1809 July Opera Dress. I can picture aristocratic women wearing this sort of gorgeous outfit to the opera or an evening event.

Round convent robe of Egyptian brown tissue worn over white satin underdress, ornamented at feet, bosom and sleeves with broad Antique lace, out on full, and narrowing in front, white satin appliqued stomacher embellished with gold lattice work and continued in a straight line down to the hem. Headdress is a gold net caul, enclosing the hair at the back and finished in front with a Mechlin veil displaying the hair on the forehead and falling over the left shoulder. Necklace and armlets are a single row of Bohemian pearl with topaz or diamond snaps. Grecian scarf of rich Andalusian silk, contrasted with the robe and wrought at the ends in a deep Tuscan border of gold or colored silks. White satin slippers, trimmed with brown foil or gold, French kid gloves, opera fan of white crepe with a border of jessamine. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.