1821 December Green Promenade Dress, English. High waisted coat over white dress with ruffled collar, vertical front bows, short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves, matching ruffled bonnet and yellow gloves. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’, London, U.K.
1812 -1813 Woman elaborately clothed and wearing a fichu, or neck ruffle, steps off the kerb into the street. She holds up her dress before stepping over the dirty Parisian gutter. French Cartoon Series Le Bon Genre Plate 54. Published by: Pierre La Mésangère. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
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’.
1809 Cheltenham Summer Dress, English. Relaxed Empire style high-waisted green dress with long sleeves and red hem trim, long aqua blue draping scarf, wide brimmed hat and holding a red book. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s ‘La Belle Assemblee’, London.
Seaside clothing was very popular. High-waisted dresses, usually of white muslin, were loose and flowing for the summer heat but ladies could easily add colorful accessories, such as shawls, hats, and parasols. In the early 1800s, it was fashionable to parade along the shorefront or in parks, to see and be seen. These are the sort of ensembles that Jane Austen and her family and friends would have worn at seaside towns or at sea bathing resorts.
Fashion Women 1805-1809 History Notes Book 26 What did Jane Austen and friends wear? This book looks at early 1800s fashions, which were elegant and pretty with high waists and fabrics that were almost transparent. These Empire style gowns, named after Napoleon’s first Empress, became popular throughout Europe, and were then copied around the world. Colorful outwear was added to make an ensemble more attractive and warmer. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
1808 ca. Jane Austen style high-waisted muslin dress with bib front, British. High stomacher front, i.e. a bib front fastened with pins, and embroidered with clusters of flowers and leaves. Embroidery satin stitch, chain stitch and French knots. Dress of muslin, embroidered in wool with a design of flowers and leaves down the sleeves and across the front of the dress. The bodice back and side fronts are lined with linen and there are linen undersleeves. The front of the bodice is made up of a panel of bias-cut muslin, which is sewn onto the skirt rather like the bib of an apron so that it can be placed in position at the neck with pins. When the pins are removed the bib front falls away to reveal linen underflaps which fasten across the bust to give support. This type of bodice construction was common during this period in this style of dress and is known as the high stomacher front.
Embroidered with clusters of flowers and leaves and embroidery is worked in satin stitch, chain stitch and French knots, the design trails down across the front of the dress and around the scalloped hemline to simulate a draped tunic-style garment slit up the side seam. Front bodice has panel of bias-cut muslin sewn onto skirt like the bib of an apron so that it can be placed in position at the neck with pins. When the pins are removed the bib front falls away to reveal linen underflaps which fasten across the bust to give support. Bib front bodice construction was common in the Regency Era, or Jane Austen’s years, in this style of dress and is known as the high stomacher front. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
1808 Fashionable English Couple, Dressed As In Jane Austen’s times. Lady in a white dress with pointed hem decorations, fitted white hat tied under her chin with yellow ribbon, yellow shawl and pink slippers. Gentleman in formal dress of blue tailcoat, black knee breeches, white stockings, black shoes, black bicorn hat, curly hair style and sideburns and a sword. Interestingly, this is English style fashions from a French magazine. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
1806 Two Ladies In Walking Dresses, French. White cotton dresses with bodice trims, short puffed sleeves, orange and pink Fichus or shoulder shawls, pink poke bonnet and white turban, extra long gloves, cashmere shawl. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. These fashionable ensembles with a variety of fashionable and practical accessories would have been worn by Jane Austen and her family and friends during the day when out walking in the park or visiting village shops. Hats were a necessity to protect fair skin from the sun and scarfs and shawls added color and warmth to an outfit.
Definition Fichu: Draped scarf or shawl worn about shoulders and tied in knot at breast, with ends hanging down loosely. Word, meaning negligee or careless, first used to describe breaking away from stiff collar of the past.
1816 Blue Riding Habit, French. High-waisted blue riding dress with a train, the long full skirt being necessary to cover a lady’s legs and preserve her modesty when riding side saddle. These riding habits were usually designed by men and were in two pieces, a jacket and a skirt, worn over a shirt. A military style bodice decoration, high pointed collar and a knotted pink dotted cravat worn underneath that imitate male styles, or even Dandy fashion. Sleeves are very long as was the trend in French riding habits. Yellow gloves and a masculine style beaver hat. This print was designed by Horace Vernet and engraved by Pierre Baquoy. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Although, there are very similar riding habit fashion plates in other magazines.
The type of outfit Jane Austen and her friends would have worn when they went horse riding. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
1809 October Blue Ball Dress, English. A light blue, or grey chemise robe, of gossamer net, imperial crape, worn over white satin, ornamented up the front with French bows and knots of silver. A full melon sleeve, formed of the same material as the dress, and alternate stripes of white satin, finished with bows and knots of silver. A double roll of white satin around the neck by way of a tucker. Hair falling in natural and irregular curls on the forehead, confined in a bow and curled ends, or in plaited braids, at the back of the head with a diamond comb. Diamond bandeau, with necklace, armlets, and drop earrings of the same. Slippers of white satin, with silver clasps, French kid gloves, just escaping the elbow. Fan of carved ivory. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition Bandana Or Bandeau: Narrow strip or band worn around head to confine hair. Made of either twisted fabric, length of pearls, flowers, jewels or feathers. From the French word for “strip.
1802-1812 ca. Dancing Or La Dansomanie Series. Four women being instructed in dancing before a mirror by a master playing a violin. Le Bon Genre Description Plate 12. Via British Museum, London, UK. britishmuseum.org (PD-Art)
1817 December Black Walking Mourning Dress, English. Black bombazine dress with a black crepe hem, with tight bodice wrapping across to the right side, trimmed with a piping of black crape that looks like braiding and finished by rosettes of crape, in the center of each of which is a small jet ornament. Long sleeves trimmed similarly at the wrists, half-sleeve of a new form trimmed with crape, high standing collar displaying a mourning ruff. Claremont bonnet, named because it is the same shape as one worn by the Princess, whose home with her husband, Prince Leopold, was called Claremont. Black crape over black sarsnet and lined with double white crape. Low crown but large front and tastefully finished by black crape with a bunch of crape flowers on one side. Black shamois gloves, and black shoes. “We have again to acknowledge our obligations to the lady who favored us last month; and we understand that the dresses from which our prints this month have been taken were also purchased from Mrs. Bell of St. James’s-street.” Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Mrs. Bell ‘invented’ fashion plates and as well as publishing in La Belle assemblee, she also sold them to other magazines. Hence the crossover we often see where the same plate, or a similar version, appears in different magazines.
