieces of Josephine’s golden garments have been loaned to FIDM by their English owners in order to raise $120,000 to restore the gown to its original splendor. Many of the pieces are crushed or in fragments and work needs to be done to put the pieces of the costume puzzle back together. The FIDM exhibition is free to the public and can be viewed together with the exciting display of this year’s Emmy-nominated costumes next door.

Vive la France!

  susan james