1818 Descriptions for types of ‘DRESS’ during Bridgerton’s and Jane Austen’s years. Dresses, coats or Redingotes, Spencers, shawls, fichu or shoulder cape, shoes, hats and headdresses, gloves, and Reticules or bags were displayed in various fashion magazines and copied by ladies and their modistes.
- Morning Dress: Worn either at home, out shopping, or for walking in the park or country. Presentable but not overly accessorized.
- Afternoon Dress: Dress made from the best fabric and beautifully decorated to see and be seen in when visiting friends, going to a museum or attending a daytime public event.
- Walking Dress: Worn out shopping, walking in a city park or the country estate. Presentable and warm, more fashionable than Morning Dress but accessorized for sun protection and warmth, rather than display.
- Promenade Dress: Includes gown, hat, and other accessories and more styled and fashionable than morning or walking dress. An ensemble designed to see and be seen in.
- Evening Dress: Minute distinctions between ball, dinner, evening and opera gowns meant different quality of fabrics, designs, and embellishments.
- Ball Dress: Gown of expensive silk fabrics, light or heavy, decorated with lace, embroidery or beading, with low-cut bodice, short or barely-there sleeves, and full skirts. Often shorter length skirt for dancing.
- Mourning Dress: Mourning dress wasn’t as strict during the Regency as in Victorian era but periods of wearing black, white and grey were observed, especially for Royal deaths.
- Empire Dress: Light and flowing dresses with waists just under bust worn during French Empire Period, or early 1800s.
Fashion Women 1815-1819 History Notes Book 28 What did Jane Austen wear? What was fashionable for women in Regency Era? Mourning and riding fashion, dresses, hats, shoes, reticules or bags, underclothing and fashion accessories. books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
Yellow pelisse with elaborately decorated hem, red draping shawl,
red reticule or bag, high yellow bonnet trimmed with flowers and yellow shoes. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’, London, U.K.
