1810 White Promenade Half Dress, English, In Jane Austen Style. Draped yellow shawl and yellow parasol and a fitted hat with a long lace veil. A muslin dress with long sleeves and low neck, a French scarf of yellow silk, yellow silk bonnet with lace veil, yellow Parasol with a white fringe, gloves and shoes of yellow kid. Fashion plate via John Belle’s ‘La Belle Assemblee’, England. Typical of the outdoor outfit worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries. An Empire style, or high-waisted white dress worn with a gorgeous yellow scarf and matching yellow fringed parasol.
Dress – Half Dress: Between undress and full dress, half dress is a respectable outfit but without an excess of formal accessories. Can be worn either during the day or evening.
Here is an example of when English magazines copied French fashion plates.
1815 December Left: French fashion plate Ensembles French and English via Journal des Dames et des Modes. White short length ball dress with tiny bodice.
Right: English fashion plate by Rudolph Ackermann in the Repository Of arts. Blue sarsnet Pelisse, or Walking dress, or Redingote. Decorated with white lace trim on neck, vertical front, and hem. Carrying red shawl and with high plumed bonnet.
1815 December Blue Walking Dress, English. Blue twilled sarsnet pelisse, or Redingote, with ribbon bows adorning the front. Decorated with white lace trim on neck, vertical front, and a border of leaves on the hem. Slashed sleeves at shoulders and wrists plus an elaborate collar would have been time consuming to make. Carrying a red shawl and with a high bonnet with a white plume, or feather. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
1815 December Blue Walking Dress, English. Decorated with white lace trim on neck, vertical front, and hem. Carrying red shawl and with high plumed bonnet. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Below is the French version of this pelisse but with a lady in a ball dress. Possibly another example of the English magazines ‘copying’ French designs.
1815 Ensembles French and English. White short length ball dress with tiny bodice and sleeves. Blue sarsnet Redingote, or pelisse, decorated with white lace trim and border of leaves, slashed sleeves at shoulders and wrists, elaborate collar, red shawl, high bonnet with white plume, or feather. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
1809 May Walking Dress, English. Dress of white Scotia washing silk. Bishop’s mantle of sage or olive green striped and plain silks, made entirely without seams, border of the same color. Spanish hat to match the mantle turned up in front and decorated with artificial flowers. Shoes of sage or olive green match. Design by Mrs. James, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository’ of Arts.
General Observations for 1809 fashions from The Repository Of Arts: Spanish hats with feathers were worn all winter but are now worn as walking hats and the feathers have been replaced with flowers. Light silk mantles of all colors are being much worn. Scotia silk is now in great request for dresses and colors vary according to individual taste but silver-grey is the most elegant and fashionable. The attempt to introduce long waists failed. Full dress is the present standard.
I love when the same fashion plate is repeated with two ladies or a lady and a gentleman. 1808 Ladies In High Waisted Dresses, French. Green dress with short sleeves, white frill back bow and white lace headdress. White dress with short puffed sleeves, paisley shawl and red coral necklace. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809. Gorgeous Regency Era clothing came in a wide range of styles to suit every season and occasion. Ladies in Jane Austen’s times wore Empire style dresses which were usually of light fabric and floaty in style so accessories were essential to keep women warm.
1815 Pink Dress, French. Cashmere dress with white underdress showing the sleeves, decorated hem, turban of tulle and satin, diamond pointed hem, slippers and shawl. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
Definition Aigret, aigrette, egret: Plume of feathers or jeweled ornament in shape of feathers worn on head or hats. During the early 19th century., or Jane Austen’s lifetime, the favorite feathers were osprey and heron.
Definition Empire Style: Named after the First Empire in France, by 1800 Empire dresses had a very low décolleté, or neckline and a short narrow backed bodice attached to a separate skirt. Skirts started directly under the bust and flowed into the classical relaxed wide styles of Greece and Rome. This style of dress is associated with Jane Austen and her contemporaries as a simple cotton high-waisted dress was worn most days and accessorized according to the importance of the occasion.
1809 White Walking Dress, French. Green paisley shawl, green shoes and close-fitting hat. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
These lightweight white cotton dresses were fashionable in Jane Austen’s times, but they were certainly not warm when a lady was out walking or when riding in a carriage. Numerous outer layers could be added for warmth and to brighten and personalize an outfit. These might be an overdress, pelisse or redingote, hat, shawl, gloves, or large fur muff.
Definition Paisley Shawl: Made of intricately woven and delicate wool with a teardrop motif that originated in Persia and India.
Fashion Women 1805-1809 History Notes Book 26 What did Jane Austen and friends wear? This book looks at early 1800s fashions, which were elegant and pretty with high waists and fabrics that were almost transparent. These Empire style gowns, named after Napoleon’s first Empress, became popular throughout Europe, and were then copied around the world. Colorful outwear was added to make an ensemble more attractive and warmer. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
1805 November Three English Ladies In Full Dress. White walking dress with high neck under a purple tunic, or pelisse, and a masculine style straw hat. Two in evening dresses, one white and one pink, fur stoles and plumed, or feathered, hats. via Vernon and Hood Poultry at The Lady’s Monthly Museum, London, U.K.
These gorgeous dresses show the transition from the round dresses of the late 1700s to the Empire style dresses with the waistline high under the bust. Small trains were still worn in the early 1800s, but much more manageable than the larger and more elaborate trains of the late 1700s. Jane Austen and her friends would have worn dresses like this to their assemblies and evening events.
Definition Accessory: An accessory completes and complements an outfit.
Two groups – 1. Those worn e.g. bonnets, caps and hats, boots and shoes, cravats and ties, gloves, mittens and muffs, jewelry, scarves and shawls, socks and stockings.
2. Those carried e.g. bags, fans, and parasols.
Definition 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.
1806 Short Sleeved White Muslin Dress With Train, French. Bodice and sleeves have ribbon decoration, evening flowered headdress, half parure of necklace and ear bobs, and gorgeous Indian hand loomed green shawl. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
Definition Jewelry – Parure: Matched set of jewelry, including a necklace, bracelet, earrings, pin etc. Half Parure had no headpiece.
Definition Shawls: The shawl started off in India as a fine wool garment for men that could be worn as a scarf, turban or as a mantle: the word comes from the Persian shäl. Originally imported from the East, European Kashmir shawls were made first in Norwich and Edinburgh in Britain in the late 18th century. Shawls were an essential item in the early 1800s to cover the thin gowns women wore. They were made of muslin, gauze, silk, wool, and velvet, though cashmere shawls were the softest and most prized.
1819 February Pink Ball Dress, English. Underskirt with white lace hem, pink layer with intricate decoration, short puffed sleeves, low décolletage, or neckline, white shawl and white hat with pink feather. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London. Women’s clothing came in the late 1810s came in a wide range of styles to suit every season and occasion. 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. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
Definition Ball Dress: At the end of the 1810s, ball or dancing dresses had higher hemlines that rose several inches above the ankle so ladies wouldn’t trip on their hens or flounces and make a spectacle of themselves.
Definition Aigret, aigrette, egret: Plume of feathers or jeweled ornament in shape of feathers worn on head or hats. During the early 19th century, or Jane Austen’s lifetime, or during the years of the Bridgerton series, the favorite feathers were osprey and heron.
1816 October Half-Dress. A gown of lilac sarsnet, cut low round the bust, which is trimmed with pink ribbon, disposed so as to form a wreath; the shape of the back is marked by hands of pink, and a large bow, in the French style, ornaments the middle of it at bottom. The back is full; a plain light front forms the shape in a most becoming manner. Long full sleeve, composed of clear muslin, trimmed at the wrist with a single row of lace, and finished by a pink bow. Fichu to correspond, very full trimmed round the throat with lace. The bottom of the skirt is edged with pink, and trimmed with a single flounce of blond lace, set on very full, and surmounted by a wreath of French roses. Cornette composed of tulle, finished by a quilling of blond round the face, and fastened by a pink bow under the chin; a bow to correspond ornaments it on the forehead, and a bunch of flowers is placed very far back on the head. The style of this cornette, though French, is so simply elegant and becoming, that we have not for some time seen any half-dress cap to equal it. Plain gold ornaments. White kid gloves, and white kid slippers with pink rosettes. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition Half Dress: Between undress and full dress, respectable outfit without an excess of formal accessories and might be worn either day or evening. Could include Afternoon Dress, such as Afternoon Walking Dress and even Evening Dress if not a very formal evening occasion, such as a theatre attendance or dinner engagement.
Definition Empire Style: Named after the First Empire in France, by 1800 Empire dresses had a very low décolleté, or neckline and a short narrow backed bodice attached to a separate skirt. Skirts started directly under the bust and flowed into the classical relaxed wide styles of Greece and Rome. This style of dress is associated with Jane Austen and her contemporaries as a simple cotton high-waisted dress was worn most days and accessorized according to the importance of the occasion.
