1808 Walk in the Tuileries Gardens. A dandy of the Year VIII. According to Baudelaire, a dandy was, “no profession other than elegance…no other status but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons….The dandy must aspire to be sublime without interruption; he must live and sleep before a mirror.” Dandies tried to imitate the aristocracy in manner and appearance. This man wears short breeches, usually worn by the aristocracy, that were out of fashion and had been replaced by the ‘more-democratic’ ankle-length pants. His outfit and manners are a throwback to a pre-Revolutionary era. llustrations by François Courboin from Octave Uzanne’s Les Modes de Paris. Fashion in Paris : the various phases of feminine taste and aesthetics from 1797 to 1897, William Heinemann, London, 1898. (PD-Art) via Brown University Library.
Box Set combining Corset books 14-21 to give a complete picture of the progression of corset styles from 1700 through to the 1900s, including Jane Austen’s lifetime. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook22
This Box Set combines corset books 14-21 to give a complete picture of the progression of corset styles from 1700 through to the 1900s, including Jane Austen’s lifetime and the Bridgerton years. These books show how body wraps, stays, and corsets were worn through the centuries to create a variety of fashionable silhouettes through various historical eras. 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.
19th Century Snuff Boxes. Not only were boxes made to serve a purpose, but decorative boxes of all types were prized, especially in the 18th-19th Centuries 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 and is sniffed from a pinch of snuff placed on the back of the hand.Flavorings were added to the tobacco to give a fast hit of nicotine and a lasting scent. Snuff began in the Americas and was used in Europe by the 17th Century.
Snuff became popular from the mid 1600s to the mid 1800s and was more popular than smoking. Inhaling snuff, or snuffing, was first seen by a European missionary in 1493 in Christopher Columbus’s new world within Haiti’s indigenous Taino. Until then, tobacco had been unknown to Europeans, but its use spread quickly throughout Europe during the 1500s. By the second half of the 17th century, ornate boxes started being produced to keep the precious powder dry and an entire industry making accessories blossomed around the fashion of taking snuff. Noblemen, and some women, carried extravagantly decorated snuff boxes with them at all times and would offer a pinch of their own particular blend to friends and family. Therefore, these boxes were always on display and so it became a competition to see who could have the most bejeweled or expensive box possible. By the mid 1800s, snuff taking was no longer popular so these exquisite and expensive snuff boxes became decorative, rather than functional.
19th Century Shoe Snuffbox. via 1st Dibs Auctions 1stdibs.com19th Century Engraved Horn Snuffbox. Heart surrounded by flowers and leaves, sides with dove, symbol of purity and peace, brass hinge and setting. via 1st Dibs Auctions19th Century Carved Boxwood Snuffbox. Horse with saddle for a lid. via 1st Dibs Auctions
1804-1809 ca. Snuffbox in the Shape of A Lion, Moulinie, Bautte and Cie, Geneva, Switzerland.via Victoria and Albert Museum.1820 Snuffbox with scene of harvesting fruit. By Johann Wilhelm Keibel (master 1812; died 1862). via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org1810 ca. Jeweled Gold Snuff Box, Switzerland. Maker’s Mark Geneva. via Christie’s Auction Rooms. christies.com
This book shows how corsets changed to both provide support and also fit well under clothing to give a fashionable silhouette. Corsets started being a fashion item, rather than simply underclothing to be hidden. Romantic Era women’s fashionable corsets. Corsets worn from 1830-1850, or the Romantic Era of fashion. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18 Corsets 1830-1850 History notes Book 18
1819 White Percale Dress, French. Deep hem of bubbly muslin, matching Percale Spencer or jacket, pink parasol and flowered straw hat. Spencer has short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves and military style trimmings. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Even though this a French fashion plate, this is typical of the outdoor outfit worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries when going outside. An Empire style, or high-waisted white cotton dress worn under a Spencer, or jacket, for warmth and with a parasol to protect fair complexions from the sun.
Description Spencer: Short jackets worn for warmth over the high-waisted Empire style gowns that were popular after the French Revolution, where there was a shift away from opulence and decadence to simpler fashion. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a Spencer and was named after the male coat made famous by the Earl Spencer and said to have originated in accident to Lord Spencer in hunting when coat tails torn off and a cropped jacket was invented. The dresses in the early 1800s therefore became looser, lighter, and flowing and women became cold due to their very low cut and short bodices. Short fitted jackets that went easily over the dresses and provided extra modesty and some warmth. As Europe and many other parts of the world were deep in wars in the late 1700s and early 1800s, men in uniform were found everywhere. In support of these military men, fashions leaned towards military style shoulder paddings, shoulder embellishments, loops, buttons, and braids.
Definition Percale or Perkale: From the Persian word pargalah. Fine cotton fabric, or cambric muslin of good quality, originally from India, generally bleached, printed and finished without gloss. Contains more dressing than ordinary muslin, but without the glossy finish of cambric and is printed in fancy patterns on white and colored grounds. In May 1816, Percale was commented on in Rudolph Ackermann’ Repository Of Arts, “Perkale, as they call cambric muslin, is now almost the only thing worn in the morning costume: you must not, however, fancy that this proceeds from a wish to encourage English manufacture, but partly from a love for novelty, and partly because it is less expensive than cambric, and equally fashionable.”
1818 Military style Redingote, or Coat,or Walking dress, French. High-waisted pale blue outdoors coat with military style braiding and decoration on bodice and sleeves. Matching hat is fitted to her head but with a large high brim and white feathers, or plume, blue walking boots and gloves. The type of outfit young Regency Era ladies would have worn if they were out shopping on Bond Street, walking in a park, or taking a carriage ride through Hyde Park. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. .
Definition Redingote Or Pelisse Or Walking Dress Or Coat: French word developed from English words, riding coat. Long fitted outdoor coat worn over other garments for warmth. Often left open at the front to show off the dress underneath. Sometimes cut away in front. Originally made with several capes and trimmed with large buttons. French fashion plates call these coats Redingotes and they are designed for women, men and children. English fashion plates call them a Pelisse, a walking dress, Promenade dress, or Carriage dress.
1832 Ladies Riding Habits. Grey and Blue with Bouffant, or puffed, sleeves and matching hats. via La Mode.
Definition Bouffant: Type of sleeve that fits close to the body at the shoulder and the lower edge and is wider in the middle, forming a round shape. Popular in the Romantic Era, or from 1815-1840 ca.
1806 Two Ladies In White Dresses, French. High-waisted, Or Empire line, dresses, pink and blue paisley shawls, bonnets tied under their chins, and long gloves, one in gorgeous yellow. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. These fashionable ensembles with a variety of fashionable and practical accessories would have been worn by Jane Austen and her family and friends during the day when out walking in the park or visiting village shops. Hats were a necessity to protect fair skin from the sun and scarfs and shawls added color and warmth to an outfit.
Definition Empire Style Dress: Named after the First Empire in France. Empire dresses had a low neckline and skirts started directly under the bust and flowed into the classical relaxed wide styles of Greece and Rome. This style of dress is associated with Jane Austen and her contemporaries as a high-waisted dress was worn most days. Cotton, silk or taffeta were the popular fabrics. Only the very wealthy could afford white dress in this style as the cottons were imported from India and had to be carefully cleaned, usually by a lady’s maid.
Definition Paisley Shawl: Made of intricately woven and delicate wool with a teardrop motif that originated in Persia and India.
1800-1805 ca. Pink Silk Bonnet, French. Similar to hats worn in England by Jane Austen and friends. Silk net, silk satin ribbon, and silk flowers. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org