1808 January 1st Drawing from Life at the Royal Academy, Somerset House, London, U.K. The Royal Academy would have held art classes like this in London during Jane Austen’s time. Designed and etched by Thomas Rowlandson. Via Wikimedia Commons. commons.wikimedia.org
The London To Louth Royal Mail, England, U.K. Print by Charles Cooper Henderson. (1803-1877)
How did Jane Austen and her family? Did they go by stagecoach? The dreadful condition of British roads caused great apprehension to all classes of travelers. Making a journey anywhere in the country was a big undertaking and often a gentleman composed his last will and testament before his departure. Traveling in vehicles was only possible during the day or on the nights with very bright moonlight with few vehicles attempting road travel in winter and any travel on a Sunday was frowned upon. books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel
Description of Stage Coach Travel in England. via 1815 Journal Tour of Great Britain. “The gentlemen coachmen, with half-a dozen great coats about them, immense capes, a large nosegay at the button-hole, high mounted on an elevated seat, with squared elbows, a prodigious whip, beautiful horses, four in hand, drive in a file to Salthill, a place about twenty miles from London, and return, stopping in the way at the several public-houses and gin-shops where stage-coachmen are in the habit of stopping for a dram, and for parcels and passengers on the top of the others as many as seventeen persons. These carriages are not suspended, but rest on steel springs, of a flattened oval shape, less easy than the old mode of leathern braces on springs. Some of these stage coaches carry their baggage below the level of the axletree.”
1812 June Couple In Fashionable Jane Austen style Walking Dress, English. Lady wears a green cape and hat over a high-waisted, or Empire style, white dress with a pink parasol. Man wears a tailcoat over fawn breeches,
yellow gloves, black shoes and hat and a walking stick. Fashion Plate via The Lady’s Magazine Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex.
By the end of the 18th century, tailored garments for both men and women were replaced by styles made for ease and comfort, resulting in the neoclassical style of the 1780s. Inspired in part by the statuary of ancient Greece and Rome, the new fashion was epitomized by light cotton gowns falling around the body in an unstructured way, held around the high waist with a simple sash and accompanied by a soft shawl draped around exposed shoulders. This style was ideal for the Indian imports like Kashmiri shawls and Bengali muslin, as used in this embroidered gown.
What did the lady of the house use to pen notes in Bridgerton and Jane Austen’s years? What sat on the desk of Jane Austen’s male contemporaries when they managed household and estate accounts? books2read.com/SuziLoveWritingTools. Writing Tools, History Notes Book 13.
1809 Messrs. Harding Howell and Co., London, UK. View of interior of Harding Howell and Co., draper’s shop on Pall Mall. Ladies examine latest fashions and fabrics which they could then request of their dressmakers. This house extended 150 feet from front to back and was divided by glass petitions into four departments, furs and fans, haberdashery, jewellery, ornaments and perfumes, and millinery. bl.uk
1809 July Opera Dress. I can picture aristocratic women wearing this sort of gorgeous outfit to the opera or an evening event.
Round convent robe of Egyptian brown tissue worn over white satin underdress, ornamented at feet, bosom and sleeves with broad Antique lace, out on full, and narrowing in front, white satin appliqued stomacher embellished with gold lattice work and continued in a straight line down to the hem. Headdress is a gold net caul, enclosing the hair at the back and finished in front with a Mechlin veil displaying the hair on the forehead and falling over the left shoulder. Necklace and armlets are a single row of Bohemian pearl with topaz or diamond snaps. Grecian scarf of rich Andalusian silk, contrasted with the robe and wrought at the ends in a deep Tuscan border of gold or colored silks. White satin slippers, trimmed with brown foil or gold, French kid gloves, opera fan of white crepe with a border of jessamine. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
1808 Jane Austen Style Blue Redingote Over A White Dress. Green turban and lace veils. Bodice. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
French fashions like this were copied by English magazines so these styles of hats would have been worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries.
1800s Early Women’s Fashions Collage . Typical of the outfits worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries for daytime and evening activities. An Empire style, or high-waisted white cotton dress worn under a Spencer or short jacket, a Redingote, or coat, for warmth and with pretty hats, shawls and shoes.Women’s Fashions By Suzi Love. High-waisted dresses, hats, muff, parasol, cape, reticule or bag and shoes.
Regency Era women’s fashions are elegant, pretty, and sometimes afford a gentleman a tiny glimpse of a well-turned ankle. Though to me, that sounds more like the lady has sprained her ankle rather than her ankle looking fashionably slim. High-waisted, or Empire style, white gowns defined women’s fashion during the Regency Era. ‘Empire’ is the name given to the period when Napoleon Bonaparte built his French Empire. High-waisted, loose gowns were adopted by the aristocracy as a symbol of turning away from the fussy, elaborate and expensive clothing worn in the 1700s.
Dress fabrics were thinner, sometimes almost transparent, which meant outerwear needed to be thicker and more practical. A coat, called a Redingote in France, a Pelisse in England, and a Walking Dress or Carriage Dress in Rudolph Ackermann’s fashion plates, became a necessity to keep out the chilling cold. Half cloaks, cloche or close-fitting hats, and accessories such as oversized fur muffs were very popular.
1800s Typical Meat and Game Meals served during the 1800s. These are the sort of dishes Jane Austen’s family and the Bridgertons would have eaten on a regular basis.
Pig’s Feet and Truffles, Lyons Sausage, Puree of Game and Rice, Pigeon Pie, Brawn, Calf’s Heart, Larks and Potatoes, Lamb Chops and Potatoes, Calf’s Tongue, Scotch Eggs and Forcemeat, Stuffed tomatoes, Hot and Cold Fowl and Jelly, Veal Cutlets and Olives, Veal Cutlets, Filet Of Beef In the Garden, Fillets Of Beef, Lamb Cutlets and Green Peas, Partridges, Garnished Ham, Garnished Tongue, Chicken Fricassée, Chicken Croquettes, Fricandeau Of Veal, Half Calf’s Head, Chartreuse Of Partridge, Timbale Milanese Or Macoroni.
From: 1860s Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. via Google Books (PD-150)
1815 ca. Tailcoat, Probably British. Black wool, silk cotton and wood. Double-breasted, cutaway at the front waist, notched collar, straight sleeves, pleat falling from the back waist. via Metropolitan Museum, N.Y.C., U.S.A. As Worn By the Men in the Families of Jane Austen and the Bridgertons. #Regency #JaneAusten #Fashion #BritishHistory
Tailcoat: A Regency Era, or early 1800s, gentleman was outfitted in more practical fabrics, such as wool, cotton and buckskin rather than the fussy brocades and silks of the late 1700s. The men in Jane Austen’s life would have worn a black tailcoat like this for everyday wear. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819
