1806 Lavender Morning Dress, French. High-waisted dress with short puffed sleeves over a white spotted bodice, Lorgnette or Looking Glass and holding a straw hat. Gorgeous spotted gloves to match the bodice. Jane Austen and her family and friends would have worn this style of dress. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
1806 Two Ladies In Empire style White Dresses, French. Costumes Anglais et Française, or English and French Costumes. Both with brown gloves and straw hats, one with blue shawl and other with blue Spencer and interesting blue trim. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
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.
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.
1805 White Fur Coat, or Redingote, French. Black fur and lavender lattice to decorate, white shawl with paisley patterned ends, lavender hat to match and long white gloves. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have wore long coats like this one to keep warm when out and about, visiting, shopping etc. The thin muslin dresses worn in the early 1800s were little protection against European winters so coats of some sort were added, plus colorful accessories like this shawl and the hat to add color and another layer of warmth.
Definition Shawls: The shawl started off in India as a fine wool garment for men that could be worn as a scarf, turban or as a mantle: the word comes from the Persian shäl. Originally imported from the East, European Kashmir shawls were made first in Norwich and Edinburgh in Britain in the late 18th century. Shawls were an essential item in the early 1800s to cover the thin gowns women wore. They were made of muslin, gauze, silk, wool, and velvet, though cashmere shawls were the softest and most prized.
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
18th Century Late Women’s Fashions. A conical body shape was still fashionable while the shape of the skirts changed. The wide panniers which held the skirts out at the sides mostly disappeared by 1780 for all but the most formal court functions and false rumps, or bum-pads or hip-pads were worn for a time. A low-necked gown, usually called in French a robe, was worn over a petticoat and most gowns had skirts that opened in front to show the petticoat worn beneath. As part of the general simplification of dress, the open bodice with a separate stomacher was replaced by a bodice with edges that met center front. Strapless stays which still were cut high at the armpit, to encourage a woman to stand with her shoulders slightly back, a fashionable posture. The fashionable shape was a rather conical torso, with large hips. The waist was not particularly small. Stays were usually laced snugly, but comfortably. Shoes had high, curved heels (the origin of modern “louis heels”) and were made of fabric or leather. Shoe buckles remained fashionable until they were abandoned along with high-heeled footwear and other aristocratic fashions in the years after the French Revolution,
18th Century Late Men’s Fashions. A man’s outfit consisted of a knee-length coat, knee breeches, a vest or long waistcoat, a linen shirt with frills and linen under drawers. Lower legs showed and were an important part of life. Men wore stockings and leather shoes with stacked heels of low or medium height. The whole ensemble would have been topped by a shoulder-length wig and a tricorne, or three-cornered, hat an upturned brim. By end of the 18th century, wigs were out of fashion except for the most formal occasions. Undergarments and knee breeches did not change very much. Coats gradually became less full and die front was cut in a curve towards the back. Waistcoats became shorter. The upper leg began to show more and more and by the end of the century breeches fitted better because they were often made of knitted silk. Shoes became low-heeled with pointed toes and were fastened with a detachable strap or ribbon on the front.
1800 Young Dandy’s Morning Outfit, French. Brown, doublebreated, cutaway coat, striped trousers tucked into high black boots with tassels, gloves, small jaunty hat and a walking stick. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
From the finish of the 18th century until 1820, men’s fashions in European and European-influenced countries moved away from the formal wear of brocades, lace, wigs and powder to more informal and relaxed styles. Focus was on undress rather than formal dress. Typical menswear in the early 1800s included a tailcoat, a vest or waistcoat, either breeches, pants, or the newer trousers, stockings, shoes or boots, all worn with an overcoat and hat. This basic ensemble was accessorized with some form of neckcloth or cravat, gloves, walking stick, cane or riding crop, handkerchief, fobs, watch and perhaps a quizzing glass or eye glass.
Skirted coats were replaced with short-fronted, or cutaway, tailcoats worn over fitted waistcoats and plain, white linen shirts. Knee breeches were gradually replaced by tight-fitting pantaloons and later trousers, decorative shoes with buckles were replaced with a variety of boot styles, and fussy and ruffled neckwear gave way to intricately tied, white linen neck cloths. A Regency Era, or early 1800s, gentleman was outfitted in more practical fabrics, such as wool, cotton and buckskin rather than the fussy brocades and silks of the late 1700s.
1806 Two Ladies In White Walking Dresses, French. Puffed sleeves, extra long gloves, bonnets tied under chins and decorated with flowers, walking boots, green 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.
1823 December Red Carriage Costume, English. Gorgeous red dress with waistline a couple of inches below the bust, puffed short sleeves over long straight sleeves, wide white fur hem trim to match the white fur muff, white ruffle at the neck. High bonnet with a feather tied under the chin with a red bow. Fashion plate via John Belle’s ‘La Belle Assemblee’, England.
Definition Redingote Or Pelisse Or Walking Dress Or Carriage Dress Or Coat: French word developed from English words, riding coat. Long fitted outdoor coat worn over other garments for warmth. Often left open at the front to show off the dress underneath. Sometimes cut away in front. Originally made with several capes and trimmed with large buttons. French fashion plates call these coats Redingotes and they are designed for women, men and children. English fashion plates call them a Pelisse, a walking dress, Promenade dress, or Carriage dress. books2read.com/suzilovePelisse
1805 January Two Ladies In White Paris Dresses, English. Two interesting bodices, long gloves, necklaces, shawl, fan and adorable hats. Fashion Plate via The Lady’s Magazine Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, London. These are the types of outfits worn by Jane Austen and contemporaries and were seen in English magazines, where French fashions were obsessively copied despite the two countries being at war for many years.
1806 Young French Gentleman. Brown Castorine Coat Over Blue Tailcoat, French. White cashmere breeches, white stockings, yellow gloves, black hat and a cane. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
French fashions and Georgian and Regency Era fashions from Great Britain were copied around the world. This is the normal daily outfit for a gentleman in the early 1800s, or in the times of Jane Austen, for daily city and country life.
Le Beau Monde magazine made suggestions for men’s fashion in November 1806.
“The neckcloth should, by no means, be too greatly puffed out; but should be neatly united in front with a large unspread bow. Dark bottle green coats will be as generally worn this season, as those of brown colours were last winter.
“For morning dress frock coats will be prevalent: those of an olive hue, with a black velvet collar, will be the most universal. Fancied waistcoats of all manufactures may be worn with this kind of coat; but fashion ordains the invariable use of dark blue or light-coloured kerseymere pantaloons, and half-boots. The boots must rise somewhat higher in the leg than has recently been the custom, and the toes of them should be formed into a perfect semi-cirlce.
“Full dress coats will likewise be made of dark green cloth, double-breasted, and will possess the similar ornament of a black velvet collar. Single-breasted white waistcoats, and light-coloured kerseymere breeches will be in much estimation. Either flesh-coloured or now-white silk stockings fashion now considered as elegant.
“The hair, for morning dress, should be cut à la Titus; for full dress, it should be powdered. Buckles for the shoes are employed in full dress; but ribbands are allowed in afternoon or dinner dress.”
1818 Redingote Or Overcoat French. Blue tailcoat, red waistcoat, straight blue trousers, black boots, knotted kerchief and black top hat. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.