1730-1760 ca. Yellow Silk Embroidered Bag, Russian. From: Collection of Natalia de Shabelsky (1841-1905), Russian noblewoman preserving vanishing folk art traditions of her country. Traveling extensively throughout Great Russia, she collected textile art of wealthy peasant class. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC.
18th Century bags, or purses, were usually designed to hang from the waist or wrist to carry essential daily items on the person rather than making the long walk back through a castle or grand house to fetch things like coins, personal seals, toiletries or medicines.
1803 Jane Austen Style Dress Bodice and Five Trimmed Hats. Low cut bodice, puffed sleeves, scarf, four variations of trimmed hats. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1801-1804
1805 Pink Redingote, French. Also called a Pelisse, a Walking Dress, or a Carriage Costume, in England. High-waisted, short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves with elaborate embroidery to decorate, and close-fitting gold hat tied under her chin. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have worn 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 Redingote Or Coat Or Pelisse: Long fitted outdoor coat worn over other garments for warmth. French word developed from English words, riding coat. 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 Lady In A Dancing Dress, French. Dress of Tulle Broderie, short puffed sleeves, floral embroidery, dancing slippers and upswept hairstyle. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien. When attending assemblies or balls, ladies in Jane Austen’s times women wore Empire style dresses which were usually made of light fabric and floaty in style and often of a shorter length suitable for dancing.
1817-1820 ca. Spencer, English. Green silk, 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 made famous by the Earl Spencer. The jacket is said to have originated in an accident to Lord Spencer in hunting when his coat tails were torn off and a cropped jacket was invented. via Museum of London, UK. museumoflondon.org.uk. books2read.com/suziloveSpencers. Jane Austen and her contemporaries often walked to places and so would have needed the warmth of a Spencer over her dress in the cold British winters.
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.
1820-1850 ca. Cotton and Beadwork Reticule Or Bag, Dutch. Couple on shore, man in boat, house and windmill behind, musicians, dancers, onlookers. Yellow metallic frame and green braided silk cord. Beadwork on cotton foundation. Polychrome design: couple on shore, man in boat, house and windmill behind (obv.); musicians, dancers, onlookers (rev.); acanthus motif at base. Yellow metallic frame with dotted design, stud closure, green braided silk cord. Ecru silk lining. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
Definition Reticule Or Bag or Purse: Often with a drawstring to pull closed and usually made of cloth or covered cardboard and often decorated with beading or embroidery. 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. So women began carrying small, decorated bags called Reticules, or ridicules, which generally pulled close at the top with a drawstring.
1816. June Blue Merino wool riding dress with high waist and embroidered and ornamented round the bust and cuffs and fastens on the back of the shoulder. Double ruff of fine Vandyke lace is separated from shirt collar by a Chinese silk handkerchief of blue and white. Small round hat made of fine beaver or moss silk, the half boots are of blue kid with Limerick gloves worked and seamed with blue and she is carrying a riding whip. These riding habits were usually designed by men and were in two pieces, a jacket and a skirt, worn over a shirt but this is in one piece and the full skirt falls from directly under the bust. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
Typical of the riding costumes worn by Jane Austen’s female contemporaries. The style is still in the Empire fashion of a high-waist with the full skirt falling from just under the bust and with a frill and small decorations on the wrists and shoulders to make it look unique.
1820 Brown Evening Dress Of Figured Silk Muslin With Brown Gauze Trim. An evening dress of tobacco coloured figured silk muslin, warp float, small sprig repeat design. Shallow, round neckline, short puffed sleeves, high, empire-style waistline and long tubular skirt. Bodice has narrow cream lace trim above a band of self fabric edged with cream silk braid and brown silk taffeta piping. Bodice front has brown silk gauze joined on at side seams with 3 van dyke points down sides of centre front. Edges of points bound with silk taffeta and trimmed with ball buttons covered in brown silk floss.
Centre front panel has brown silk cord lacing through 17 handworked eyelets bordered by 2 v-shaped strips of same silk taffeta rouleaus. Self fabric waistband is trimmed with cream braid and piping, with two van dyke points either side of centre back. Bodice laced at back from neck to waistband while gauze overlay from front forms a band tucked over the waist, which extends over skirt to form a narrow peplym, also van dyke pointed and bound with taffeta. Two self fabric epaulettes attached at sleeve seams and trimmed with brown silk passmenterie tassel, at shoulder and with same braid and piping. Short sleeves overlaid with brown silk gauze ruched between rouleaux bands stitched to lining. Cuff bands piped and braided and cut into 8 van dyke points above overlay. Points are trimmed with braid, piping and silk covered ball buttons. Skirt of dress falls to the ground, trained at back, and flounce of satin striped silk gauze falling from corded seam. Bodice lined with cream cotton. Via Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. collection.maas.museum.
Passementerie: Art of making elaborate trimmings or edgings (in French, passements) of applied braid, gold or silver cord, embroidery, colored silk, or beads for clothing or furnishings.Styles of passementerie include the tassel, fringes, ornamental cords, galloons, pompons, rosettes, and gimps, as well as other forms. Tassels, pompons, and rosettes are point ornaments, and the others are linear ornaments.
1805 Typical Regency Era, or Early 1800s, Muslin Dress. Long sleeves, square neckline, and decorated with Palm Tree embroidery. via Whitaker Auction whitakerauction.smugmug.com Typical of the Empire dresses worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries. Square necklines, long sleeves, and skirts that started directly under the bust and flowed into the classical relaxed wide styles of Greece and Rome. These high-waisted dresses were worn most days and cotton, silk or taffeta were the popular fabrics.
1800-1810 ca. Pineapple Reticule, or Bag. A knitted pineapple with long strings. In Jane Austen’s times, pineapples were a luxury imported item that most people in Great Britain had never seen, let alone tasted. When more pineapples were imported from hotter countries, or English gardeners started to grow some, pineapples became a much desired novelty and an exotic experience. Pineapple motifs appeared on dresses, furniture, household goods etc. Knitting pineapple reticules was part of this obsession with pineapples. via Kyoto Museum, Japan.
Definition Ridicule, Reticule, Indispensable, or Handbag: From the late 1700s, pockets could no longer be sewn into gowns, as skirts fell from just under the bust and were full and flowing. Instead, women began carrying small bags, known at first as ridicules and later as reticules, to keep necessary items on their person e.g. handkerchiefs, coins, vinaigrettes, calling cards, glasses etc. http://books2read.com/suziloveReticules
1800-1810 ca. Reticule, or Bag. A knitted pineapple with long strings. via Kyoto Museum, Japan.
In the early nineteenth century, reticules started to look like future handbags as they were often made from rigid card or molded mâché or card into a variety of shapes. Early bags were circular and with a drawstring but as women wanted their reticules to look individual they could be made with two halves and a hinged metal closure or with concertina sides. Materials varied from silk, cotton and string and shapes were round, hexagonal or lozenge shapes with shell shaped bags becoming very popular during the Regency and Romantic Eras.
1800s magazines were written for well bred women who could read, so they gave plenty of ideas for how ladies could make and embellish reticules for their own use and as pretty gifts. Needlework was highly encouraged as a pastime for a lady so bags were frequently embroidered or decorated with beading. By the 1820s, reticules became more like our modern handbags using soft leather gathered at the top or hard leather with a rigid fastener and metal chain for carrying.
