S8 Ep336: HEADLINE: The Empire Style: Colonial Influence and the End of Sumptuary Laws GUEST AUTHOR: Anne Higonnet SUMMARY: During the Directory, Teresia and Rose dominated Parisian society, where Rose eventually captivated a young Napoleon Bonaparte. Higonnet expl
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
SUMMARY: During the Directory, Teresia and Rose dominated Parisian society, where Rose eventually captivated a young Napoleon Bonaparte. Higonnet explains that their signature "chemise" dress was a fusion of Teresia’s prison shift and the simple white muslins Rose knew from the Caribbean, inspired by the dress of women of color in Martinique. This style, while mimicking Neoclassicism, relied on colonial Indian cottons. The revolution’s abolition of guilds and sumptuary laws allowed these women to dismantle centuries of class-based dress codes, shocking observers with an aesthetic of "expensive undress" that defied traditional European modesty.
1805 JOSEPHINE
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| 0:34.7 | with Indeed. I'm John Batchez speaking with professor anne higeney at barnard |
| 0:39.1 | college of art history liberty equality fashion is her new book the women who styled the french |
| 0:44.5 | revolution it is now the directory in paris i believe the year is 95 might be 96 the professor will |
| 0:53.0 | help me. |
| 1:00.7 | And Teresa, who has emerged from the terror and is now Madame Talion, is holding a salon, |
| 1:06.7 | as she usually does, gathering all the very well-spoken men of the directory and their hangers on, men who were in prison and have now emerged. |
| 1:10.3 | There's sort of a bond between everybody |
| 1:12.3 | who thought they were going to be executed every morning and the people who learned from them |
| 1:17.1 | what it was like. But the directory is very powerful. France is gaining money again. They were in Paris. |
| 1:23.7 | And Teresa and Rose are pals, friends, and they're circling these men together. Remember, they need to find a way to get money. Women are not necessarily empowered to have their own finances in 1795. And in walks, of course again, in shoddy clothes. |
| 1:45.3 | And Teresa gave him money, I believe, |
| 1:49.5 | to help him dress better. |
| 1:51.6 | Was he insulted by that? |
| 1:54.5 | We'll never know. |
| 1:56.4 | He certainly was subjugated by her beauty and her style. So much so that he also became entranced |
| 2:08.6 | with her best friend who had less of the beauty, but just as much of the style. And that's the beginning of the legendary relationship |
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