1820s Woman’s White Cotton and Lace Trimmed Pantalettes with Two Separate Legs. About 1806, French made female form of gentleman’s drawers, pantalettes. During the 19th Century, children wore them but women only wore them for a short time to keep up with French chic. The predecessor of women’s panties appeared about 1806 in the form of drawers like those worn by gentleman. Always the leader in forward chic, the French quickly came up with the female version—pantalettes. While the style persisted throughout the 19th century for children, pantalettes for adult women were only a passing fad. The pantalettes consist of two separate legs attached to a drawstring waistband, leaving the crotch open. The legs are bordered at the bottom with bands of needle run lace. The pantalettes are completely hand stitched and close in back with one mother-of-pearl button. The open edges of the crotch are finished with corded piping. via vintagetextile.com
Love the Bridgerton family and Jane Austen? Reader Or Writer of Regency Era stories? Mourning and riding fashion, dresses, hats, shoes, reticules or bags, underclothing and fashion accessories. books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
History Notes 28 Fashion Women 1815-1819: This book looks at what was fashionable for women in the Georgian Era and at the end of the Regency Era in Britain and the reconstruction in Europe after the wars. Lifestyles were freer and fashions expressed this by becoming the focus of most women’s lives. A wardrobe full of opulent accessories was requisite. Includes mourning and riding fashion, dresses, hats, shoes, reticules or bags, underclothing, and fashion accessories.
1820-1840 ca. Hand-Embroidered Wedding Corset, Connecticut, USA. Ivory cotton covered with hand embroidery, including love birds on hearts, front pocket for busk, eyelets for back lacing. Trapunto (to embroider) cording decorates and shapes corset. The back closure has ivory eyelets for the lacing. The center-front has a pocket panel for inserting a busk. Trapunto (to embroider) shapes the corset by outlining the design with two or more rows of running stitches and then padding from the underside which gives a raised effect.The technique was always considered very elegant. Trapunto first appeared in 14th century Sicily and was widely adopted for clothing in Tudor England, and then brought to America by the new settlers. In addition to the cording, the corset is totally covered with hand-embroidered flowers and there are two embroidered love birds on hearts at the center-front. Above the birds is a section of trapunto work. via Vintage Textiles
1800 ca. Sleeveless Chemise or Nightgown of white cotton and lace. Length just below knee. Gathered back and front onto yoke of lace and gathered fabric inserts. Gathers around neck by tape in casing. ‘Blanche’ embroidered centre front. Waist up to 50 in or more. via National Trust Collections, UK. nationaltrustcollections.org.uk
Definition Chemise Or Shift: Sleeveless, mid-calf length garment of white cotton or muslin was worn next to the skin under stays or corset. Called ‘Shift’ from early Georgian (1700-1750) until Late Georgian (1750-1790) to replace ‘Smock’. By 1800, name replaced by ‘Chemise’. Sometimes doubled as a nightshift, or nightrail. From around 1700, women wore a long garment, like a man’s shirt, next to their skin, day and night. ‘Costume In England’ describes this as originally a shirt or smock and adopted by women as an undergarment.
This undergarment fell from their shoulders to calves, and was called a chemise, shift, or vest. During the day, it was worn under stays, or a corset, and at night it could be worn as a nightshirt. Wealthier women could afford specific bedroom attire, but lower and working class women wouldn’t have had this luxury and so wore a chemise as both an undergarment and as sleepwear. The rich and the upper classes wore embroidered and otherwise decorated versions of this simple linen or cotton shift. Other classes of women wore a very simple version with little or no decoration as they had no time for decorative embroidery and no money to buy silk threads.
1830 ca. Quilted Buff Canvas Corset, English. Quilted canvas, wood, boning, and brass. Self lined, quilted with back stitch.
Front fastening, shoulder straps, and brass eyelets for back. The wide centre front busk may be of wood and these stays are boned from the waist through the centre of the bust gussets, with three bones at each side and on each side of the back lacing. The rest is quilted, the top is over a cord foundation, and there are gussets at the hips. Eyelets in the back and strap lacing are of brass and machine inserted. On the left of the centre busk at hip level, is a tape stretched so that it ties horizontally. The top and straps are bound with tape. Self lined, quilted in back stitch, the waist is herringboned, and the bases of the bust and hip gores are button-holed. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk
This book shows how corsets changed to both provide support and also fit well under clothing to give a fashionable silhouette. Corsets started being a fashion item, rather than simply underclothing to be hidden. Romantic Era women’s fashionable corsets. Corsets worn from 1830-1850, or the Romantic Era of fashion. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18 Corsets 1830-1850 History notes Book 18
In Jane Austen’s years of the early nineteenth century, women often wore light-weight dresses under which was worn a range of underclothing to stop gowns appearing transparent and sticking to a lady’s body. To preserve modesty, underclothing included a chemise next to the skin, then a corset, and then petticoats to give shape to a dress and to keep it away from her body.
What did Jane Austen and friends wear? Early 1800s fashions 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. History Notes Book 26 Fashion Women 1805-1809. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
The Empire waist gown defined women’s fashion during the Regency Era. ‘Empire’ is the name given in France to the period when Napoleon built his French Empire. High-waisted, loose gowns were adopted by the aristocracy as a symbol of turning away from the fussy, elaborate and expensive clothing worn in the 1700s. Jean-Jaques Rousseau advocated copying peasants and returning to a simpler life and more natural fashions. Unrestricting clothing was part of the new Democracy in France and these simpler and flowing fashions were adopted all over Europe, including Britain and despite the continual wars being fought against France during the early 1800s. Not even war stopped fashions from being copied everywhere.
An overview of women’s fashions in the first twenty years of the 19th century. What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s. Wars were being fought around the globe, so women’s fashion adopted a military look in support of soldiers. In Britain, the Prince Regent ruled instead of his father, King George III, so fashions, like the lifestyle, became more extravagant and accessories went from pretty to opulent. This set includes books 12, 25, 26, 27 and 28. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomenBoxSet
Ladies clothing in the early 1800’s featured a high waist line called an Empire Line, or Empire style dress, with a waist line just under the natural bust line and much higher than the natural waist. The high-waisted, or short-bodied, Regency styles shifted focus away from the natural waist and so left the natural waist unconstricted, in direct contrast to previous and future styles. Britain took these simple European styles and progressively made them more elaborate by adding more and more complicated embroidery onto white fabrics to create the white on white look popular for many years.
The empire look of fine muslin dresses left women more exposed than in the Georgian Era when fabrics had been thicker and styles bulkier. Women, especially in England, preserved their modesty by adding lace, frills, flounces, ruches, and fabric plaits to dresses to adequately cover any parts that might inadvertently be exposed. Outer layers, such as Spencers, Redingotes or Pelisses or coats, and shawls, were also added for warmth and to brighten outfits.
This Empire fashion was totally dependent on a supply of fine, translucent cotton muslin – at first imported from India, then later, less exclusive imitations often woven and printed or embroidered in Britain. Fabrics were soft and lightweight and muslins and other cotton fabrics from India and other Asian countries were in high demand.
1780 Stays and Panier, or Hoop Petticoat, England. via suzilove.com and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA. Stays: Brown linen twill and baleen. Panier: Woman’s hoop petticoat, or pannier, of linen plain weave and cane 1750-1780. via Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA. collections.lacma.org
