Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10. How did people travel in Bridgerton’s and Jane Austen’s times? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier? Travel by road, ship, canal, or railway all took a long time and had dangers so people learned to prepare. And then, in the nineteenth century, road improvements, inventions, and scientific developments made travel more pleasurable. books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel
1800 – 1820 ca. Bag, Or Reticule, Dutch. Cotton, glass and with drawstring. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org http://books2read.com/suziloveReticules Because reticules were so popular, Jane Austen and her family and friends and the Bridgerton family would have made reticules for each other for gifts and carried these small purses with them whenever they went out.
From Historic Dress In America: ‘Reticules were so universally carried during the first part of the nineteenth century that they were called Indispensables, and a few years later ridicules. Miss Southgate describes one in a letter in 1802, ‘Martha sent me a most elegant Indispensable, white lute-string spangled with silver…’
Definition Reticule Or Bag or Purse: Often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. A reticule, or purse, or handbag, was usually carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. Earlier, women used pockets that tied at the waistline and were hidden in the folds of their skirts. Empire style, or early 1800s, high-waisted dresses made it impossible to either sewn in a pocket or to tie on a pocket. So women began carrying small, decorated bags called Reticules, or ridicules, which generally pulled close at the top with a drawstring.
• Beadwork: Attaching beads to one another by stringing with a needle and thread or thin wire, or sewing them to cloth. Includes loom weaving, stringing, bead embroidery, bead crochet, and bead knitting.
• Embroidery: Decorating fabrics with a needle and thread, or cloth, such as a needlepoint picture of a house or hand sewn initials.
Chatelaines and Chains History Notes Book 9 By Suzi Love. What do you know about Chatelaines and Chains worn in Jane Austen’s and Bridgerton times? Women in charge of households carried important items with them. History Notes Book 9 Chatelaines and Chains. books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines
Personal Necessities, keys, or chatelaines was a set of useful items hung from waist by decorative chain. Chatelaines and Chains. History Notes Book 9 By Suzi Love. Women in charge of households dangled long chains from their waists to keep essentials within easy reach e.g. keys, notebook and pen, watch, sewing items, vinaigrette or perfume, or magnifying glass. Early chatelaine were simple essentials. Later chatelaine were decorative and expensive. http://books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines
Definition Chatelaine: The word Chatelaine is French and means the keeper of the keys. Chatelaine” derives from the Latin word for castle. In Medieval times, the chatelaine was in charge of the day-to-day running of the castle. Women in charge of households dangled long chains from their waists to keep essentials within easy reach e.g. keys, notebook and pen, watch, sewing items, vinaigrette or perfume, or magnifying glass. Early chatelaine were simple essentials. Later chatelaine were decorative and expensive.books2read.com/SuziLoveChatelaines
What did a chatelaine do? Most important task was keeper of the keys. Also ordered supplies, did bookkeeping, supervised servants, taught castle children, and organized guests.
1800 ca. White Silk Reticule. Gathered into square top with filigree edge, piped with green satin. Embroidered with green velvet ivy sprays applied with gold couching. Lined with white silk. Handmade. bowesmuseum.org.uk http://books2read.com/suziloveReticules
1800 ca. White Silk Reticule. Gathered into square top with filigree edge, piped with green satin. Embroidered with green velvet ivy sprays applied with gold couching. Lined with white silk. Handmade. bowesmuseum.org.uk
The term ‘ridicule’ derived from the Latin ‘ridiculum’ and first used in France during the 17th century and meant subjecting something or someone to mockery. As women’s tiny bags were mocked, or ridiculed, for being a useless fashion accessory carried outside when they were first used in the late 1700s, it’s likely this is how the name ‘ridicule’ started. The later term ‘reticule’ derived from the Latin reticulum, meaning ‘netted bag’ and was applied when bags became larger and often made from netting. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, they were also known as indispensables as they carried all the personal items a lady needed upon her person every day. They were easily made by ladies, easy to carry and became an indispensable fashion accessory.
In the early nineteenth century, reticules started to look like future handbags as they were often made from rigid card or molded mâché or card into a variety of shapes. Early bags were circular and with a drawstring but as women wanted their reticules to look individual they could be made with two halves and a hinged metal closure or with concertina sides. Materials varied from silk, cotton and string and shapes were round, hexagonal or lozenge shapes with shell shaped bags becoming very popular during the Regency and Romantic Eras.
1800s magazines were written for well bred women who could read, so they gave plenty of ideas for how ladies could make and embellish reticules for their own use and as pretty gifts. Needlework was highly encouraged as a pastime for a lady so bags were frequently embroidered or decorated with beading. By the 1820s, reticules became more like our modern handbags using soft leather gathered at the top or hard leather with a rigid fastener and metal chain for carrying.
Are you a reader or writer of Regency Romance? Love Jane Austen’s books? Want to know more about the mourning, riding, underclothing and other Regency Era women’s fashions in Regency romances? What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening clothing, plus underclothing, corsets and accessories. 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
19th Century. Seven Piece Desk Set, French. Empire Style Desk Set, Napoleon III Era, French Empire Revival style, Baccarat crystal, glass, gilt, bronze ormolu writer’s desk set, including ink well and roller. The type of writing set that most households would have in Jane Austen’s and Bridgerton’s times for writing letters and keeping track of estate matters. via Ruby Lane Antiques ~ rubylane.com
An overview of women’s fashions in the first twenty years of the 19th century. 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 and Bridgerton 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.
19th Century Writing Set, French. Old Paris porcelain pot with ormolu fittings, set on a pen tray that is papier mache and hand painted in Chinoiserie, Or Japonaise, Style. The type of writing sets that households would have in Jane Austen’s times for writing letters and keeping track of estate matters. Chinese and Japanese styles of household goods were very fashionable during the English Regency and Victorian years. via Ruby Lane Antiques. rubylane.com
1725-1730 ca. Gold Double-Opening Snuffbox, France. Two tortoiseshell pique panels and two miniatures inside, of Louis XV of France and his wife Marie Leczinska. Made by Jean Baptiste Massé, painter.
Varicolored gold seascape of dolphin and ship with beach littered with shells and rocks, plus ruins, birds, and an island. Inside the box are miniature portraits of Louis XV of France and his wife Marie Leczinska. It has been suggested that the box commemorates the birth of the ‘dauphin’ Louis in 1729, the royal couple’s fourth child, and first son, heir to the throne. A few elements contradict this suggestion: the dolphin does not bear any regal symbol such as a crown, the marks that date the box indicate that it was initiated before the birth of Louis, when the arrival of a son was unknown. It is most probable that these delicate panels, together with the miniature of Louis XV, date from 1725-1730 and have been associated later into this gold snuffbox, and a later miniature of Queen Marie Leczinska.The miniature of the king may have been painted by Jean-Baptiste Massé – he is recorded as supplying miniatures of the king for boxes intended as diplomatic gifts from 1720-26-, or by his lesser known contemporary Jean-Baptiste Ducanel.
The lid is hinged to reveal a miniature, under glass, of Marie Leczinska, queen of France, probably 19th century or heavily restored, wearing a cloak of blue embroidered with gold fleurs-de-lis and lined with ermine overa lace-trimmed dress of red embroidered with gold. In the base is a panel of tortoiseshell pique with a cornucopia of small shells, also hinged to reveal a contemporary miniature of Louis XV of France in armour, wearing a whitestock and the sash of the Order of the Holy Ghost. The gold box, probably early 19th century or later, has plain walls, reeded borders, and a double thumbpiece.
Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Snuff Boxes: Decorative boxes of all types were prized, especially in the 18th Century when everything decorative and extravagant was in vogue and taking a pinch of snuff was fashionable. Snuff is made from ground or pulverized tobacco leaves, flavorings added, and then a pinch of snuff is placed on the back of the hand and sniffed.