1812 Red Dress, French. High-waisted red Merino wool dress with short puffed sleeves, high Chako hat with a plume long white gloves and white shoes. Jane Austen and her family and friends would have worn this style of dress. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
1810-1815 ca. Salmon Taffeta dress with ruched fabric at shoulders gathers at wrists and on bodice. The type of dress worn across Europe in the early 1800s. This sort of high-waisted dress would have been worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries in England. via Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Amsterdam.
The Empire waist gown defined women’s fashion during the Regency Era. ‘Empire’ is the name given in France to the period when Napoleon 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. Jean-Jaques Rousseau advocated copying peasants and returning to a simpler life and more natural fashions. Unrestricting clothing was part of the new Democracy in France and these simpler and flowing fashions were adopted all over Europe, including Britain and despite the continual wars being fought against France during the early 1800s. Not even war stopped fashions from being copied everywhere.
Lover of Jane Austen and the Regency Era fashions? History Notes Book 25. #JaneAusten #RegencyFashion #HistoricalFashion books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1801-1804
1800-1870 ca. Stocking Purses, British. Beaded stocking purses crocheted in silk and steel beads, with steel rings with tassels and fringes. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk.
Definition Miser or Long or Stocking or Ring Purses: Long, narrow, tubular shape, often wider at ends and narrow in middle, which had a short slit opening. Popular in England and France from the mid-18th century through the early 20th century.
From the Curator Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Stocking purses are also known as misers’ or wallet purses. The majority were netted, but some were knitted or crocheted, like this one. Once worked, the elongated tube was put on an expandable purse stretcher to shape it. It was then sewn up, leaving a central opening, and squeezed through a pair of rings known as sliders, which were used to secure and separate the different coins stored at either end. It could be carried in the hand, bag or pocket, or tucked over a belt. Many stocking purses were made as presents, and were thought a suitable object to give to a gentleman. Crochet is a type of needlework with an open, lacy appearance, which is formed with a hook and single length of thread making a series of loops, chains and knots. The technique developed out of ‘tambouring’, a type of embroidery, after the tambour hook began to be used to create series of loops, free from a ground fabric. This could then be used as a separate trimming, like lace, or made to form items like this purse. Crochet was thus added to the varieties of fancy needlework available to ladies, and instructions for making it can be found in manuals from the 1820s onwards.
1800-1870 ca. Beaded Stocking Purses, British #RegencyFashion #RomanticEra #HistoricFashion books2read.com/suziloveReticules
1562-1575 ca. Wine Cooler With a Pageant Battle with Elephants, Italian. Maiolica, or tin-glazed earthenware, from the workshop of the Fontana family. 1553-1580. Coolers were set near the table on a credenza or sideboard, visible to diners and within easy reach of servants. They are designed to be viewed from any side, but especially from above when empty. When not in use, coolers remained in place to convey the owner’s refined taste and, due to the relatively inexpensive medium, personal modesty. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1816 Crossing The Pont des Arts, Paris. Illustrations by Francis Courboin. via Les Modes de Paris. (PD-Art) suzilove.comThis plate depicts two women crossing the Pont des Arts, which is also known as the Passerelle des Arts. The women wear very high-waisted dresses. Both women wear a large white feather in their hats, symbolic of the white plume of Henri IV’s famous battle cry, “Ralliez-vous à mon panache blanc!” and made popular by the 1814 restoration of Louis XVIII on the throne. Restoration also brought back various styles, especially those denoting luxury, from the Ancien Regime. The woman on the left wears an ‘old-fashioned’ lace collar and the resurgence of luxury materials, such as fur are indicative of feminine styles of the Restoration period. (PD-Art) Illustrations by François Courboin from Octave Uzanne’s Les Modes de Paris. Variations du goût et de l’esthétique de la femme, 1797-1897, L. Henry May, Paris, 1898, or from the English translation of the same work: Fashion in Paris : the various phases of feminine taste and aesthetics from 1797 to 1897, William Heinemann, London, 1898. Modes De Paris
1806 Nankin Riding Habit, French. Red scarf, green gloves, riding boots, straw hat decorated with taffeta. The type of outfit Jane Austen and her friends would have worn if they went horse riding. Nankeen Or Nankin Fabric: Durable, buff colored cloth, made of Chinese cotton which is naturally brownish yellow. Originally brought from Nanking.
1819 Typical Gentleman’s Outfit, French. The type of outfit worn by Jane Austen’s male family and friends. Brown cutaway coat with extra long tails, white trousers, high white cravat, heeled black boots with spurs, gloves, black top hat and a cane. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Trousers: The word Trouser came into usage in the late 1600’s, so we’ve had trousers around for a long time. But at first, they were mostly for lower classes. Revolutionary France started a trend for sans-culottes, which meant trousers or pantaloons instead of culottes, or knee breeches, which were associated with the aristocracy. The styles of the revolution moved across to England and were taken up by those who either sided with revolutionary ideals or who took them up as part of a protest against the establishment set. Early on, trousers were generally a bit looser than pantaloons or breeches and ended at the ankles, often with side slits to get the foot through or straps under the foot straps to keep the trousers in place.
19th Century Late Mechanical Tantalus, French. Ormolu, Bronze, Crystal, and Gilt with a lock and key to open. Earlier versions of this type of small drinks cabinet would have been used in most households during Jane Austen’s times, unless the householders were teetotalers. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com
Tantalus: A small wooden cabinet containing drink decanters. The box has a lock and key to keep unauthorised people from drinking the contents e.g. servants and younger sons, yet still allowing the decanters of drinks to be on show. The word, Tantalus, is a reference to the unsatisfied temptations of the Greek mythological character Tantalus. Patented in the UK in 1881 by George Betjemann, a cabinet maker from the Netherlands, whose workshop was on Pentonville Road, London from the 1830s.