1801 Dress With Train, French. English style coat and Polonaise hat to match dress. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
1798 Gentleman’s Outfit, French. Long green overcoat with yellow buttons, tan gloves, black boots topped with yellow band, gloves with three seams across the back of the hand, high white cravat, black hat, fob at his waist and holding a cane. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
19th Century Early Women’s Cotton Caps. Worn as morning caps, night caps, or under other hats. With lappets, hanging ties, or tails, which were also called ‘follow me lads’, or ‘flirtation ribbons’. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
Definition Caps: Worn as morning caps, night caps, or under other hats. Jane Austen and her family and female friends 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.
Caps sometimes had hanging ties, or tails, were also called ‘follow me lads’, or ‘flirtation ribbons’.
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.
19th Century First Half Woman’s Embroidered Cap, French. In the 19th Century, women wore some sort of headwear during the day and the evening. Finely decorated cotton caps were worn during the morning with informal or At-Home, dress and at night with nightwear. These caps had fine embroidery, ruffles, lace edgings on the streamers, embroidered, pointed edges of the ruffles, ties, and streamers, known as ‘follow me lads’ or ‘flirtation ribbons’.
19th Century First Half Woman’s Embroidered Cap, French. Cotton mull with cotton embroidery, linen bobbin lace insertion, silk ribbon, round gathered crown with spoked wheel design in center surrounded by long leafed wreath, outside this a wreath of carnations, same carnations around forehead band and neck band, design embroidered with white linen thread, white taffeta ribbon run through the embroidered net casing and tied in center back. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
1798 Woman’s Light Blue Douillette, Or Housecoat, French. Trimmed with pink velvet, pink fan, black slave sandals, apricot hat with black trim. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Description Douillette: A coat or housecoat, sometimes quilted, worn in France.
1814 Couple In Walking Ensembles, French. Gentleman in a brown tailcoat with a notched collar and back pockets, vest, white breeches tied under his knees, red fob at the waist, white stockings, high white shirt collar, white cravat, top hat and cane. Lady in adorable pink Redingote with capes.
1845-1865 ca. Black Faille Evening Slippers, French. Designed By Melnotte for Department Store J. Petit.
Black slippers, which went with anything, were an essential for mid 1800s fashionable ladies. Generally made of satin so dull faille fabric is unusual so possibly for mourning. Label written largely in French of London shop, exclusive agent, plus other fashionable imported Parisian accessories. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1800-1810 ca. Flat Silk Slippers With Ankle Ties Worn By Empress Josephine Bonaparte and As Worn By Jane Austen And friends. #Regency #Shoes #JaneAusten #France
Shoes in the early 1800s were flat or low heeled and occasionally decorated with a bow or floral embellishments and it wasn’t until the 1820s that square, rather than rounded or pointed toes became fashionable. Made of soft kid or cloth, these delicate shoes were flimsy and wore out quickly. There was often no difference between a left or right shoe, so when one slipper had a hole it was easily replaced. Slippers were often bought in multiples at a time so there were spares.
1817 White Percale Dress, French. Dress has layers of decoration above hem, black velvet Spencer, or jacket, wide brimmed straw hat trimmed in blue, neck scarf and walking shoes. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Definition Spencers: Short jackets worn for warmth over the high-waisted Empire style gowns said to have originated when Earl Spencer tore the tails off his coat in a hunting accident. In support of military men fighting wars everywhere, fashions for Spencers leaned towards military style embellishments, such as loops, buttons, and braids. Puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves were also very popular. Jane Austen and her friends and family wore Spencers over their high-waisted dresses.
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.
19th Century Early Green Silk Stockings With Gold Embroidery, French. via Metropolitan Museum, N.Y.C., U.S.A. metmuseum.org
In Jane Austen’s times, women, men, and children wore silk stockings, often embroidered in silk. In the Eighteenth Century, clocks had fallen out of fashion, but they were still being worn by wealthy aristocrats during the early 1800s.
In 1815, Rudolph Ackermann’s Repository Of Arts had an advertisement for silk stockings. ‘The cheapest and by far the largest stock ever produced by any one house now on Sale at the Manufacturer’s Warehouse, 51, Cheapside. The patterns are of the richest and most elegant description, beginning at the extraordinary low price of 8 shillings, usually sold for 10 shillings and 6 pence, to the very best and finest quality at 12 shillings 6 pence, usually sold for 16 shillings.’
