Author: BARRETO, CHRISTINA, AND MARTIN LANCASTER
Title: Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion 1795-1815
Description: Milano: Skira, 2010 (1st ed., stated); 207pp., 29x25cm, reproductions and photographs in colour, footnotes, bibliography, hardcover w. original dust jacket. Condition: as new. Scarce. ¶ Catalogue of the Italian exhibition Napoleone e l'Impero della Moda in 2010. From the blurb: "[The book] begins with the Directory, a period of sensuality and extravagance [...]. The radical transformation in male fashion, which became gradually more virile and democratic, laid great emphasis on the good tailoring of the clothes, while the omnipresence of the military helped to reinforce this concept. [...] an extensive collection of prints, images and objects from te period helps to explain this journey through history. The man behind this transformation was Napoleon Bonaparte; the book is based on the period in which he was at the helm of his empire, and reveals through clothes a hitherto unknown side to the leader, the first great modern example of the use of fashion as an instrument of power. It was in the Napoleontic period that fashion neurosis first developed, creating mechanisms and starting rituals that are still with us today." Lavishly illustrated.

Keywords: Napoleon fashion