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.
1840 Group In An Outdoor Setting, French. Two men in top hats. Modes de Longchamps’. Men’s outfits, a woman’s riding habit and a small boy, all tailored by Robin of 21 Rue Saint Marc, Paris. via Le Bon Ton. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk.
1818 September Morning Dress and Spencer, English. Empire style, high-waisted white dress with elaborate blue decoration above hem, short blue Spencer, or jacket, with puffs at the shoulders and straight sleeves, cap with plumes, or feathers, tied under her chin and holding another plumed bonnet, blue walking boots, and wearing blue gloves. Fashion Plate via Ladies Magazine.
Definition Empire Style Dress: High-waisted white gown defined women’s fashion during the Regency Era. ‘Empire’ is the name given to the period when Napoleon Bonaparte built his French Empire. High-waisted, loose gowns were adopted by the aristocracy as a symbol of turning away from the fussy, elaborate and expensive clothing worn in the 1700s.
Definition Spencer: Short jacket, cropped at the waist, worn over a dress, or gown. These close-fitting, tight sleeved, waist length jackets were modeled on a gentleman’s riding coat, but without tails. Delicate and regency dresses provided so little protection from the cold, so over garments were essential for warmth, modesty and good health.
1810 Pale Blue Suit For Formal Court Wear, France. Suit with a frilled vest, or waistcoat, white stockings and a bicorn, or two-cornered, hat. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. The exception to the more relaxed style of early 19th century fashion for men was court dress, which was dictated by the royals in each European country and so retained elements of pomp and ceremony not seen in general dress by men. These outfits remained very formal and therefore little different to court dress of the 18th Century.
A court ensemble meant a coat, often of dark figured velvet although brighter colors could still be seen, breeches, a waistcoat with short skirts, a shirt and elaborately tied cravat, white stockings, and black evening shoes. These court outfits still featured a lot of decoration, such as gold braiding and elaborate embroidery. Court dress was accessorized with jewelry, such as expensive cravat pins and fobs and if the occasion was very formal, a sword was worn at the hip.
1760 Mahogany Petit Card Table, English. Mahogany turn over top card table on four tapering legs with pad feet, the top of each decorated with a carved ‘Lamb’s Tongue’. via Graham Smith Antiques.
Light-hearted look at Young Lady in Jane Austen’s times, or early 1800s. A glimpse into both the frivolous and more serious occupations filling a young lady’s day in the lifetime of Jane Austen, or the Regency Era, or the early 19th Century. Historic images and historical information show her fashions and frolics.
https://books2read.com/suziloveYLD
1812 Two Ladies, French. Orange sleeveless Redingote over a white dress with high neck frill and interesting sleeves. High-waisted white dress with blue pattern on the short sleeves and hem. Both with gloves, matching bonnets and shoes. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
1896 Sainted Prince Vladimir. Porcelain egg. Oval medallion on a golden background depicts Vladimir-wearing crown, a red mantle, and holding a cross. https://books2read.com/suziloveEasterAfter the painting by Victor Vasnetsov. Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg. Porcelain, overglaze polychrome painting and gilding/ Height: 11.4 cmOn the one side in an oval medallion on a golden background with plant ornament is a depiction of the Sainted Prince Vladimir wearing a crown and red mantle and holding a cross. The green frame is embellished with a garland of leaves. On the reverse, in another green frame with a garland of leaves on a pale blue background is an ornamented Greek cross with Christ Pantocrator in the centre. A pattern of stars and rosettes surrounds the cross.The prototype for the painting was the image of St Vladimir created by Victor Vasnetsov in St Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev.
1788 Armchair or bergère en cabriolet. Part of a set by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené (French, 1748–1803). Made for Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, for her Cabinet de Toilette in Palace of Saint-Cloud, France. Carved, painted and gilded walnut; modern cotton twill embroidered in silk. Made for Marie-Antoinette’s dressing room at the château de Saint Cloud. The queen’s initials are carved on the top rail.
The Palace of St. Cloud belongs to the Duke of Orleans, is situated on the declivity of a mountain washed by the Seine. . . . The view from the house is delightful. By Harry Peckham, A Tour through Holland and Part of France
Louis XVI purchased the country residence of the duc d’Orléans a few miles west of Paris for Marie-Antoinette in 1785. Being in need of renovation, the palace was enlarged and altered for the queen, and many pieces of furniture were commissioned from Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené. A member of an important dynasty of Parisian chairmakers, Sené had been appointed menuisier to the Crown in 1784.
A 1788 description of this set, four matching armchairs and a stool, shows that it was for one of Marie-Antoinette’s private rooms at Saint-Cloud, her Cabinet Particulier. Frame of the daybed embellished with carving of ivy and garlands of roses, ionic capitals on the short legs and Egyptian female half-figures on tapering supports. These figures express the queen’s taste for ornaments from ancient Egyptian art, well before Napoléon’s North African campaign made it fashionable. The bergère, or armchairs, has a medallion on top with Marie-Antoinette’s initials framed by myrtle branches and roses. The matching screen has classical female figures on its feet and top rail.
The 1789 inventory of Saint-Cloud records the entire suite in the queen’s Cabinet de Toilette, or dressing room. The set is upholstered in white cotton twill, embroidered with a small floral ornament in silk. Known to have worked on needlepoint projects all her life, Marie-Antoinette did the embroidery herself. The colorful floral embroidery on the light cotton ground conveys a sense of summer, the season Marie-Antoinette preferred to spend at Saint-Cloud. via Epigraph. Peckham 1788, p. 199.
