1814 April White Promenade Dress with velvet Cossack Cape . A cambric round robe, with high bodice and long sleeves, not so full as of late; embroidered stomacher front and high collar, trimmed with muslin or lace; a Tuscan border of needle work at the feet. A Cossack mantle of pale ruby or blossom velvet, lined with white sarsnet, and trimmed entirely round with a broad skin of light sable, ermine, seal or the American squirrel; a short tippet of the same; the mantle confined at the throat with a rich correspondent silk cord and tassels, very long. A mountain hat of velvet, the color of the mantle, finished round the verge with a narrow Vandyke trimming; a small flower placed in the hair beneath, on the left side. Half-boots the color of the mantle; and gloves of primrose kid or pale tan. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition Van Dyke Points: V-shaped lace and trims named after a 17th Century Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, known for painting V-shaped lace collars and scalloped edges on sitters.
Definition Muslin: Thin fabric said to take its name from Mosul or Moosul, a large town in Turkish Asia where it was first made.
