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
“One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.” Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice (1813) #JaneAusten #Quote #Regency
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.
I love golf and I love bits and pieces of history, so these facts on Golf Holes combine my two loves,
Suzi
The 18 holes come from the renovations of the Old Course at St. Andrews, the ostensible first golf course from 1400’s.
In 1848 or so, with the invention of the new, cheap, golf ball, the Brits went golf mad, like the tennis buffs in the 1970’s and the joggers in the ‘1980’s. They were churning up the Old Course something fierce, playing the 9 holes both directions, (this was way it was done, up, then back same course.)
So decisions were made to alleviate the problem. First thought was to extend the course and bring it around into a circle, ending at beginning. This was met with great uproar and consternation. So the additional 8 greens were added by increasing the width and people go up “the back nine” and back the additional.
Then George V saw what they had done and had an 18 hole course built at Richmond Palace, with the object in mind to provide the people who couldn’t afford the private clubs a golf course. Old Course at St. Andrews 18 hole, this Prince’s and the subsequent Duke’s courses are part of the heart of the British people.
There has been some discussion on the names for Corset Makers. I’ve seen lots of names, including Stay Maker, Stay Manufacturer, Corset Maker, Body Tailor and Milliner. It was mainly men who were Stay Makers, but there were also some women who included stay making with their millinery.
Corsets Overview History Notes Nonfiction Book 14. 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.
19th Century Early Women’s Cotton Caps. Worn as morning caps, night caps, or under other hats. The proper 19th century woman wore various forms of headwear throughout the day and evening. Unstructured, finely decorated cotton caps were worn in the morning hours with the informal attire appropriate for the early part of the day. Jane Austen and her family and female friends, and the Bridgerton family, 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. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
Definition Boudoir Or Morning Cap: worn by women in the privacy of their ‘boudoir’ and was not a simple night-cap but a lightweight, decorated cap which covered the hair before it was dressed for daytime activities or for at-home pursuits.
Definition Cornette or Morning Cap: Muslin or other lightweight material, worn to cover hair during at-home pursuits such as reading or sketching, tied under chin and sometimes worn under bonnet.
Definition Lappets: Two long strips of material, often lace, hanging from top of head down back or over shoulders. Sometimes extensions of a headdress and a requirement for court dress.
1817 Couple In Jane Austen and Bridgerton style Walking Dress and Gentleman in Same Green Redingote.
Lady: Blue satin Spencer over a white dress with puffed trimming around hem, pink bonnet, white ruff and tucker. Man: Long green Redingote, or overcoat, in the English style. Long brown trousers, striped waistcoat or vest, top hat, gloves and boots. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Definition Redingote Or Coat Or Pelisse: Long fitted outdoor coat worn over other garments for warmth. French word developed from English words, riding coat. French fashion plates call these coats a Redingote and English plates call them a Pelisse, Or Walking Dress, or Carriage Costume. These are the types of outfits worn by Jane Austen and contemporaries in English magazines, where French fashions were obsessively copied despite the two countries being at war for many years.
This same Fashion Plate is seen below for the gentleman.
1816 May Wedding Dress Of Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817). Worn at her wedding to Prince Leopold Saxe-Coburg. Silk satin high-waisted bodice with short puffed sleeves, dipping neckline, underskirt, overskirt, train and apron. Created by Mrs Triaud, London dressmaker although this may not be the original skirt. Metallic embroidery was very fashionable for court dress in early 19th Century despite the cost and delicacy but was an unusual choice for Princess Charlotte who preferred to dress simply. via Museum of London, UK. museumoflondon.org.uk
The wedding dress of Princess Charlotte Augusta as described in La Belle Assemblee magazine for May, 1816.
“As we have been gratified with a sight of the wedding dresses of this amiable and illustrious female, a particular yet concise account of them cannot but be acceptable to our fair readers. The Royal Bride, happy in obtaining him whom her heart had selected, and whom consenting friends approved, wore on her countenance that tranquil and chastened joy which a female so situated could not fail to experience.
Her fine fair hair, elegantly yet simply arranged, owed more to its natural beautiful wave than to the art of the friseur; it was crowned with a most superb wreath of brilliants, forming rosebuds with their leaves. Her dress was silver lama [lamé] on net, over a silver tissue slip, embroidered at the bottom with silver lama in shells and flowers. Body and sleeves to correspond, elegantly trimmed with point Brussels lace.
The manteau was of silver tissue lined with white satin, with a border of embroidery to answer that on the dress, and fastened in front with a splendid diamond ornament. Such was the bridal dress … The jewellery of the royal bride is most superb; beside the wreath, are a diamond cestus, ear- rings, and an armlet of great value, with a superb set of pearls.
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
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
