EMPRESS JOSEPHINE

(1763-1814)

   She was born Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Les Trois-Îlets, Martinique, on a slave plantation. She married an aristocrat, Alexander de Beauharnais in 1779 and produced two children. Her daughter Hortense married Napoleon Bonaparte's brother. Her husband Alexander was guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution and Josephine became the mistress of several leading political figures before meeting and marrying Napoleon in 1796. In 1804, Josephine and Napoleon became the empress and emperor of France and greatly influenced French fashion. They were divorced in 1810 when Josephine failed to produce an heir. Although she is attributed with having created the Empire style to conceal her pregnancy (a myth), the style's neoclassical reference became quite fashionable throughout history.

   See also Empire period.