As promised, we have now have our regular feature, January fashion.
This is one of those four for the price of one plates. The ladies look wonderful.
As you can see we are showing walking, morning and evening gowns. The plate is from 1804 The Lady's Monthly Museum.
First Walking gown:
A light blue Beaver Military Helmeted hat, covered with Light Blue Netting, ornamented with a White Feather. A short walking dress of White Muslin. A military spencer, trimmed with silver cord, and Epaulette. York Tan Gloves.
I love this style, and often have my heroines adopt the military style, particularly for riding habits. It seems dashing somehow. Notice how the sleeves are cut to come over the backs of the hands. It is repeated again in the the morning dress.
Second Walking dress:
A Scarlet Velvet Bonnet, with a White Ostrich Feather. A Pelice of Scarlet Kesimere, trimmed with Black Velvet. Brown Bear Muff. Also note the half boots she is wearing. We do not see any of the gown since the pelisse (sp) appears to be full length and very warm looking.
I love the color and it does seem that red or scarlet was the color of winter. (The spelling of Kerseymere is off and quite honestly I do not know if this is a transcription mistake or an accurate quote. Spelling in the Regency was not standardised at all.) I am not so keen on the idea of the bear muff, I have to say, though it is quite magnificent, I am glad we don't wear them any more.
Morning Dress:
A Dress of Cambric Muslin with long sleeves; Habit shirt. The Hair dressed with a golden Comb, and Silver Bear Tippet.
Sadly more bear fur, which we will do our best to ignore. This is a morning dress, which of course means it was intended for making morning calls in the afternoons and is therefore more formal than the walking gown. Cambric muslin seems to be a combination of two fabrics, my guess is that it is a very fine cambric, a little heavier than muslin as a nod to the time of year. The long sleeves also cover the backs of the hands. It must have been in. I had a dress like that in the ooops ... better not to say when. lol. The habit shirt is interesting. It covers the chest and ruffles at the throat, and this style would have been worn beneath a riding habit. It makes this gown more modest and therefore suitable for day wear, don't you think? I like the pretty ruffles around the neckline, down the front and around the hem.
Our final gown is a Full Dress or Evening Gown.
The Head fashionably dressed, with a Gold Comb, and Scarlet Wreath. A dress of Muslin, sloped in Front, with a long Train trimmed with Rose-coloured Ribbon, with a broad White Lace sewed to the Edge of the Ribbon; and York Tan Gloves.
Well apart from the scarlet wreath being green, which I assume was artistic license, given that these were coloured by hand, it is a very pretty dress. But I do hate those York tan gloves. They really should have been white kid. lol
So there we have it, January 1804 in all of its glory.
Next time we will have a bit of flora and fauna.
Until then, Happy rambles.
Thankyou so much for displaying this 1804 LMM plate; fur trims and muff clearly show winter Regency fashions.
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose text description of the January, 1809 Ackermann plates; an Evening Dress and a Walking dress are available ? Thanks for any help. :)
Actually, I think this is the first time I've seen fur on a Morning Dress !
ReplyDeleteI read a Regency essay extolling elegance of fur (not environmentally minded were they ?! ) yet deploring muffs as 'ugly, fur lumps'. Actually, I'm rather keen on muffs !
I think that red claret colour is very Regency.
Mandy, A quick glance didn't locate anything for Jan 1809, but when I get a bit more time I will look again.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of muffs, and can recall having a green coat with a black muff (faux fur) as a child. It wasn't very practical and certainly not a good idea to trip and fall - without hands one's nose is at risk.
lol
Ohh ! I didn't think how one lost practical use of hands with a muff; a lady who slipped on wet pavement with hands embedded in a muff may've had a safety problem. (Also, how did she carry her bag or ridicle ?) Maybe that Regency fashion editor had a point on muffs. But gee, they look stylish !
ReplyDeleteMorning Dresses tend to confuse me; they remind me of my Georgian style nightdress; but your comments indicate ladies wore them as day dresses over the 'long Georgian morning' for visiting.
Interesting.
I appreciate your help, thankyou so much.
Actually, each month I look forward to your fashion prints- love your La Belle Assemblee plates & find the text descriptions intriguing.
Happy New Year !
Mandy, I can't recall if the knowledge that tripping was a hazard was from bitter experience or maternal advice lol. But the reticule usually had a loop, so it would still be hanging from her arm above the muff.
ReplyDeleteMorning gowns are one thing, and remember morning visits were always in the afternoon after three and before five is about right, though the rules are not hard and fast, but then there is mourning, for which there was another set of conventions. Hmm. Perhaps that is one I should visit. I'll have to check the blog archives to see what I have done on this in the past.