Spencers Or Regency Jackets By Suzi Love. History Notes Book 4. What was fashionable for outer wear in past centuries? Call them what you like: Spencers, short jackets, or Regency jackets were very popular. Take a look at the jackets being worn by women in the early 1800s or the times of Jane Austen. books2read.com/suziloveSpencers
Definition: Spencer – Short, bodice hugging, usually long sleeved, outer jacket. For warmth and for fashion.
Definition Caroline Spencer: Worn during the Directoire and First Empire (1790-1815 C.E.). Spencer with pelerine cape that was made of white kerseymere and trimmed with light blue satin cut on bias.
Love the Bridgerton Series? Fan of Jane Austen? What did men wear in the early 1800s? Suits, hats, shoes, underclothing, military and bedroom fashions. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten #BritishHistory.
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. French fashions and Georgian and Regency Era fashions from Great Britain were copied around the world. Take a look at the outfits worn by gentlemen in the Bridgerton series and in Jane Austen’s lifetime. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819
An overview of women’s fashions in the first twenty years of the 19th century. These books look at what was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s. Wars were being fought around the globe so women’s fashion adopted a military look in support of soldiers. In Britain, the Prince Regent ruled instead of his father, King George III, so fashions, like the lifestyle, became more extravagant and accessories went from pretty to opulent.
Reader Or Writer of Regency Era? Love Jane Austen fashions? What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or 1800s, or Regency Era. High-waisted dresses were extravagantly accessorized and hats, shoes, parasols and bags were added. Set includes History Notes Books 12, 25, 26, 27 and 28. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomenBoxSet
Ladies clothing in the early 1800’s featured a high waist line called an Empire Line, or Empire style dress, with a waist line just under the natural bust line and much higher than the natural waist. The high-waisted, or short-bodied, Regency styles shifted focus away from the natural waist and so left the natural waist unconstricted, in direct contrast to previous and future styles. Britain took these simple European styles and progressively made them more elaborate by adding more and more complicated embroidery onto white fabrics to create the white on white look popular for many years.
The empire look of fine muslin dresses left women more exposed than in the Georgian Era when fabrics had been thicker and styles bulkier. Women, especially in England, preserved their modesty by adding lace, frills, flounces, ruches, and fabric plaits to dresses to adequately cover any parts that might inadvertently be exposed. Outer layers, such as Spencers, Redingotes or Pelisses or coats, and shawls, were also added for warmth and to brighten outfits. This Empire fashion was totally dependent on a supply of fine, translucent cotton muslin – at first imported from India, then later, less exclusive imitations often woven and printed or embroidered in Britain. Fabrics were soft and lightweight and muslins and other cotton fabrics from India and other Asian countries were in high demand.
Christmas pudding originated as a 14th century porridge called ‘frumenty’ , made of beef and mutton with raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. Often more like soup, it was eaten as a fasting meal in preparation for Christmas festivities. By 1595, frumenty changed into a plum pudding thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, dried fruit and flavoured with beer and spirits. It became the customary Christmas dessert around 1650, but in 1664 the Puritans banned it as a bad custom. In 1714, King George I re-established it as part of the Christmas meal, having tasted and enjoyed Plum Pudding.
“In December, the principal household duty lies in preparing for the creature comforts of those near and dear to us, so as to meet old Christmas with a happy face, a contented mind, and a full larder; and in stoning the plums, washing the currants, cutting the citron, beating the eggs, and mixing the pudding, a housewife is not unworthily greeting the genial season of all good things.” Via 1861 Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
The Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s Day was Stirring-up Sunday, and the day to prepare the family’s Christmas pudding. The eldest member of the household or a visitor would give the first stir and charms were stirred into the pudding. A ring meant a coming marriage, a button was bachelorhood, a thimble meant spinsterhood, and a sixpence was good luck. Puddings were steamed in a pudding bag and stored in a cool place until Christmas Day.
What was fashionable outdoor wear for Jane Austen and contemporaries? Reticules, Spencers, and Pelisses, or Walking Dresses, Or Redingotes. History Notes Books 3, 4, and 5 By Suzi Love.
What was fashionable for purses in past centuries? Call them what you like: purses, bags, handbags, reticules, ridicules, clutches, or pocket replacements. They all did the same job and they changed greatly with the prevailing fashions of time. books2read.com/suziloveReticules
What was fashionable in women’s jackets in the Regency Era? Call them what you like: Spencers, short jackets, or Regency jackets. They provided modesty and warmth and they changed greatly with the prevailing fashions of the time. Take a look at the jackets being worn by women in the early 1800s. books2read.com/suziloveSpencers
What sort of coats did women wear during the Regency years? them what you like: Coat, Pelisse, Redingote, Walking Dress, Promenade Dress. Take a look at what was being worn by women, men, and children. books2read.com/suzilovePelisse
I love finding out the tradition behind some of the things we do and say at Christmas, don’t you? So I am going to do a series of posts this week covering lots of the historical aspects of our celebrations. Why we say things, why we do things, and why we use things to decorate our houses. Enjoy the festive season with me with more posts to follow.
CHRISTMAS
The word has been around for centuries, with some dictionaries putting it in the late Old English period and others to the 12th century. Old forms include cristes masse and christmasse, meaning the festival (mass) of Christ. It replaced other pagan midwinter festivals when the church tried to persuade Romans to convert to Christianity.
This abbreviation annoys a lot of people but it isn’ t simply modern shorthand. X was used to represent the Greek symbol chi, which is also the first letter in Christ. This has been used since Roman times.
The word means to adorn and is from the 16th century, but the seasonal meaning of to deck with ornamental accessories dates from the 18th century. The word originates from the Latin decoratus (beautify).
It was first seen in the expression tinsell saten which means strips of shining metal used for ornament. It also describes things that are showy and worthless. It is believed to have come from the Anglo Norman with ancestors in Old French.
This book shows how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through past centuries. Corsets flattened breasts and accentuated rounded hips or pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line depending on the fashions of the time and the desired silhouette. Includes corsets through the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras and Jane Austen’s lifetime. Overview of corsets through history, including the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Edwardian Eras and Jane Austen’s lifetime. History Notes Book 14.
1812 Dress of Yellow Virginie, French. High waisted dress trimmed with lilacs, cashmere shawl, high white neck frill, high flowered bonnet. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien.
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.
At the end of the winter term, schoolmasters would set their pupils to work on Christmas Pieces, samplers of writing on superior paper with engraved borders, to show parents how they had progressed during the year. By about 1820, the engraved borders were enhanced with color and the children’s pieces became more decorative.
However, the custom of sending cards at Christmas was started in the United Kingdom in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. Postage had been standardized three years earlier and Cole was a civil servant who had played a key role in initiating Uniform Penny Post. He wanted ordinary people to become more interested in the new ‘Public Post Office’. With his artist friend John Horsley, they designed the first card which was issued from a periodical, Felix Summerley’s Home Treasury, and were sold for 1 shilling each.
The card was lithographed, hand-colored, had three panels and was in a rustic frame of carved wood and ivy. The outer two panels showed people caring for the hungry and the naked. The centre panel showed a family of three generations having Christmas dinner, although the temperate classes strongly objected to the idea of a child being given a glass of wine with dinner.
1843 First Christmas Card ever Printed. Vintage Christmas Card.
New railways carried more post, and a lot faster, than a horse and carriage so the Post Office offered a Penny stamp. Cards became even more popular when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny. Christmas cards became truly popular when printing improved and cards could be produced in large numbers, around 1860. By the early 1900s, the custom had spread over Europe and especially in Germany.
Early cards usually pictured Nativity scenes, but in the late Victorian times, robins and snow-scenes became popular because the postmen wore red uniforms and were nicknamed ‘Robin Postmen’. Snow-scenes were also popular because they were a reminder of the very bad winter of 1836.
Christmas Morning Post. Two Robins With A Christmas Card.
Snow scenes reflected the snowy and often harsh northern hemisphere winters when opening and reading Christmas cards was an enjoyable family experience. In 1860, Charles Goodall & Son, a British publisher of visiting cards, began mass producing cards to be used for visits during the Christmas period. These Christmas and New Year’s visiting cards were decorated with simple designs such as a twig of holly or flowers.
Sales of cards grew and designs and sizes changed. The first cards were meant to appeal to the masses and encourage them to send large numbers by post, so rather than focus on religious images, they showed sentimental or humorous images of family and children, fanciful designs of flowers, fairies, or reminders of the approach of spring. Religious themes of nativity scenes, children looking at the manger, or angels and candles remain popular to the modern day.
Cards could be shaped like bells, a fan, a crescent, a circle, or a diamond and were folding, decorated with jewels, iridescent, embossed, and carried either simple Christmas and New Year greetings or had verses and carols written in them. The next year, Mr W.C.T. Dobson produced a sketch symbolizing the ‘Spirit of Christmas’ which sold many more than the previous thousand and the novelty caught on.
Xmas_card_1885_Cut Out chromolithographed cartouche on backing card with cut paper work borders and embossing.
Many artists became famous for their annual illustrations that became postcards and cards. Printing technology became more advanced in the age of industrialisation and the price of card production dropped. With the introduction of the halfpenny postage rate, the Christmas card industry industry increased until in 1880 11.5 million cards were produced.
1811 Walking Dress, French. High-waisted lavender Redingote over a white dress, paisley shawl, white gloves, slippers, and a ruched hat to match the high ruched neck frill. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
