1808 French Lady With Head Coverings. Bonnets and jockey caps that tie under the chin and different hairstyles. 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.
1795-1810 ca. Woman’s Shoes, Or Slippers, English. Kid leather and linen, pointed toes, no heel. via Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA.
What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening clothing, plus underclothing, corsets and accessories. Fashion Women 1810-1814 History Notes Book 27 This book looks at what was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s, or the Regency Era in Britain. Wars were being fought around the globe so women’s fashion adopted a military look in support of soldiers. Fashions, like the lifestyle, became progressively more extravagant and accessories went from colorful to over-the-top. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
The Lady’s Magazine said of the basis of women’s fashion that was popular for the first twenty years of the 1800s, ‘White is still the prevailing color for robes. For morning dresses, linen gowns, in large diamonds or squares, are fashionable. Indian muslins, plain or embroidered, are preferred to Florence and satins. The designs of embroidery for shawls are of infinite variety. Long gloves, which reach above the elbow, are not yet laid aside. Medallions are hung around the neck from crossed chains and some of these medallions are shaped like the bags, called ridicules. These reticules are of the lozenge or hexagon shape, with a small tassel at each angle. Reticules, or ridicules, are in lozenge or hexagon shapes with a small tassel at each angle. In capotes, or hats, and ribbands, the violet and dark green prevail over jonquil. Bracelets in hair, pear-shaped ear-rings, medallions on square plates, saltiers of colored stones, are still in fashion.’
1817-1820 ca. Spencer, or Jacket, English. The sort of jacket worn by Jane Austen and friends over their loose Empire style dresses. Green silk Spencer, brown satin puffs, silk cord on deep V collar and sleeves. With the rise of fashionable waistlines in women’s dresses after around 1800, women’s outerwear followed suit. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a Spencer and was named after the male coat. via Museum of London, UK. museumoflondon.org.uk
Description Spencer: Short jackets worn for warmth over the high-waisted Empire style gowns that were popular after the French Revolution, where there was a shift away from opulence and decadence to simpler fashion. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a Spencer and was named after the male coat made famous by the Earl Spencer and said to have originated in accident to Lord Spencer in hunting when coat tails torn off and a cropped jacket was invented. The dresses in the early 1800s therefore became looser, lighter, and flowing and women became cold due to their very low cut and short bodices. Short fitted jackets that went easily over the dresses and provided extra modesty and some warmth. As Europe and many other parts of the world were deep in wars in the late 1700s and early 1800s, men in uniform were found everywhere. In support of these military men, fashions leaned towards military style shoulder paddings, shoulder embellishments, loops, buttons, and braids.
1800-1820 ca. Small Pieces Of Drawing Room Furniture as would have been used in houses where Jane Austen lived. Side tables, book tables, chest and foot stool. Collage by Suzi Love.
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1820 ca. Typical Regency Wrap Corset.. Worn over a chemise. Cross-over fabric and lacing at the back. Tied around at the front. via Roger-Viollet Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.
Corsets changed at the end of the Regency Era to fit well under clothing, give maximum support and comfort. Corsets pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line beneath a square-cut and low-cut neckline as in the early 1800s, or Regency years. The Bridgerton ladies, Jane Austen and their female friends would have worn this type of soft wrap corset. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook17.
1817 March. Opera Dress, English. The sort of outfit Jane Austen and her contemporaries or the Bridgerton women would wear for an evening at the opera or theatre. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
A blue crape dress over a white satin slip; the dress trimmed round the skirt with a deep blond lace, which is headed with a light and novel trimming, composed of white floss silk and small pearl beads: this trimming is surmounted with a beautiful deep embroidery of lilies, surrounded by leaves. The body and sleeves of this dress, as our readers will perceive by our print, are extremely novel. Head-dress, toque à la Berri; it is a crown of a novel form, tastefully ornamented round the top with lilies to correspond with the trimming of the skirt, and a plume of white feathers, which droop over the face. Ear-rings, necklace, and bracelets, sapphire mixed with pearl. The hair dressed in loose light ringlets on the forehead, and disposed in full curls in the back of the neck. White kid gloves, and white satin slippers.
1815 March Evening Full Dress For the Opera or Theatre, English. As would have been worn in Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. Rich burgundy velour dress with white under dress with short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves, rows of puffings for hem trimming, white lace shawl collar with Vandyke points, matching burgundy velvet turban with white feathers or plumes. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London.
Dress Full Dress: The most formal and complete ensemble, worn for day or night events, and includes the fullest range of accessories that could be added to the outfit to make the most impressive display.
Definition Evening Dress: There were minute distinctions between ball, dinner, evening and opera gowns meant different quality of fabrics and designs. A Ball Gown differed from an evening dress as expensive silk fabrics were usually worn, light or heavy, decorated with lace, embroidery or beading, with low-cut bodice, short or no sleeves, and full skirts. In the early 1800s, white cotton dresses were considered suitable for many evening events, but not for balls. And definitely not for an evening event in a palace or at the opera or theatre.
Definition Van Dyke Points: V-shaped lace and trims named after a 17th Century Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, known for painting V-shaped lace collars and scalloped edges on sitters.
1815 Beaded Coin Purse With Pinchback Ormolu Frame. Would have been carried inside a reticule, or larger bag, so a woman had small coinage on hand to pay for items on those occasions when a gentleman wasn’t with her to pay for them. Via Ruby Lane Antiques.
A reticule, or purse, or handbag, was usually carried by a woman during the Regency period to carry all their daily necessities. Earlier, women used pockets that tied at the waistline and were hidden in the folds of their skirts. Empire style, or early 1800s, high-waisted dresses made it impossible to either sewn in a pocket or to tie on a pocket.
