Empire style
High-waisted neoclassicism
Empire style refers to the neoclassical design aesthetic that flourished during Napoleon's reign in early 19th-century France.
Characterized by grandeur, symmetry, and motifs drawn from ancient Rome and Egypt—columns, laurel wreaths, sphinxes, eagles—it appears in furniture, architecture, and fashion.
Empire-waist dresses, with their high waistline just below the bust, remain the style's most recognizable legacy: She wore an empire-style gown to the gala.
- armoireTall freestanding clothes cabinet
- porticoColumned covered entryway
- candelabraMulti-branched candle stand
- chaise longueBackless reclining seat
- porcelain vaseGlazed ceramic decorative container
Napoleon Bonaparte · military regalia · pediment · entablature · colonnade · commode · dome · ormolu · pilaster · console table · laurel wreath · frieze · ottoman · Napoleonic wars · tapestry · canopy bed · cornice · architrave
Empire styleRococo
Lavishly ornamented decorative style
Baroque · Louis XV style · Art Nouveau · Victorian style · Chinoiserie
Empire styleArt Nouveau
Curvilinear decorative movement, 1890s
Arts and Crafts movement · Postmodernism · Bohemian style · Brutalism
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