1770-1790 ca. Stays, or Corset, English. Pink silk damask, lined with linen, reinforced with whalebone, fingers spread over hips. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook15
These silk stays have a small repeat floral brocade in rose, white, and green. There are cream, leather-backed waist tabs, stitched eyelets, and pink and tan linings. These stays, or corset, are unusual because they have both front and back lacings. This means that a lady could step in and out of her stays and then tighten the front lacing herself, thereby eliminating the need for assistance from a maid or dresser.
Women of the middle and lower classes needed to be able to dress themselves as they have no one to assist in tightening their lacings when they dressed. Most upper class ladies would be able to call upon a maid to help and would therefore generally use back lacing stays.
“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)
1811 August Walking Dress for a Mother and a child, English. Mother wears a typical Regency or Jane Austen style high round robe with full long sleeve trimmed with Van Dyke lace at the throat and cuffs and ornamented around the bottom with a Tuscan border in needlework. Short capuchin cloak of buff shot sarsenet fastened with broaches on shoulders and trimmed with deep Chinese silk fringe. Moorish turban bonnet gathered into a broach in centre of the forehead. Purple ridicule, or bag, with gold snap and tassels. Buff kid half boots, parasol with deep Indian awning. Child wears a short sleeved Spanish vest and trousers in one, which looks like a skeleton suit, a tight coat or jacket buttoned to a pair of high-waisted trousers. An Indian dimity waistcoat with long sleeves and collar trimmed with a narrow border of muslin, high shoes of purple morocco and a college cap of purple velvet with a crimson band and carries a parasol. via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.
Definition Skeleton Suit: Shirt and trousers made as one connecting piece, often buttoned together, and were one of the earliest fashions designs made especially for children and were worn from the 1790s to the 1820s.
1816-1817 ca. Man’s Linen Shirt, American. High collar, ruffles down front opening, fullness from gathered shoulders and sleeves for unrestricted movement. Beautifully created and monogrammed by Elizabeth Wild Hitchings for her husband, Benjamin Hitchings, a sea captain. Wives or servants regularly hand stitched shirts from 1800s-1840s, before sewing machines, but handiwork rarely recorded.
From The Creator: This shirt was created, from the linen fiber to the finished garment, by the donor’s great-grandmother, Elizabeth Wild Hitchings, for her husband Benjamin Hitchings, a sea captain, in 1816. It was common practice for a wife or servant to hand stitch family members’ shirts prior to the mid-19th century, but rarely was such handiwork recorded, making this case rare and intriguing. In addition, its elegant stitching makes it a perfect example of the familial care taken in sewing prior to the common possession and use of the sewing machine. via Metropolitan Museum, N.Y.C., U.S.A. metmuseum.org
From the finish of the 18th century until 1820, men’s fashions in European and European-influenced countries moved away from the formal wear of brocades, lace, wigs and powder to more informal and relaxed styles. Focus was on undress rather than formal dress. Typical menswear in the early 1800s included a tailcoat, a vest or waistcoat, either breeches, pants, or the newer trousers, stockings, shoes or boots, all worn with an overcoat and hat. This basic ensemble was accessorized with some form of neckcloth or cravat, gloves, walking stick, cane or riding crop, handkerchief, fobs, watch and perhaps a quizzing glass or eye glass.
Skirted coats were replaced with short-fronted, or cutaway, tailcoats worn over fitted waistcoats and plain, white linen shirts. Knee breeches were gradually replaced by tight-fitting pantaloons and later trousers, decorative shoes with buckles were replaced with a variety of boot styles, and fussy and ruffled neckwear gave way to intricately tied, white linen neck cloths. A Regency Era, or early 1800s, gentleman was outfitted in more practical fabrics, such as wool, cotton and buckskin rather than the fussy brocades and silks of the late 1700s.
1804 Men's Fashions In The Time Of Jane Austen. #Regency #Fashion #JaneAusten Share on X
1820 ca. Writing Box, English. Rosewood and brass inlaid writing box by William Dobson, The Strand, London. Makers label, gilded candle holders, ink wells. via antiques-atlas.com. Portable boxes for writing materials existed for many centuries but in the last decades of the 18th century socio-economic circumstances in England necessitated the wide use of a portable desk in the form of a box which could be used on a table or on one’s lap. Hence “Lap Desk”.
11811 Half-Mourning Dress, French. Black dress, high white neck ruffle, black hat with white trim and white shoes.
In November, 1810, Princess Amelia, youngest daughter of George III, died. At the end of 1810 full mourning of complete black would have been worn but by the beginning of 1811, half mourning would still have been to respect the loss of a royal family member. Half-mourning allowed touches of silver, grey, mauve and white to be added to a mostly black outfit and would be worn after the period of full mourning was ended, times depending on the relationship to the deceased person. Garments and accessories could either be trimmed with black, jet jewelry worn, black ribbons added, or a layer of black net or gauze added to a dress or hat.
Jane Austen and her family would have worn this type of outfit when mourning a relative or friend. However, as black dresses, black tunics, and black lace shawls were popular throughout the Regency years, it is often hard to decide what was definitely made for mourning and what was simply fashionable wear. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
Definition Half or Slight Mourning: Allowed touches of grey and white to be added to full, or deep, mourning ensembles. Some lustre, or shine, was allowed in fabrics and accessories. After a time, mauve or deep purple could also be worn.
18th Century Late – 19th Century Early Bodice and Corset Ensemble, European. Cranberry silk faille with polychrome floral brocade, the square-neck bodice having folded front collar, narrow double breast and short sleeve with pleated and pointed cuff, peplum back. Corset front pieced with cranberry brocade and a tan dotted sawtooth stripe, the back in a similar dotted stripe. Both pieces trimmed in aqua ribbon and lined in linen. via Whitaker Auctions. whitakerauction.smugmug.com
1809 ca. Empire Style, Or High-Waisted, Dress, English. Hand-embroidered white cotton muslin, cotton bobbin lace, shell buttons and linen tape. via National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. ngv.vic.gov.au
The gowns associated with Empire or Regency style have a low neckline and short sleeves and were usually worn for evening, dress, or dancing. Toward the end of the era, dancing dresses featured higher hemlines that rose several inches above the ankle. Day dresses had a higher neckline and long sleeves. The Empire styles at the beginning of the 19th century were made of a soft, lightweight fabric gathered just under the breasts. It featured a low square neckline, and small, short, puffed sleeves with a low shoulder line. Although lawn and batiste were used, muslin was the fabric of choice as it was easy to clean. The thin muslin clung close to the body and emulated styles worn in ancient Greece. Shades of white predominated, with the addition of pale pastel shades worn for day wear.
Empire Style Dress: Named after the First Empire in France. Empire dresses had a low neckline and 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 high-waisted dress was worn most days. Cotton, silk or taffeta were the popular fabrics.
1812 June Couple In Fashionable Walking Dress, English. Lady wears a green cape and hat over a high-waisted, or Empire style, white dress with a pink parasol. Man wears a tailcoat over fawn breeches,
yellow gloves, black shoes and hat and a walking stick. Fashion Plate via The Lady’s Magazine Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex.
By the end of the 18th century, tailored garments for both men and women were replaced by styles made for ease and comfort, resulting in the neoclassical style of the 1780s. Inspired in part by the statuary of ancient Greece and Rome, the new fashion was epitomized by light cotton gowns falling around the body in an unstructured way, held around the high waist with a simple sash and accompanied by a soft shawl draped around exposed shoulders. This style was ideal for the Indian imports like Kashmiri shawls and Bengali muslin, as used in this embroidered gown.
