18th Century Early. Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules, European. Embroidered in the Florentine Style, a type of flame stitch canvas work with varied stitch lengths often in subdued tones. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A.


18th Century Early. Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules, European. Embroidered in the Florentine Style, a type of flame stitch canvas work with varied stitch lengths often in subdued tones. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A.


1800s White Evening Dress. Long train on the dress, gold sash, evening hair style, and carrying a fan. via The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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.


1790-1820 ca. Fichus, Or Shoulder Shawls. Short and Long. Embroidered Cream Net Fichus as worn by ladies in the times of Jane Austen. via Whitaker Auction whitakerauction.smugmug.com
Definition Fichu: Triangular piece of lace, muslin, or other cloth worn about the neck and cleavage to fill in a low bodice or neckline and preserve a lady’s modesty. From the French ‘thrown over’. The Bridgerton family and Jane Austen and her female family and friends would have worn a Fichu over a light muslin dress for both warmth and modesty.


1808 Two Bodi1808 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.


1809 Wedgwood and Byerley showrooms for Wedgewood china, York Street, London, UK. Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s Repository of Arts. The premises of master potter Josiah Wedgwood in York Street, St James’ Square, London, U.K. Wedgwood china was known for its high quality, beautiful glazes and Wedgwood trademark printed on the back of each item. The London show-room was managed by Thomas Byerley, who also held a quarter share of the business. From 1790 to 1810 the firm was known as Wedgwood and Byerley.


1802 White Dress, French. Long burgundy shawl, white lace cap and yellow gloves. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1801-1804
The type of dress worn across Europe in the early 1800s. This sort of high-waisted dress would have been worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries in England. The Empire waist gown defined women’s fashion during the Regency Era. ‘Empire’ is the name given in France to the period when Napoleon 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.


1816 Ball Dress, French, as worn by the Bridgertons and Jane Austen. White short length dancing dress, multiple frills above hem, black bodice with a back bow, hair braided and pinned into an upswept evening style. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Women’s clothing came in the late 1810s came in a wide range of styles to suit every season and occasion. When attending assemblies or balls, ladies in Jane Austen’s times women wore Empire style dresses which were usually of light fabric and floaty in style and often of a shorter length suitable for dancing.


1809 Women’s Fashions: Dresses, Shawls, Hats and Jewelry from various fashion magazines. 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.

Custom House, London. From 1825 Views Of London. The Custom-House of London appears to much advantage in the accompanying view. Flanked by the little navy of Billingsgate, with a glimpse of the dome of St. Paul’s, the Monument, and London-Bridge in the distance, it stands forward in majestic composure on the edge of the Thames. The first stone of this building was laid on the Twenty-fifth of October, 1813, the fifty-third Anniversary of his late Majesty’s Accession, and it was opened for business on the twelfth of May, 1817; the old Custom-House in the interim (February, 1814) having been consumed by fire. It is built after a plan by David Laing, Esq. and cost in the erection 167,000 pound besides 29,300 pound paid for the property on which it stands, after deducting 12,440 pounds received for old materials. The length of the front here presented, which is executed in Portland stone, is 484 feet, 101 inches. The architectural beauties of the Custom House consist in an appropriate simplicity of style, combined with a classical adherence, throughout, to the rules of just proportion. As the Official Registry of the exports and imports of the State, where the complicated concerns of the mercantile interests of this vast Empire are reduced under a few general heads, it imparts a profound moral attraction to the scene.
1825 Custom House, London. From 1825 Views Of London. #London #BritishHistory #England https://books2read.com/suziloveROver Share on X
1800 White Muslin Dress, European. Empire style, high-waisted dress of light weight cotton, with softly falling gathered long skirt and with a train. via Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA. collections.lacma.org
The type of dress worn across Europe in the early 1800s. This sort of high-waisted dress would have been worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries in England. The Empire waist gown defined women’s fashion during the Regency Era. ‘Empire’ is the name given in France to the period when Napoleon 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.
