十八世纪最后几年截然不同的轮廓旨在模仿古典希腊和罗马服装。基本上，帝国礼服是一种柔软、薄薄的棉质或亚麻布，几乎完全露出乳房，如果相信这种不慈善的 1790 年代评价，帝国礼服并没有被普遍接受："大自然种植在她胸膛底部的胸部通过填充物和鲸骨被推到靠近她下巴的位置，以至于在非常完整的性质中，这个特征有时会在入侵的土丘之间丢失。...如果不是因为女士们的精美服装，我们应该不知所措......无论他们是护士还是厨师。

The radically different silhouette of the last years of the eighteenth century was intended as an imitation of classical Greek and Roman dress. Basically, a soft, thin chemise of cotton or linen that almost fully revealed the breasts, the Empire gown was not universally embraced, if this uncharitable 1790s evaluation is to be believed: "The bosom, which Nature planted at the bottom of her chest, is pushed up by means of wadding and whalebone to a station so near her chin that in a very full nature that feature is sometimes lost between invading mounds. … were it not for the fine apparel of our ladies we should be at a loss … whether they were nurses or cooks."