A glimpse of the Empress Eugénie as she drove through the Bois de Boulogne sufficed to set the fair observers to work upon a faithful reproduction of her costume. The toilette at a ball at the Tuileries afforded food for thought during many days to those who had been present. A few of the court ladies seemed to legislate for Fashion, and sometimes they even competed with their sovereign. Scores of newspapers described the shape and colour of their dresses, their jewels, and the flowers or feathers in their hair, and gave minute details of the fêtes which they adorned as much by their attire as by their beauty, when they were not tempted into eccentricity. Only a few actresses of celebrity rivalled the influence of the Empress and her court, especially in the matter of hair-dressing. The modes adopted by Princess Mathilde, Mme. Espinasse, Mme. de Mouchy, Princess Murat, and the Duchess de Morny, were admired, it is true, but so also were those called Marco-Spada, Favart, Miolan-Carvalho, Doche, Traviata, Biche-au-Bois, Pierson, Cabel, Ophelia, Marie Rose, and Adelina Patti. One “coiffure Eugénie” was effected by raising and drawing back the hair from the forehead, and arranging it with the aid of the “Mainnier bandeau,” a simple and easily used contrivance. It was only necessary to divide the bandeau into two equal parts, reserving in the middle a small lock that was tightly plaited. This plait was fixed by a comb, and it supported the foundation on which the “coiffure” was arranged; the firm, puffed-out bands then only required smoothing. With this very few curls were worn. With the help of the Mainnier bands, the Eugénie coiffure formed a roll that increased in size from above the forehead until it reached the ear, where one or two curls falling on the neck completed the arrangement. Such were the fashions of the first Imperial period, which inaugurated an era of luxury in every rank of society, but did not as yet produce those successive inventions in dress that we shall afterwards have to note, and which are continuously developed in the present generation. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXVI. REIGN OF NAPOLEON III. (CONTINUED). 1854 AND 1855. Crinoline inaugurates the second era of Imperial fashions—The reign of crinoline—Starched petticoats—Whaleboned petticoats—Steel hoops—Two camps are formed, one in favour of, and one inimical to crinoline—Large collars—Marie Antoinette fichus and mantles—Exhibition of 1855—Cashmere shawls—Pure cashmeres—Indian cashmere shawls—Indian woollen shawls—“Mouzaia” shawls—Algerian burnouses—Pompadour parasols—Straight parasols—School for fans—The fan drill—The Queen of Oude’s fans—The Charlotte Corday fichu. Crinoline made its appearance, and revived the era of hoops. It was an ungraceful invention; the crinoline swayed about under the skirt in large graduated tubes made of horsehair.