1805 Lady With Her Sketching Portfolio In Half Dress, French. White, At-Home, High-waisted, relaxed & flowing dress with white cap and pink flowers to match, long gloves, slippers. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Definition Caps: Worn as morning caps, night caps, or under other hats. Jane Austen and her family and female friends would have worn caps like these, sometimes during the morning at home, to bed to keep their long hair from becoming knotted, or under a bonnet to hold a hairstyle in place. Caps sometimes had hanging ties, or tails, and were also called ‘follow me lads’, or ‘flirtation ribbons’. Or flaps covering theirs called Lappets. Magazine Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien, French. French fashion magazine published between 1797 and 1839 and second oldest fashion magazine published in France. Pierre de la Mesangere was editor and published every five days, which is why there is an abundance of French fashion plates from these years in France and internationally.
A portrait from 1810-1814 of Rudolph Ackermann, shop owner and founder of ‘The Repository Of Arts’ magazine, The Strand, London. via National Portrait Gallery, London. Plus, an image of Ackermann’s premises in 1809. His ‘Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashion, Manufactures, etc.’ was published from 1809 to 1829 with images of Regency London, Regency furnishings and grand homes as well as beautiful fashion prints and descriptions every month. Ackermann originally supplied artists, amateur and professional, with supplies for watercolor painting. In 1799, he began manufacturing and selling his own watercolor paint blocks which were supplied by other colourmen, although at least three colors were his own mixture – Ackermann’s Green, White and Yellow. From 1817, his eldest son Rudolph Ackermann junior was responsible for the watercolor manufacturing. Ackermann also trained as a carriage designer. He began publishing prints and colour-plate books like ‘The Microcosm of London’ and ‘Doctor Syntax’ in the early 1800s.
The Repository of Arts was one the most popular magazines in Jane Austen’s time as it displayed everything ladies wanted to learn e.g. history, important country seats and houses in England, music, current events such as theatre plays, plus fashion plates and embroidery patterns. Ackermann’s shop in The Strand, London, was one of the fashionable places to shop during the Regency Era. The Repository also included poetry, travel reports, society reports and upcoming lectures. It also included serious subjects e.g. politics, legal matters, medicine and agriculture, a meteorological journal and details of the London markets. In 1817, the price of the magazine was 4 Shillings, so quite expensive for the time.
In the first issue, published for January 1809, Ackermann included an ‘introduction to the history of the useful and polite arts’ which said: “It is universally admitted, that to cultivate a taste for the arts, and an acquaintance with the sciences, is a pleasure of the most refined nature; but to do this without regard to its influence upon the passions and affections, is to ‘tear a tree for its blossoms, which is capable of yielding the richest and most valuable fruit.’ The cultivation of this taste may and ought to be subservient to higher and more important purposes: it should dignify and exalt our affections, and elevate them to the admiration and love of that Being who is the author of every thing that is fair, sublime, and good in nature.”
What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening clothing, plus underclothing, corsets and accessories. Fashion Women 1810-1814 History Notes Book 27 This book looks at what was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s, or the Regency Era in Britain. Wars were being fought around the globe so women’s fashion adopted a military look in support of soldiers. Fashions, like the lifestyle, became progressively more extravagant and accessories went from colorful to over-the-top. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
The Lady’s Magazine said of the basis of women’s fashion that was popular for the first twenty years of the 1800s, ‘White is still the prevailing color for robes. For morning dresses, linen gowns, in large diamonds or squares, are fashionable. Indian muslins, plain or embroidered, are preferred to Florence and satins. The designs of embroidery for shawls are of infinite variety. Long gloves, which reach above the elbow, are not yet laid aside. Medallions are hung around the neck from crossed chains and some of these medallions are shaped like the bags, called ridicules. These reticules are of the lozenge or hexagon shape, with a small tassel at each angle. Reticules, or ridicules, are in lozenge or hexagon shapes with a small tassel at each angle. In capotes, or hats, and ribbands, the violet and dark green prevail over jonquil. Bracelets in hair, pear-shaped ear-rings, medallions on square plates, saltiers of colored stones, are still in fashion.’
1817 June Morning Dress as worn in Bridgerton and Jane Austen’s times in England. A round dress composed of jaconet muslin; the bottom of the skirt is trimmed with an intermixture of tucks and embroidery. The body is perfectly novel, it is a three-quarter height, and displays the whole of the throat and a little of the neck: it is composed of the same material as the dress, and is formed to the shape, in a manner at once singular and becoming, by bands of letting-in lace; it is also profusely ornamented with lace, which is set on very full. Long full sleeve, the fullness confined by a tasteful cuff, which is finished by a lace ruffle. Head-dress the Marlborough cap, composed of white lace, ornamented with full-blown roses and blush colored satin ribbon. For the form of this elegant cap, which is perfectly in the English style, we refer our readers to our print. The hair is parted in front so as to display a little of the forehead, and curled lightly over the temples. Necklace and ear-rings white cornelian mixed with gold. White kid slippers and gloves. We are indebted to the elegant taste of Mrs. Marchant of 40, Gerrard-street, Soho, for both our dresses this month. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition Morning or At-Home Dress: Loose and comfortable dress and soft lace cap to be worn at home for reading, painting, sewing or for walking in the garden. To be seen by family, servants and close friends. Not accessorized enough to be out in the wider public, although the pretty pink roses and trim on the cap suggest this outfit may have been worn for receiving visitors at home.
1815 June White Carriage Dress, English. Lady reading a book in a high-waisted white satin Pelisse, or Walking Or Carriage dress in the relaxed Empire style as would have been worn at home in the early 1800s, or during Jane Austen’s time. Richly ornamented with clusters of leaves made in white twilled sarsnet, headed with tull. Open fronts, trimmed to the bottom of the waist with a superb shell trimming of white satin ribbon and tull, loose sleeves trimmed at the wrists. High hat of white satin and tull with a plume of feathers of the pomona green. Half-boots of similar color. Gloves en suite and a necklace. Lady is viewing paintings and the program in her hand says ‘British Institution’. In this issue of The Repository there is an article called ‘Exhibition of Paintings by the Flemish and Dutch Masters at the British Institution, Pall Mall.’ Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
1660-1700 ca. Green Velvet Gaming Purse, Probably French. Trimmed with Copper-Gilt Thread, probably French. This purse was designed especially for gaming, or gambling, and would have held money, or counters, and is of a different design to other 17th-century purses. The base is a flat circle and the sides are gathered on a drawstring to stop money or gaming counters from spilling out, and to hide how much a gambler had in the purse. The bag’s plain look was probably a deliberate move to fool other gamblers into thinking the owner had little money.The purse is quite plain, with no embroidery and only a twist of copper gilt thread, gilt being a cheap substitute for gold or silver thread.
Playing and betting on card games was a socially acceptable pastime for the wealthy in the late 17th century. Along with dancing, riding and the theatre, it was an amusement for those classes that did not have to work. A gentleman or lady who did not participate in games such as ‘Quadrille’ and ‘Basset’ would have been considered ‘low-bred and hardly fit for conversation’ according to ‘The Compleat Gamester’, published in 1674. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
1800 ca. Pair of Flintlock Duelling Pistols. Owned by Captain William Waller (active 1794-1807). Walnut stock, chequered grips, rounded butts, fitted with two silver pipes containing ramrods. Silver trigger guards engraved and end in pineapple shaped finials, each with flintlock containing flints. Lock plates engraved with leaf design, octagonal barrels browned with narrow gold bands near lock. via Royal Museums Greenwich collections.rmg.co.uk
During the Regency Era and Jane Austen’s writing years, dueling was illegal, although secret duels still happened. Courts were made up of peers and they rarely charged another peer for anything illegal. Honor and gentlemanly behavior were the most important things to men so if there was an offense committed, a dawn duel was arranged with seconds to check the weapons used and a doctor in case of injuries.
What did Jane Austen and friends wear? Early 1800s fashions were elegant and pretty with high waists and fabrics that were almost transparent. These Empire style gowns, named after Napoleon’s first Empress, became popular throughout Europe, and were then copied around the world. Colorful outwear was added to make an ensemble more attractive and warmer. History Notes Book 26 Fashion Women 1805-1809. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
1818 January Fancy Mourning Dishabille. A lady reading a pink book while wearing Dishabille, or morning dress, though as this labeled ‘Fancy’, it was most likely more formal than any normal At-Home morning dress. Dress of crepe with a lavishly decorated hem, worn over a white cambric Spencer, ornamented with fine muslin, embroidered at the edge with black, finished at neck with a triple ruff of muslin, tied in front with black love. Black sarsnet French apron, edged round with a newly invented trimming of black love. Cornette, or hat, of fine muslin, crowned with a garland of black flowers. Black chamois slippers. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London. The magazine’s General Observations on Fashion and Dress tries to explain why the outfit is labeled ‘Fancy’, ‘However little versatility can possibly be attached to the sable garment of sorrow, yet the Print we have presented to our readers representing the home costume of a lady of high fashion, will prove to them how busy Fancy is in her endeavors to throw a changeful hue over the tinct of solid black.’
I can picture Jane Austen and her female friends and family wearing this sort of dress if they were in half-mourning yet wanted to look fashionable. .
1817 December Lady Reading A Pink Book. Blue dress with a lavishly decorated hem, worn under a black tunic, white sleeves and a high lace morning cap. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London.
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