On coming to power, Napoleon III was determined to create an imperial court which would project a powerful image of affluence and prosperity. One way of achieving this was through ostentatious court costume, with the added aim of stimulating demand for fabrics and trimmings and so helping to regenerate France's failing clothing and textile industries. Thousands of officials were provided with specially designed, elaborately braided uniforms, and the Empress played her part by wearing what she called her 'political outfits'1– voluminous, richly decorated dresses– to encourage luxury and consumption and help revive the clothing industry. Her example caught on as fashionable women vied with one another in the conspicuous consumption of ornate dress, and although Eugénie is said privately to have preferred simpler designs, the sumptuous dress code she imposed for her court receptions ensured a new lease of life for Lyons silk manufacturing. By the end of the Second Empire Paris was established as the fashion centre of the world.

During this period women's fashion changed at an ever-increasing speed. Skirts became fuller throughout the 1850s, supported at first by layers of petticoats made of stiff material such as the mixture of horsehair (crin) and linen (lin), which gave the crinoline its name. Waists were tightly laced to emphasise the skirts' flare, and as dresses grew more voluminous, technology came to the rescue with whalebone or steel skirt-hoops to support their weight.