1802 August. Two Ladies in Evening Dresses in the high-waisted, or Empire line, styles worn By Jane Austen. White dress with pink trim, pink fan, and pink plumed headdress. Aqua blue dress with white bodice and a blue trimmed evening headdress.

 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. 

Definition Aigret, aigrette, egret: Plume of feathers or jeweled ornament in shape of feathers worn on head or hats. During the early 19th century, or Jane Austen’s lifetime, or during the years of the Bridgerton series, the favorite feathers were osprey and heron.