1820-1835 ca. Woman’s Underwear Combination, English. This style of underwear was worn during the Jabe Austen and Bridgerton years. Petticoat: 1820-1829 ca. Cotton with double row of piping round hem. Frontless with looped shoulder pieces. Corset: 1835: Cotton reinforced with whalebone and cording, hand-sewn. Shift Or Chemise:1830s Worn under corset. Drawers: Sheer clinging fabrics needed drawers underneath for modesty. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
collections.vam.ac.uk.
19th Century Early Cotton Trousers, British. Buttons at waist, drop down front flap with buttons and cut with excess material to allow easy movement. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org.
Trousers: In the early 19th century, trousers were sewn with a flap in front called a fall front and was held in place by two or three buttons. Trousers were held up by tight-fitting waists which were adjusted by gusset ties in back of the waist. Seats were baggy to allow a man to rise comfortably from a sitting position.
1780-1789 Linen Stays Or Corset, Great Britain. Stays, 1780-1789 (made). Linen, lined with linen and reinforced with whalebone, trimmed with pale blue silk ribbon. Hand sewn with linen thread, applied ribbon, chamois and whalebone.
Stays were an essential item of underwear for women during the 18th century. By the 1780s, the fashionable torso consisted of an inverted cone shape. Achieving smoothness of profile and firmness of contour were the primary function of 18th-century stays, rather than emphasising the bust or constricting the waist. Although custom-made and very intricately designed, stays were usually very plain. In this example a narrow blue ribbon covering the seams is the only decoration.
The narrow rows of very fine, even hand-stitching form the compartments into which thin strips of whalebone were inserted. Although the stays appear very rigid, whalebone was quite flexible. It had the added advantage of softening with the heat of the wearer’s body, allowing the stays to mould to her shape. When worn, the shaped and boned tabs at the lower edge would splay over the wearer’s hips, giving further fullness to the petticoat tied at the waist over the stays. Given by Mrs Strachan. Museum Number T.172-1914. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
1780 ca. Gold Silk Banyan, British. For at-home wear, a gentleman had a dressing gown, often with a matching waistcoat, and an undress cap or turban. “This yellow damask banyan with its bold Chinese Chippendale – inspired pattern would have been an imposing sight on the streets or in the drawing rooms of London.” via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org Credit: Catharine Breyer Van Bomel Foundation Fund, 1978 Accession Number:1978.135.1
From the Curator: ‘For at-home wear, a gentleman had a dressing gown, often with a matching waistcoat, and an undress cap or turban.As for breeches, they were not designed especially for this casual ensemble, but rather borrowed from other suits.The dressing gown was cut like a man’s loose coat and usually hung to the floor, though there were also versions that stopped below the knees. Since there were no fastenings, the wearer overlapped the dressing gown in front when he walked so that the sides did not billow out behind him.The sleeves were originally rolled back to form cuffs, but later dressing gowns display the fashionable cuff of their period.In England these dressing gowns were called “banyans” or “Indian nightgowns” because of their kimono-like form and Eastern origin. Banyans were made in a variety of fabrics, including silk brocades, damasks, and printed cottons. By the 1780s, gentlemen ventured out of doors in this comfortable and stylish costume. According to Town and Country Magazine in 1785: “Banyans are worn in every part of the town from Wapping to Westminster, and if a sword is occasionally put on it sticks out of the middle of the slit behind. This however is the fashion, the ton, and what can a man do? He must wear a banyan.”This yellow damask banyan with its bold Chinese Chippendale – inspired pattern would have been an imposing sight on the streets or in the drawing rooms of London.’ via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1805-1820 ca. Combination Shoe and Patten, Or Overshoe. Raises foot off the ground but still elegant enough to be genteel. Very practical but not to everyone’s taste. When Jane Austen and her family and friends went walking in the country, the ground was often very wet due to England’s high rainfall and snowfall so pattens were used to keep shoes and the hems of clothing out of the mud.
Only one of this pair of shoes survives. It effectively combines shoe and patten (overshoe) in one, so raising the foot off the ground but remaining sufficiently elegant to be considered genteel. This type of shoe was very practical but not to everyone’s taste. In 1840 The Shoemaker described it as going out of fashion partly because it looked ‘masculine for the chaster taste of the wearer’. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk
1851-1860 ca. Queen Victoria’s Ivory Silk Satin Dancing Slippers, English. Made by Richard Gundry, Gundry and Co., Soho Square, London, U.K.
1845-1865 ca. Cream Silk Evening Slippers, British. Cream evening shoes with ankle ties and lace trim. Trim is unusual because mid 19th Century ladies’ shoes were often plain as only toes showed beneath fashionable long skirts. Designed By Hobbs, famous London shoemaker, and with a label attached to lining with a regal crest to show maker’s royal patronage. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
“The more I know of the world the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” Jane Austen ~ Sense and Sensibility (1811)
1804 London Hairstyles, Gorgeous Gold Hats. via Fashion Plate via Fashions of London and Paris, Published By Richard Phillips, St. Paul’s Church Yard, London, UK. These styles of hats and hairstyles would have been worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries as hats were an essential fashion item during the Regency years.
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.
http://books2read.com/suziloveReticules
