1810 ca. Pineapple Dress, French. High-waisted, Empire style dress with embroidered pineapple motifs, short wide neckline, puffed sleeves and long train. via Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.
1808 Gentleman’s Ensemble, French. Drap Redingote or coat, black hessian boots with heart shaped front, black top hat. Fashion Plate via suzilove.com and Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Typical gentleman’s outdoor ensemble as worn by men in Jane Austen’s time, or the Regency Era. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819
Hessian Boots: Named after German mercenaries who fought alongside British. Soft, highly polished calfskin, knee high, heart-shaped top and decorated with tassel. Boot shaped like stirrup so rider could insert feet into stirrups and be kept securely in place. Tassels were designed to wear with breeches and didn’t suit tight fitting new trousers that dandies like Beau Brummell wore in 1800s so Hessians replaced by other boots e.g. Wellington.
1810 French Gentleman. Riding outfit of double-breasted brown coat, tight pants with a side button decoration, jaunty black hat, gloves, and a crop. As Worn by Gentleman in the Bridgerton and Jane Austen Families. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Pantaloons: When tailcoats lengthened, breeches extended below the knees to accommodate the longer tails and were gradually replaced with slimmer fitting, longer pants, or pantaloons, that ended at the ankle. Pantaloons were close-fitting and sometimes buttoned all the way down the leg. To make them hug the leg tighter, knitted fabrics were used, or fabrics like nankin and kerseymere were cut on the bias.
In the early 1800s, men no longer wore complicated styles and extravagant fabrics. Men’s fashion simplified and became more conservative. A well cut tailcoat, vest, pantaloons and an immaculate cravat of beautiful white linen in the style of George Bryan, or Beau, Brummell. Clothes were a status symbol and indicated a man’s social position. These clothing items were the sort worn by Jane Austen’s male family and friends.
1813 French Couple In Morning Dress. Man: Brown overcoat and tan trousers. Lady: White dress and bonnet, long yellow gloves and holding a watering can. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819
1809 White Walking Dress, French. Green paisley shawl, green shoes and close-fitting hat. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
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.
Definition Paisley Shawl: Made of intricately woven and delicate wool with a teardrop motif that originated in Persia and India.
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
1806 White Bodice and Red Scarf. Various Hats, Bonnets and an evening headdress. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. French fashions like this were copied by English magazines so these styles of hats would have been worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
19th Century Early. Linen Petticoat, American. via Credit:Gift of Mrs. George Nichols, 1964 via Metropolitan Museum, New York City, USA.
In Jane Austen’s years of the early nineteenth century, women often wore light-weight dresses under which was worn a range of underclothing to stop gowns appearing transparent and sticking to a lady’s body. To preserve modesty, underclothing included a chemise next to the skin, then a corset, and then petticoats to give shape to a dress and to keep it away from her body.
1818 Printed Cotton Gown, American. Brown high-waisted, or Empire line, gown as would have been worn during Jane Austen’s lifetime. Sleeves are puffed at the shoulders with unusual puffs to decorate the long straight sleeves. Hem has multiple rows of ruffles to decorate. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1806 Short Sleeved White Muslin Dress With Train, French. Bodice and sleeves have ribbon decoration, evening flowered headdress, half parure of necklace and ear bobs, and gorgeous Indian hand loomed green shawl. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
Definition Jewelry – Parure: Matched set of jewelry, including a necklace, bracelet, earrings, pin etc. Half Parure had no headpiece.
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.
1816 October Half-Dress. A gown of lilac sarsnet, cut low round the bust, which is trimmed with pink ribbon, disposed so as to form a wreath; the shape of the back is marked by hands of pink, and a large bow, in the French style, ornaments the middle of it at bottom. The back is full; a plain light front forms the shape in a most becoming manner. Long full sleeve, composed of clear muslin, trimmed at the wrist with a single row of lace, and finished by a pink bow. Fichu to correspond, very full trimmed round the throat with lace. The bottom of the skirt is edged with pink, and trimmed with a single flounce of blond lace, set on very full, and surmounted by a wreath of French roses. Cornette composed of tulle, finished by a quilling of blond round the face, and fastened by a pink bow under the chin; a bow to correspond ornaments it on the forehead, and a bunch of flowers is placed very far back on the head. The style of this cornette, though French, is so simply elegant and becoming, that we have not for some time seen any half-dress cap to equal it. Plain gold ornaments. White kid gloves, and white kid slippers with pink rosettes. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition Half Dress: Between undress and full dress, respectable outfit without an excess of formal accessories and might be worn either day or evening. Could include Afternoon Dress, such as Afternoon Walking Dress and even Evening Dress if not a very formal evening occasion, such as a theatre attendance or dinner engagement.
Definition Empire Style: 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.
