Eugenie de Montijo

A famous painter named as Franz Winter Halter create a painting that visualise the garden at

the Versailles , women dressing in a old eighteenth century that is made of gold taffeta and

the hair of the women is made of the white powder. This painting is quite awesome in many

ways, as the dress is of the gold of the women; hair is with the white powder, opulent design

of garment, visualization of the garden, fashionable style of the skirt, and ribbon. All these

things are very eye catching. The next things that come to the mind is that what is this

painting all about? Who is she? And why the painter made this painting of her with gold

fashion dress and in royal garden? What is the story behind this? So the answer is very

simple to all the questions in one line as the last empress of French named as Eugenie de

Montijo. Eugenie de Montijo was the last empress of the French and was a Spanish countess.

She was born in 5 May, 1826 and died in 11 July 1920. She married to Napoleon – III that’s

why she was the last empress of French. It is known about her that she was very charming,

beautiful, sensitive and polite. She was the last women to reign over France during the second

empire. She came to France to educate but soon after some time she married to Napoleon and

became the very powerful and public figure in Europe. If you thoroughly go in to the details

of the profile of the Eugenie de Montijo, you will call her as feminist today.

Fig: Eugenie de Montijo, the Last empress of French

She followed the footsteps of the great queens who were the good female leader during their

time such as Queen Elizabeth, Maria Theresa, Catherine, and Marie Antoinette. She was

much practiced to the Catholic and soon grounded in the faith there and became very devout

of the Church. She first time met to Lois Napoleon Bonaparte when he was at the President

of the French Second Republic and soon became the attraction for Louis and the Spanish

beauty was taken by him. She had already the reputation as the women leader but after

marrying with Louis the position became very strong. She was considered as the object of

Louis desire but she mentioned to everyone that except her husband no one can have her.

These things perhaps have knocked the mind of Louis but instead of it he was fallen in his

desire for her deeply like a forbidden fruit for him. By this title of Louis the family of the

Louis were extremely amused. It was assumed that Louis was marrying to the women who is

below his station and doesn’t suit to the family. The major reason for the Louis to marry with

Spanish women Eugenie de Montijo was so that after becoming the emperor he will have

legitimate son and heir. During year, 1856 she born a child named as Prince Imperial

Napoleon Eugene Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte and he was the only child of her. This gave

the future empire of the French and it seemed as the stability in the empire of the Bonaparte.

She also served the public a lot and made number of public relations as being a part of the

New France Government. As being a charming, pleasant, polite and simple behaviour, people

of the France supported her. She attracted number of people around the world through her

politeness and beauty. People started to give the example of her that because of her the

Napoleon family will rule again on France.

She was very much found of the fashion and current trending in dresses, she wore the cage

crinolines first time in year 1855 and after some time the large bell like skirt. This showed

that she was very fond of the fashion and garments. She almost tried all types of France

fashion garments. The western culture started to follow her in fashion and garments. Even

though as it seems that her life must be glamorous and splendid but in reality it was not like

that. Her life was full of the danger and political problems. As in her personal life Napoleon

was not a faithful husband to her, he used the advice of her, because of her smartness,

intelligent and wisdom but not supported on many events for his own sake. Sometimes she

ruled over the France with her own decisions and then there will be some political and social

problems which caused her in great trouble as few of the social and political people became

the enemy of her. The best example can be seen from the great work that she did and

influenced to the public through the good policies and decisions but many times came under

attacked by the Italian emperor so the public of the France thought it like a conspiracy for

them. This created a danger for her life as she was called as the France ruined and helping to

the Italian improper because these Italians were, for them sometime Napoleon was a member.

Anti-Catholic officials in the area had closed the grotto, but Eugenie was a believer and when

the Prince Imperial was cured by water from Lourdes which Eugenie had sent for, the

Empress used her influence to have the grotto. She fought a lot in her life and faced every

kind of danger as being an empress of France. But during the same time some other emperor

became stronger and the problem became terrible to secure the providence from them.

During year 1873, the emperor died and her son died in year 1879 in South Africa while

fighting with the Zulus. She avoided all political issues and returned to her old villa in

Hampshire alone. She made good relations with British and in year 1887 she was honoured

with the position of the Godmother. While visiting her own country Spain at the age of 94,

she was buried in Imperial Crypt where her husband and son buried already. This shows the

life of her with passion, charm and wisdom that also includes the fashion and garments too

her life. Fashion was the passion of Europe that time as most of the western countries

followed her. She favoured the Rocco style instead of the renaissance style of Europe. She

also created her own styles and designs too. The Tuileries was a place where the grand balls

were full of dance, music, fashion and art. But the fashion became the central model there

during the time of Eugenie where she changed the fashion style as in fresh and beautiful way.

The Tuileries would also hold the two types of masquerade such as mask and dresses. In

1854 there was huge influence of her on the public and to the many emperors which suggest

that how the fashion got changed based on her thoughts and style so the Tuileries place was

full of the beautiful fashions and style.

The court in The Tuileries, were influenced and every person over there was dressing like the

style of her. She dressed herself in different ways for the same day as in day time she wore

the woollen, poplin or silk dresses, which was rainbow colors, plain or painted too. She was

very much fond of the pastel shades like dove gray, cream, or buttercup yellow. This

indicates that how she changed the mindset of the people in regard to the fashion and style.

Charles Frederick worth was an English born fabric sales man as of her dream. He was

inspired by the designs and fashion and emphasized to restructuring his own design. First

time Eugenie de Montijo found the dress by him at an exhibition and slowly she became his

one of the most important client. Soon after some time he only designed for her and was

called as the engineer of the structure of fashion design. She was one of the first women to

wear the cage crinoline of his design and this was much lighter than the earlier traditional

designs. She also pioneered the shortening of the skirts to feel more comfortable. Worth

introduced the shoulder hung court train in fashion for her, and so she was one of the models

that time with the latest fashion and dresses. Sometime later, Worth also introduced back

swept skirt.

As the painting of Franz Winter Halter describes that she loved the dark fashion dresses as

well. This second empire was a trend of changing the fashion for a time being in future. The

second empire wanted to bring the prosperity and wellness in France. So for this time The

Tuileries place was seen as the royalty will come to this place from the world. The designs

were really good that time and every lady there was not supposed to wear the design twice

like that. Thus it can be said that she was one of the mind changer in fashion and designing

for the western world.

References:

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planet names. Berlin; New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 19

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Fashion. New York: Fairchild Books. pp. 249–250

3. Shields, Jody (1991). Hats: A Stylish History and Collector's Guide. New York:

Clarkson Potter. p. 43.

4. "Eugenie". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. ncyclopædia

Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 May. 2012

5. Bresler 1999. Louis the II was also known as the former general of the french

military., p. 37

6. Roger Price (1997). Napoléon III and the Second Empire. Psychology Press. p. 16.

7. Arthur J. Dommen, The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans

(2001) p. 4

8. Göran Therborn (2008 [1978]). What Does the Ruling Class Do When It Rules?.

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