Directoire style

Style of dress, furniture, and ornament popular in France during the Directory, 1795–99.

Dress for men mixed the ancient and contemporary: high boots, vests, open coats, top hats. Women's fashions featured dresses with long sleeves and V necklines, worn with ruffled caps. Directoire furniture and ornamentation were based on ancient Roman objects recently excavated at Pompeii.

* * *

▪ art

      Neoclassical style of dress, furniture, and ornament popular in France during the period of the Directory (1795–99). Dress for men, mixing ancient and contemporary elements, featured trousers and high boots, vests, long, open coats, and top hats. Women dressed in chemises that had long sleeves and V-shaped necklines, and they wore ruffled caps gathered around the ears, as in Jacques-Louis David (David, Jacques-Louis)'s portraits of Madame and Monsieur de Sériziat (1795; Louvre, Paris).

      Furniture and ornaments stressed elongated, simple shapes with clear lines; the Directoire style's sparse detail and ornamentation were based mostly on ancient Roman objects recovered from excavations at Pompeii. Directoire furniture was the last phase of the Louis XVI style.

* * *