1805-1810 ca. Evening Dress, French. Empire style, or high-waisted, cotton dress, short sleeves
and long train. Gold metallic thread embroidery. via Metropolitan Museum, N.Y.C., U.S.A.
“The more I know of the world the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” Jane Austen ~ Sense and Sensibility (1811)
1819 White Dress With Short Sleeves, English. Styled after the Court of France. Yellow skirt with long train decorated with flowers. Flowered headdress, long white gloves, necklace.Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London.
1815-1818 ca. Cocoa Silk Figured Dress with Spencer. High-waisted, Empire style, dress with long sleeved Spencer, decorated shoulders, bodice and hem. The Bridgertons, Jane Austen, and their family and friends would have worn this style of dress and Spencer. via Whitaker Auction whitakerauction.smugmug.com Spencers were needed to cover the flimsy dresses made of lightweight fabrics of the Regency years, to provide warmth and some protection from windy conditions when the transparency of gowns might cause modesty issues. Jane Austen and her contemporaries often walked to places and so would have needed the warmth of a Spencer over her dress in the cold British winters.
Definition Spencer: Short jacket said to have originated from an accident to Lord Spencer’s coat when hunting and tails were torn off.
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Regency is the time period in England that began in 1811 when King George III had increasing bouts of madness and was finally declared mad. The Prince of Wales was officially named Regent, often referred to as “Prinny”, and the Regency period ran until 1820 when King George III died and the prince was crowned King George IV. The long Regency era is from the time of Jane Austen and the Napoleonic Wars until the time Queen Victoria ascended the throne.
19th Century Early Woman’s Plain Weave Linen Chemise, Or Shift, American. Shift with scoop neck with drawstring, three-quarter length sleeves with drawstrings and lighter-weight linen ruffles. Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. Probably worn by Abigail Robbins (1759-1850) and Inherited by Ellen A. Stone; Gift to MFA, 1899. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. Type worn By the Bridgerton Ladies and Jane Austen.
Chemise Or Shift: Sleeveless, mid-calf length garment of white cotton or muslin was worn next to the skin under stays or corset. Called ‘Shift’ from early Georgian (1700-1750) until Late Georgian (1750-1790) to replace ‘Smock’. By 1800, name replaced by ‘Chemise’.
1800 ca. Heptagonal Bag, French. Old rose moiré silk panels on steel cockade frame. Cut steel rosettes at rivets. Steel turn-key closure. White ribbon on steel rings. White silk lining. Credit: The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
Reticule Or Bag: As the silhouette of dresses became more form fitting and fabrics lighter and more transparent, pockets could no longer be hidden in the folds of skirts or underwear. Something else was needed to hold a lady’s essentials. Small purses, like men’s money pouches, were used by women to carry money for gambling, sewing necessities, and women’s daily requirements such as combs. A 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 was called a reticule, or ridicule. They came in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have purchased or hand made reticules, or bags, for each other for gifts and carried them with them whenever they went out.
1806 Waiting For the St. Cloud Coach, Place de la Concorde, Paris. Illustrations by Francis Courboin. via Les Modes de Paris. (PD-Art) This couple is depicted waiting for the coach, which was a passenger vehicle drawn by four horses. The woman is wearing a fashionable hat or “capote” that covers her face. Her dress maintains the empire waist and has very long sleeves that also have a ‘mancheron’ or a gathered sleeve at the shoulders. The man is wearing a ‘habit du gagé’ or a coat with tails, buttoned at the waist. His hat is a ‘haut-de-forme’ or what is commonly known in English as a top hat. He wears tight, short pants tucked into large, riding boots, as was the fashion for men. Illustrations by François Courboin from Octave Uzanne‘s Les Modes de Paris. Variations du goût et de l’esthétique de la femme, 1797-1897, L. Henry May, Paris, 1898, or from the English translation of the same work: Fashion in Paris : the various phases of feminine taste and aesthetics from 1797 to 1897, William Heinemann, London, 1898. Modes de Paris VIa Brown University Library .
1790-1810 ca. Linen and Metal Corset, American Or European. Front Lacing. #Corset #RegencyEra #GeorgianEra #JaneAusten. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook16
Continue reading →1808 Two ladies in high-waisted dresses, French. White dress with blue paisley shawl, blue shoes and red and white bonnet, blue dress with elaborate yellow trims, yellow shoes and bonnet to match.Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
These are the types of general morning dress worn by Jane Austen and contemporaries in England, as French fashion plates were obsessively copied despite the two countries being at war for many years. English fashion magazines frequently published plates copied from French fashion magazines and both French and English magazines published the same design for both single women’s fashion and for two ladies together.
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 complicated embroidery and colorful accessories.
