1798 Gentleman’s Outfit, French. Long green overcoat with yellow buttons, tan gloves, black boots topped with yellow band, gloves with three seams across the back of the hand, high white cravat, black hat, fob at his waist and holding a cane. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
19th Century Early Women’s Cotton Caps. Worn as morning caps, night caps, or under other hats. With lappets, hanging ties, or tails, which were also called ‘follow me lads’, or ‘flirtation ribbons’. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
Definition Caps: Worn as morning caps, night caps, or under other hats. Jane Austen and her family and female friends would have worn caps like these, sometimes during the morning at home, to bed to keep their long hair from becoming knotted, or under a bonnet to hold a hairstyle in place.
Caps sometimes had hanging ties, or tails, were also called ‘follow me lads’, or ‘flirtation ribbons’.
Definition Lappets: Two long strips of material, often lace, hanging from top of head down back or over shoulders. Sometimes extensions of a headdress and a requirement for court dress.
19th Century First Half Woman’s Embroidered Cap, French. In the 19th Century, women wore some sort of headwear during the day and the evening. Finely decorated cotton caps were worn during the morning with informal or At-Home, dress and at night with nightwear. These caps had fine embroidery, ruffles, lace edgings on the streamers, embroidered, pointed edges of the ruffles, ties, and streamers, known as ‘follow me lads’ or ‘flirtation ribbons’.
19th Century First Half Woman’s Embroidered Cap, French. Cotton mull with cotton embroidery, linen bobbin lace insertion, silk ribbon, round gathered crown with spoked wheel design in center surrounded by long leafed wreath, outside this a wreath of carnations, same carnations around forehead band and neck band, design embroidered with white linen thread, white taffeta ribbon run through the embroidered net casing and tied in center back. via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A. mfa.org
1813 Yellow Redingote Or Coat, French. Hooded coat with gorgeous white trim, yellow boots, yellow velvet bonnet with a white plume. Jane Austen and her female family and friends wore fashions like these. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Redingote, or Pelisse, or Walking Dress, or Promenade Dress: Going by many names, this is a coat copied from men’s overcoats but worn by both men and women. Generally, opens down the front, worn for warmth over a dress or coat and breeches, and has a military look with front vertical buttoning or decoration. Called a Redingote in French periodicals but English magazines called them by many other names: pelisse, carriage dress, walking dress, promenade costume.
1798 Woman’s Light Blue Douillette, Or Housecoat, French. Trimmed with pink velvet, pink fan, black slave sandals, apricot hat with black trim. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
Description Douillette: A coat or housecoat, sometimes quilted, worn in France.
1814 Couple In Walking Ensembles, French. Gentleman in a brown tailcoat with a notched collar and back pockets, vest, white breeches tied under his knees, red fob at the waist, white stockings, high white shirt collar, white cravat, top hat and cane. Lady in adorable pink Redingote with capes.
1818-1823 ca. Turban, London, U.K. Silk, silk thread, paper, cotton, wire,and hand-sewn. Cap is gathered and full to mimic the shape of a turban which became popular evening wear around 1820 when ‘exotic’ was fashionable.
Silk, silk thread, paper, cotton, wire and hand-sewn. A full cap of white satin gathered into a headband in imitation of a turban. The crown is inset with white net embroidered in circles with white silk thread. The headband is of white satin with three horizontal tucks and edged with white silk plush. Trimmed on one side with artificial flowers made of wired green paper leaves and white muslin rosebuds. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
Early 19th-century etiquette required a lady’s head to be covered at all times, even with evening dress. A cap such as this one, gathered and full to suggest the shape of a turban, was popular for evening wear about 1820. The Romantic movement created an interest in the dress of non-European countries, particularly North Africa and the Middle East. Decorative motifs and accessories were borrowed to make current fashions more ‘exotic’. Although knowledge of the proper proportions and construction of a turban was not available to British milliners, the overall shape was approximated for the most fashionable headwear.
1801 November 9th Playing Cards. Men and women play cards at round table. Supreme Bon Ton Plate 2. Published by S W Fores. Men and women play cards at round table. Man and woman talk to players. Woman sleeps in upright chair, two others, one with parasol and other fan, walk off arm-in-arm.Men: High-waisted coats, high collars, huge neck-cloths, with pumps or Hessian boots. Women: High-waisted dresses, short sleeves, long trains, very low necklines, short ringlets, two in caps. Via British Museum, London, UK. britishmuseum.org (PD-Art)
In Jane Austen’s times, cartoons posted in the windows of shops were one of the main ways people found news. Common people couldn’t afford newspapers so cartoonists ridiculed the people and the places with cartoons of the daily events happening in London and other cities. The ridiculous fashion trends of the late 1700s and early 1800s were easy targets for satirical cartoons as was the addiction to gambling by women and men alike.
Light-Hearted look at an Older Lady’s Life In Jane Austen’s Times, or early 1800s. An easy to read overview of what an older lady did, wore, and how she lived in the early 19th Century. Information for history buffs and pictures for readers and writers of historical fiction. Older Lady’s Day, Regency Life Series, Book 5, by Suzi Love. books2read.com/suziloveOLD
The older lady’s day usually started with her toilette in her bedroom, where her maid helped her dress for the day and styled her hair. After that, she would join her family downstairs for breakfast unless she preferred a tray with either tea or hot chocolate in her bedroom as she prepared for her busy day. Her day would be made up of speaking with the housekeeper and the cook about the week’s menus, assuring that the servants were all available that day and no one was ill, and checking the list of foods needed. She would also enquire if the laundry was up to date and that they had enough good linen to make up all the beds before extended family members and guests arrived. If she was in the country and hosting a weekend house party, she would assign rooms to the guests on her lists and query that all was in readiness for their arrival.
1815 May. Walking Dress, or Pelisse, or Redingote, English. Purple walking dress with wide collar, high white lace neck frill, and white trim down the vertical opening, white reticule, and a high white plumed hat. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’. Google Books (PD-180) suzilove.com Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition: Walking Dress Or Pelisse Or Redingote Woman’s long, fitted coat often worn open in front to show off the dress underneath. Walking Dress Or Pelisse are the terms used in English fashion plates, while Redingote is seen in European fashion plates, especially the French one, Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
