Paris towards the end of the 18th century: The smell of blood and thunder still in the air, a nation marked by uncertainty and months of terror. Decadence and opulence lost all their shine, went down with their father figure and his court. From being the world’s center of glamour, Paris has turned into a battlefield. Nothing is as it was and still everything is open; it’s the chance for a new beginning.
For the emperor France alone was however still not enough; Napoleon dreamed of ruling the world. His legendary campaign to the land of the pharaohs (1798-99) already gave a foretaste of this aspiring, imperialistic ambition, covered under the guise of democracy. Europe was struck by a true “Egyptomania” that was over all visible in accessories and interior design.
In search of new moral values, the young, inexperienced democracy directs its attention during the Directoire back to the Ancient Greece. Light materials, pastel drapings, divine scenarios and buildings reminiscent of old Grecian temples; from fashion and art to architecture; le style à l’antique is everywhere when the white knight arrives on his horse, finally reawakening la joie de vivre and l’élégance Parisienne.
Forms and shapes of Roman antiquity still set the general tone but were replenished by a rich use of golden adornments, magnificent colors and materials. Men’s fashion was influenced by military uniforms and the developing English dandyism.
When Napoleon Bonaparte named himself the emperor of the French in 1804, not only in terms of politics but also of style a new era was introduced: the Empire. Following Napoleon’s role-model of the great Caesar and his Imperium Romanum, the shy and decent neoclassicism of the Directoire was hereby introduced to a new, shiny opulence, meant to emphasize the power and grandeur of the Empire.
A long time has passed since the Empire but its spirit still has a contemporary feel: Living in an era of digitalization and high-technology, we find ourselves from time to time struggling between the voracity for shiny innovation and a longing for the plain and classical. But also in terms of power there are similarities to the Empire: Nations are still struggling for democracy and a modern imperialism does not least of all bud in terms of globalization. This style book should provide Numéro with an inspirational insight into the Empire by offering three different, modern interpretations of the style, extracted from its key values: Opulent Decency, Military Glory and Avant-garde Conqueror.