1819 Gardens of the Tuileries Near the Rue de Rivoli, Paris, France. Woman in a red walking dress, or Redingote, or Pelisse, modeled after British riding dresses and worn with a high white bonnet with feathers, or plumes. The skirt remains fairly narrow and the waist is fairly low, indicating the transition into 1820 styles. In the background are women walking with children. From Illustrations by François Courboin from Octave Uzanne’s Les Modes de Paris.
Variations du goût et de l’esthétique de la femme, 1797-1897, L. Henry May, Paris, 1898, or from the English translation of the same work: Fashion in Paris : the various phases of feminine taste and aesthetics from 1797 to 1897, William Heinemann, London, 1898.
1770-1790 ca. Child’s Stays, American. Linen plain weave, baleen, or whalebone, silk braided tape. Dimensions: Center Front Length: 5 3/4 inches (14.6 cm) Waist: 18 inches (45.7 cm). Made in United States of America. This pair of stays is only eighteen inches around, and might have been worn by a small child of eighteen months to two years old. Putting stays on young girls and boys was not seen as harsh, but rather as insurance that their figures would develop the correct form, with chest out and shoulders down. While boys usually wore stays only in early childhood, they were considered essential for females throughout their lives. via Philadelphia Museum of Art philamuseum.org Accession Number: 1988-15-1Credit Line: Purchased with the Bloomfield Moore Fund, 198
1826 Harrow Boys Having Fun Smashing Crockery. Regency Family Life. Photo Editing By Suzi Love. From: 1826 The English Spy By Robert Cruikshank via Google Books (PD-150)
1809 September Lady and Infant In Slight Mourning Habits. Black gossamer net, or imperial gauze, worn over a white satin slip. A half train. A round frock front, and short French sleeves, each edged with a rich Vandyke lace. A cestus, or belt, of white satin edged with gold bullion and finished in front with a rich cord and cone tassels, suspended from topaz studs. Pearl necklace and bracelets, with topaz snaps. Hair in the eastern style, with a Spartan diadem, and comb of topaz or gold. Circassian scarf of grey Spanish silk with a Tuscan border in black embroidery, tassels to correspond, confined on one shoulder with a topaz broach. Shoes of grey satin, with clasps of jet, or rosettes of black bugles. White gloves of French kid; and fan of black crape, with gold spangled devices.
‘In deep mourning, this robe should be formed of black crape, and worn over black sarsnet. The ornaments and trimmings of every description must be of bugles or jet. The shoes of queen’s silk. The scarf, black crape or imperial silk, spotted and bordered with bugles. Jet tassels and broach. The child’s dress is a simple frock of black crape muslin, tucked small, and worn over a cambric skirt. A plain net-lace tucker, and cap to match. Grey kid slippers, with black clasps.’ Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository’ of Arts.
Because many men across Europe were fighting in wars during these years, women often had a reason to dress in black. The loss of numerous family members and friends meant that black was a mainstay in any lady’s wardrobe. Black dresses, hats, capes, shoes, gloves, fans and jewelry would have been essentials, with touches of white, grey or purple being added for times of half mourning. Early publications of Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’ had many fashion plates that included children, but the plate below with a child in ’slight’ mourning dress is very unusual. With this fashion plate is a description of how this ’slight’ mourning could be adapted for deep mourning.
Fabrics for deep mourning would be flat, rather than shiny, hats would be black with little embellishment, and jewelry would be subdued. Slight mourning allowed the white dress trimming, white gloves and these grey satin shoes.
Definition Van Dyke: 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.
