empire

a high-waisted silhouette with the waistline directly under the bust, and skirt hanging straight and narrow. this silhouette was preferred by Empress Josephine, Napolean's infertile first wife. Napoleon later divorced her to marry an Austrian-Hungarian princess, to forge an alliance with the powerful empire and to father a son. Napoleon revolted against the government established under the bloody first French Revolution and established the first French Empire, from which the name is derived.