I'm an Australian author of contemporary and historical romances, plus history non-fiction. My books range from sexy to erotic, late 1700s to the mid 1800s, and with a dash of Australia thrown into the mix. My heroes and heroines challenge tradition and my stories often expose the seamier levels of life. I now live in a sunny part of Australia after spending many years in developing countries in the South Pacific. My greatest loves are traveling, anywhere and everywhere, meeting crazy characters, and visiting the Australian outback. I hope my books bring history alive and you have fun adventuring with my roguish heroes and feisty heroines.
1770-1790 ca. Stays, or Corset, English. Pink silk damask, lined with linen, reinforced with whalebone, fingers spread over hips. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook15
1811 White Dress, French. Worn under a white spotted tunic with yellow over skirt. White gloves, shoes and hat with drooping white feathers. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Although this is a French fashion plate, Jane Austen and her contemporaries wore a variety of tunics, spencers, and long coats to keep warm when out and about, visiting, shopping etc. Their thin muslin dresses weren’t any protection against harsh European winters or wet English weather.
1826 Sights Jane Austen Saw Around Regency England. 1826 From Regency Life Around England. The sights that Jane Austen and her friends and family would have seen around England. via 1826 The English Spy By Robert Cruikshank via Google Books (PD-150)
These silk stays have a small repeat floral brocade in rose, white, and green. There are cream, leather-backed waist tabs, stitched eyelets, and pink and tan linings. These stays, or corset, are unusual because they have both front and back lacings. This means that a lady could step in and out of her stays and then tighten the front lacing herself, thereby eliminating the need for assistance from a maid or dresser.
Women of the middle and lower classes needed to be able to dress themselves as they have no one to assist in tightening their lacings when they dressed. Most upper class ladies would be able to call upon a maid to help and would therefore generally use back lacing stays.
1685 Frost Fair on the Thames River with Old London Bridge in the distance. Oil on canvas. via Yale Center for British Art.
“The more I know of the world the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” Jane Austen ~ Sense and Sensibility (1811)
1811 Woman Carrying Cloth and a Package. Sewing a dress? Green dress with a white bodice, green spotted cornet for a hat. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Even though this a French fashion plate, this is typical of the Empire dresses worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries. Low necklines and skirts that started directly under the bust and flowed into the classical relaxed wide styles of Greece and Rome. These high-waisted dresses were worn most days and cotton, silk or taffeta were the popular fabrics.
1820 ca. Writing Box, English. Rosewood and brass inlaid writing box by William Dobson, The Strand, London. Makers label, gilded candle holders, ink wells. via antiques-atlas.com. Portable boxes for writing materials existed for many centuries but in the last decades of the 18th century socio-economic circumstances in England necessitated the wide use of a portable desk in the form of a box which could be used on a table or on one’s lap. Hence “Lap Desk”.
1790-1810 ca. Linen and Metal Corset, American Or European. Front Lacing. #Corset #RegencyEra #GeorgianEra #JaneAusten. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook16
Continue reading →Top Hat Styles Chart during the 1800s, from the Regency Era through to the Victorian years. Most popular style was cone shaped and tall in height. Originally made of beaver and very short but later from silk and taller. Tall crown, widens at top, narrow brim turns up slightly at sides.
From the finish of the 18th century until 1820, men’s fashions in European and European-influenced countries moved away from the formal wear of brocades, lace, wigs and powder to more informal and relaxed styles. Focus was on undress rather than formal dress. Typical menswear in the early 1800s included a tailcoat, a vest or waistcoat, either breeches, pants, or the newer trousers, stockings, shoes or boots, all worn with an overcoat and hat. This basic ensemble was accessorized with some form of neckcloth or cravat, gloves, walking stick, cane or riding crop, handkerchief, fobs, watch and perhaps a quizzing glass or eye glass.
Skirted coats were replaced with short-fronted, or cutaway, tailcoats worn over fitted waistcoats and plain, white linen shirts. Knee breeches were gradually replaced by tight-fitting pantaloons and later trousers, decorative shoes with buckles were replaced with a variety of boot styles, and fussy and ruffled neckwear gave way to intricately tied, white linen neck cloths. A Regency Era, or early 1800s, gentleman was outfitted in more practical fabrics, such as wool, cotton and buckskin rather than the fussy brocades and silks of the late 1700s.
1804 Men's Fashions In The Time Of Jane Austen. #Regency #Fashion #JaneAusten Share on X
