Easy to read overview of what an older lady did, wore, and how she lived in Jane Austen and Bridgerton’s time. Information for history buffs and pictures for readers and writers of historical fiction.  Older Lady’s Day Regency Life Series Book 5 by Suzi Love books2read.com/suziloveOLD
1890 Cotton Twill Corset, England or Germany. Machine stitched with front hooks and back lacing and made in two parts. Brown corset with the bones covered with a darker cotton twill, black fabric covered busks and a trimming of black machine-made cotton lace. Lined with white cotton twill and the top and bottom are bound with reddish brown tape.
The front fastens with a busk and the backs are provided with metal eyelets for a lace. The corset is hip length, curving to a rounded point in the front and less deeply at the back. The bones are close-set and splayed out at the bust and hips, and at the tops are trimmed with fancy stitching in cream. There is a band of dark brown cording at the top, covering the breasts. At the waist there is a V-shaped band in darker brown stitching. With metal fastenings. via http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O351699/corset-unknown/
Corsets 1880-1900 History Notes Book 20 This book shows how a fashionable silhouette became of paramount importance and how a well-fitted corset became a fashion essential. As well as a decorative fashion item, tight lacing gave a narrow waist and the desired feminine form under clothing. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook20
1819 Gardens of the Tuileries Near the Rue de Rivoli, Paris, France. Woman in a red walking dress, or Redingote, or Pelisse, modeled after British riding dresses and worn with a high white bonnet with feathers, or plumes. The skirt remains fairly narrow and the waist is fairly low, indicating the transition into 1820 styles. In the background are women walking with children. From 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.
1809 February Walking or Carriage Dress, English. Polanese coat, Saragossa mantle of spring green Virgnia cloth, trimmed round the edges and up the front of the coat with black velvet bindings, and edgings of gold lace. High puckered collar, confined round the throat with a gold cord and acorn tassels. Belt of black velvet, and rich gold clasp. Military cap formed of the same material, and trimmed also with black velvet and gold. Short white lace veil falling from the edge of the cap just below the chin. Half-boots of green kid or cloth, calashed and bound with black, and laced with gold cord. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London.
1817 June Blue Riding Costume, English. Loose riding habit with a train on the skirt, high white neck frill on the shirt underneath, and rows of decoration on the shoulders and cuffs of the habit jacket, an extra high hat with multiple plumes, or, feathers and gloves. Fashion Plate via The Lady’s Magazine Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex.
Male tailors made most women’s riding habits during the Regency years and they were constructed similarly to men’s riding outfits. Generally in two pieces, a jacket and a skirt, and with a shirt with a frilled collar or front opening underneath. The trains of a habit could be caught up for walking, usually with a button and loop, and unhooked and let down so that the skirt flowed over the woman’s legs when she rode side saddle. Due to the numerous wars during the early 1800s, it was seen as patriotic for women to add military style touches to outfits in support of military men. The shoulder and cuff trims resemble the epaulettes and coat trims of a military uniform.
1890-1920 ca. Sterling Silver Chatelaine, England. Center Medallion With Portraits, three drops of monogrammed mesh purse, globe-shaped watch and book-shaped case. Via Augusta Auctions – augusta-auction.com
Definition
What did a chatelaine do?
What were chatelaines used for?
1815 White Dress and Reticule, French. White dress, green bonnet with pink trim to match the adorable pink reticule and green gloves. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have worn this style of outdoor walking outfit and flowered hat.
Definition Reticule: 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.
1820-1840 ca. Hand-Embroidered Wedding Corset, Connecticut, USA. Ivory cotton covered with hand embroidery, including love birds on hearts, front pocket for busk, eyelets for back lacing. Trapunto (to embroider) cording decorates and shapes corset. The back closure has ivory eyelets for the lacing. The center-front has a pocket panel for inserting a busk. Trapunto (to embroider) shapes the corset by outlining the design with two or more rows of running stitches and then padding from the underside which gives a raised effect.The technique was always considered very elegant. Trapunto first appeared in 14th century Sicily and was widely adopted for clothing in Tudor England, and then brought to America by the new settlers. In addition to the cording, the corset is totally covered with hand-embroidered flowers and there are two embroidered love birds on hearts at the center-front. Above the birds is a section of trapunto work. via Vintage Textiles
1818 Blue Levantine Redingote, French. High-waisted walking coat, high white neck frill, bonnet of blue Gros de Naples with pink flowers, short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves, white gloves and blue shoes. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. 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.
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.
1807 Two Ladies and a Gentleman, English. Lady in lavender walking dress with fur trim, reticule or bag, fitted bonnet with tassel and yellow gloves. Lady in white evening dress with salmon tunic caught up at one side and evening turban. Man in long blue overcoat with contrasting collar, high white cravat, yellow gloves, tall boots, and top hat. Typical of the sort of outfits ladies and gentlemen in Jane Austen’s times would have worn while out walking, visiting friends or for an evening event, like a dinner party. A long coat, or Redingote or Pelisse for warmth when outdoors, and all matched with the essentials, day or night, of hats and gloves. via Le Beau Monde, or Literary and Fashionable Magazine, London, U.K.
