1808 Two Ladies, French. Apricot Evening Dress Or Moire Brochee, French. Patterned dress with very low cut bodice, short sleeves, long white gloves, and holding a Lorgnette, or looking glass, and a handkerchief. Grey Redingote with high waist and holding a red shawl. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
The French magazine, Journal des Dames et des Modes, frequently made fashion plates with a single woman, two women or a woman with a man where they wear the same outfit. The two variations show innovative ideas for decorating plain white muslin dresses with a range of colorful accessories, and the early 1800s were definitely the years when accessories were the fashion highlight. Add a pair of colorful long gloves, a draped shawl or scarf, a reticule, handkerchief, fan or looking glass and the typical white dress is given individuality and personality.
Here is the companion to the above fashion plate with the single lady in her apricot dress. The lady in a grey Redingote is added.
1818 Blue Spencer Of Levantine, French. White cotton print dress with ruffled hem, high plumed bonnet and a neck scarf.
Definition Levantine: Stout silk cloth in twill weave. First made in the Levant, a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia.
Definition Spencer: Short jacket, cropped at the waist, worn over a dress, or gown. These close-fitting, tight sleeved, waist length jackets were modeled on a gentleman’s riding coat, but without tails. Delicate and regency dresses provided so little protection from the cold, so over garments were essential for warmth, modesty and good health.
19th Century Leather Travel Trunk, English. #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #travel
The trunk is made of wood and covered with woven canvas. It has leather corners and straps and handles for securing and lifting. The lock plate cover is marked ‘Finnigan’s London’, 18 New Bond Street, London, UK, and there is a Maker’s Brand and a Maker’s Label. There are four removable linen trays with cloth straps and handles. The trunk measures 13 inches high, 20 inches deep, and 36 inches wide.
19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English.
19th Century Leather Trunk English Wood covered with woven canvas1. 19th Century Leather Trunk, English. Wood covered with woven canvas, leather corners, and lock plate cover marked Finnigan’s London. via Live Auctioneers . liveauctioneers.com
What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening clothing, plus underclothing, corsets and accessories. Fashion Women 1810-1814 History Notes Book 27 This book looks at what was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s, or the Regency Era in Britain. Wars were being fought around the globe so women’s fashion adopted a military look in support of soldiers. Fashions, like the lifestyle, became progressively more extravagant and accessories went from colorful to over-the-top. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
Writing Regency Era Fiction Or Nonfiction? Need more information on Older Gentleman’s Day in early 1800s, or Jane Austen’s Regency Era. A lighthearted overview of an older gentleman’s clothing, social life, and responsibilities in the early 1800s. Take a look at where an older man went, what he wore, and how he managed the family’s finances and his estates. Older Gentleman’s Day Regency Life Series Book 3 books2read.com/suziloveOGD
Angels – Heralds for the news of the birth of a baby in a manger.
Bells – Bells have rung out for all important events for centuries, plus lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell.
Candy Cane – Symbolizes the crook of the shepherds who visited Christ. Red represents the blood that was spilled and white is for purity. The peppermint oil that flavors is known for its strong healing properties.
Cards – Produced in Britain in 1843 to be sent with love to family and friends around the world by the new Postal services.
Carols – Poems and stories of worship made into songs.
Carolers – Groups of people who strolled the streets singing Christmas songs
Feasting – To celebrate the joy of the baby’s arrival on the 25th December.
Gift Giving – The Wise Men bowed before the baby and gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold – Decorating using the color of one of the gifts of the wise men.
Green – Decorating using the color of evergreens which show everlasting love.
Holly – Represents Eternal Life and the crown of thorns worn by Jesus.
Mistletoe: In the 18th Century, men kissed a woman who stood under mistletoe to show love, friendship and goodwill. If a woman was un-kissed, she would (supposedly) never marry.
Nativity: The birth of Jesus Christ
Poinsettia – Red flowers used in countries such as Mexico to symbolize Christmas time.
Stockings – Hung by children to receive gifts
Twelve Days of Christmas: Twelve days between the birth of Christ on December 25 and the coming of the Magi on January 6, the Epiphany.
Tree – Evergreen tree symbolizes eternal life and love
Wreath – Made of evergreens to symbolize never ending love
Our modern Christmas tree tradition probably began in Germany in the 18th century, though some argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century. An evergreen fir tree was used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees but it probably began 1000 years ago in Northern Europe. Many early Christmas Trees seem to have been hung upside down from the ceiling using chains.
The English phrase “Christmas tree”, first recorded in 1835, came from the German words Tannenbaum (fir tree) or Weinachtenbaum (Christmas tree). The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship. At first, a figure of the Baby Jesus was put on the top of the tree. Over time it changed to an angel or fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus, or a star like the Wisemen saw.
Christian tradition associates the holly tree with the crown of thorns, and says that its leaves were white until stained red by the blood of Christ. Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of homes were decorated with plants, garlands, and evergreen foliage and in Victorian times, Christmas trees were decorated with candles to represent stars.
The early Germans conceived of the world as a great tree whose roots were hidden deep under the earth, but whose top, flourishing in the midst of Walhalla, the old German paradise, nourished the she-goat upon whose milk fallen heroes restored themselves. Yggdnafil was the name of this tree, and its memory was still green long after Christianity had been introduced into Germany, when much of its symbolic character was transferred to the Christmas-tree. At first fitted up during the Twelve Nights in honor of Berchta, the goddess of spring, it was subsequently transferred to the birthday of Christ, who, as the God-man, is become the “resurrection and the life.”
Queen Victoria saw a Christmas tree as a girl in 1832. The little princess wrote excitedly in her diary that her Aunt Sophia had set up two “trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed around the tree.” In 1841, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German husband, arranged for a fir tree to be brought from Germany and decorated. By 1850, Victoria and Albert had Christmas trees erected in the British Royal Palaces and their children started the tradition of gathering around the tree.
‘The Christmas-tree is doubtless of German origin. Though in its present form it is comparatively of recent date, yet its pagan prototype enjoyed a very high antiquity.’ From 1873 Harper’s Bazaar, America.
A print of the royal family gathered about the Christmas tree at Windsor Castle appeared in the Illustrated London News in 1848, then in Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1850, and was reprinted again ten years later. The six-foot fir sits on a table, each tier laden with a dozen or more lighted wax tapers. An angel with outstretched arms poses at the top. Gilt gingerbread ornaments and tiny baskets filled with sweets hang by ribbons from the branches. Clustered around the base of the tree are dolls and soldiers and toys.
Christmas trees did exist in America before Queen Victoria made them famous, but mainly only amongst migrant groups from Europe. The writer of an 1825 article in The Saturday Evening Post mentions seeing trees in the windows of many houses in Philadelphia, a city with a large German population. He wrote, Their “green boughs laden with fruit, richer than the golden apples of the Hesperides, or the sparkling diamonds that clustered on the branches in the wonderful cave of Aladdin.” Gilded apples and nuts hung from the branches as did marzipan ornaments, sugar cakes, miniature mince pies, spicy cookies cut from molds in the shape of stars, birds, fish, butterflies, and flowers. A woman visiting German friends in Boston in 1832 wrote about their unusual tree hung with gilded eggshell cups filled with candies.
Not until the mid-nineteenth century did Christmas trees start spreading to homes with no known German connection. But once Queen Victoria approved of the custom of a Christmas tree, the practice spread throughout England and America and, to a lesser extent, to other parts of the world, through magazine pictures and articles. Upper-class Victorian Englishmen loved to imitate the royal family, and other nations copied the custom. Late in the century, larger floor-to-ceiling trees replaced the tabletop size.
1800s Silver and Carved Mother of Pearl Writing and Desk Set, French. Wax Seal, Dip Pen and Letter Opener in the style that Jane Austen would have used to write her novels and her letters. via Ruby Lane Antiques. rubylane.com
1799-1810 ca. Cotton Muslin Gown, Probably American. White cotton embroidered muslin, probably Bengal, all over sprigged broderie anglaise decoration,short sleeve with three pairs of inside ties to adjust the double-puff, ruffled edge, back tie at neckline and waist, ruched band above the slightly trained hem with scalloped sawtooth border and with cotton bodice lining. via whitakerauction.smugmug.com
These lightweight white cotton dresses were fashionable in Jane Austen’s times, but they were certainly not warm when a lady was out walking or when riding in a carriage. Numerous outer layers could be added for warmth and to brighten and personalize an outfit. These might be an overdress, pelisse or redingote, hat, shawl, gloves, or large fur muff.
The Empire dress which evolved in the late 1790s began as a chemise shift gathered under the breasts and at the neck. Named after the First Empire in France, by 1800 Empire dresses had a very low décolleté, or neckline and a short narrow backed bodice attached to a separate skirt. 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 simple cotton high-waisted dress was worn most days and accessorized according to the importance of the occasion.
1800-1820 ca. Man’s Everyday Oatmeal Colored Wool Suit With Breeches. Can you picture Jane Austen’s male relatives and friends wearing this? Oatmeal colored double breasted cutaway style coat with velvet collar, steel buttons, rear flap pockets, back vent flanked by stitched down pleats having top and bottom button detail, glazed linen lining. Fall front tan breeches having three button front, small side buttons, back lacing waistband with pocket, four buttons above buttoned cuff, front lined in green linen. via Whitaker Auction whitakerauction.smugmug.com
