1807 Two Ladies and a Gentleman, English. Lady in lavender walking dress, or Pelisse, with fur trim, holding a blue reticule or bag, fitted lavender bonnet with tassel and yellow gloves. Lady in white evening dress with salmon tunic caught up at one side and evening turban. Man in long blue overcoat, or Redingote, with contrasting collar, high white cravat, yellow gloves, tall Hessian boots with tassels, and wearing a top hat. via Le Beau Monde, or Literary and Fashionable Magazine, London, U.K.
These are the types of outfits worn by Jane Austen and contemporaries in England and shown in their English magazines. The same designs had probably already been seen in France, because English publishers obsessively copied French fashions despite the two countries being at war for many years.
1800 Gentleman and Son, French. Man in brown, double-breasted, cutaway coat with wide fur collar, ankle length loose trousers with a fob at his waist, black shoes. Son in high-waisted trousers, white shirt, red jacket, black hat and shoes and carrying a sword. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
During the early 1800s 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 were replaced with boot, such as the tan topped boots worn here, and fussy 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. The men in Jane Austen’s life would have worn an elegant outdoor ensemble like this for everyday excursions around the countryside.
Are you a Bridgerton fan? Love Jane Austen? Love history? Take a look at a Young Gentleman’s Day in the early 1800s. Light-hearted look at a young man’s day in the early 1800s. Depicts the ups and downs of a young gentleman’s day in the Regency Era, or Jane Austen’s years. Through historic images, historical information, and funny anecdotes, it shows how a young man about town fills his day, where he goes, and who he spends time with. This light-hearted look at the longer Regency years is an easy to read overview of what people did and wore, and where they worked and played. There is plenty of information to interest history buffs, and lots of pictures to help readers and writers of historical fiction visualize the people and places from the last years of the 18th Century until Queen Victoria took the throne. books2read.com/suziloveYGD
1809 White Dress, French. Large striped shawl with pointed back and white hat tied with pink ribbon. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. I can picture Jane Austen and her female friends and family wearing a white Empire style dress and warm shawl, or cape, like this for shopping or paying visits. The essential cap is tied under the chin and trimmed with lace and ribbon.
1809 October A fine cambric or Indian muslin high-gown, with long sleeves and falling collar, ornamented at the feet and around the neck with appliquéd lace or needle work. Deep amber broach or gold filigree buckle, confining the dress at the throat and waist, with bracelets to match. Gold chain and opera glass. The woodland hat of fine plaited straw or chip, with ostrich feather falling on one side. A French cloak of bright purple sarsnet or velvet, lined with amber or rose, and trimmed entirely round with black lace and beading. Parasol, with deep amber awning. Shoes and gloves of buff kid. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
1808 April Trio of Two Men and a Woman in Full and Half Dress in the Directoire and Empire period, or the Regency Era, or the times of Jane Austen. Two varieties of men’s pants, one knee breeches and stockings and one long pants worn inside high boots. One wearing a Bicorn hat and the other holding a top hat and both with yellow gloves. Woman wearing a pink pelisse, or coat, over a white walking gown with a train and holding a parasol. via Le Beau Monde, or Literary and Fashionable Magazine, London, U.K.
1818 Deep Green Redingote, French. Merino wool coat or walking dress. High white neck frill, black velvet dress decoration and velvet bonnet shaped like a shell, green shoes and white gloves. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. The type of outfit young Regency Era ladies, such as Jane Austen and her family and the Bridgerton women would have worn if they were out shopping on Bond Street, walking in a park, or taking a carriage ride through Hyde Park.
Definition Redingote Or Pelisse Or Walking 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.
1808 Walk in the Tuileries Gardens. A dandy of the Year VIII. According to Baudelaire, a dandy was, “no profession other than elegance…no other status but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons….The dandy must aspire to be sublime without interruption; he must live and sleep before a mirror.” Dandies tried to imitate the aristocracy in manner and appearance. This man wears short breeches, usually worn by the aristocracy, that were out of fashion and had been replaced by the ‘more-democratic’ ankle-length pants. His outfit and manners are a throwback to a pre-Revolutionary era. llustrations by François Courboin from Octave Uzanne’s Les Modes de Paris. Fashion in Paris : the various phases of feminine taste and aesthetics from 1797 to 1897, William Heinemann, London, 1898. (PD-Art) via Brown University Library.
1819 White Percale Dress, French. Deep hem of bubbly muslin, matching Percale Spencer or jacket, pink parasol and flowered straw hat. Spencer has short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves and military style trimmings. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Even though this a French fashion plate, this is typical of the outdoor outfit worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries when going outside. An Empire style, or high-waisted white cotton dress worn under a Spencer, or jacket, for warmth and with a parasol to protect fair complexions from the sun.
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.
Definition Percale or Perkale: From the Persian word pargalah. Fine cotton fabric, or cambric muslin of good quality, originally from India, generally bleached, printed and finished without gloss. Contains more dressing than ordinary muslin, but without the glossy finish of cambric and is printed in fancy patterns on white and colored grounds. In May 1816, Percale was commented on in Rudolph Ackermann’ Repository Of Arts, “Perkale, as they call cambric muslin, is now almost the only thing worn in the morning costume: you must not, however, fancy that this proceeds from a wish to encourage English manufacture, but partly from a love for novelty, and partly because it is less expensive than cambric, and equally fashionable.”
1818 Military style Redingote, or Coat,or Walking dress, French. High-waisted pale blue outdoors coat with military style braiding and decoration on bodice and sleeves. Matching hat is fitted to her head but with a large high brim and white feathers, or plume, blue walking boots and gloves. The type of outfit young Regency Era ladies would have worn if they were out shopping on Bond Street, walking in a park, or taking a carriage ride through Hyde Park. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. .
Definition Redingote Or Pelisse Or Walking 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.
