| MY HOMEPAGE | MY SITE MAP | MY HOST SITE (Thanks!) |
Morning Dress. I love this image, for it makes me think this is how many women authors looked as they wrote their works. Doris Langley Moore writes of this image: "Morning dress of embroidered clear lawn, the cap a French cornette ... A morning dress of clear lawn trimmed with embroidered frills and mancherons, and blue ribbon headings. The cap is a French cornette with a high caul" (The Gallery of Fashion 1790-1822 from Plates by Heideloff and Ackermann with Introduction by Sacheverell Sitwell and Notes on the Plates by Doris Langley Moore. Batsford Colour Books. London: B.T. Batsford, 1949. 12).
Morning Dress. The cap here is called the Parisian mob, and it is tied with a pink ribbon and has some fake flowers trimming it. The lady sits on her cashmere shawl in her muslin morning gown. She wears leather gloves as she reads her letter. Nine rows of pink ribbon and one row of buttons trim the bottom of her gown. Buttons were still quite expensive, so this trim would indicate wealth. The little cape on the collar is a pelerine, and these became longer and much more common in the 1830s.
Left: Walking Dress. Boots of grey silk and black leather peak from under this grey dress trimmed with white crossing bands joined with roses. The lady also has a beautiful cashmire shawl. The bust is accentuated by the white cloth bindings around the chest called Athenian braces. The hat is modelled after men's hats of the period and is called a French walking hat.
Right: Walking Dress featuring Spencer. Remove the spencer and hat, and the lady is in white muslin and a white cornette-style cap, typical morning dress. The spencer of green is designed to draw attention to the bust. The hat is of green satin with dashing plumes.
Walking Dress, featuring Pelisse. This grey pelisse is trimmed with ruby velvet and has a matching ruby velvet bonnet, with ostrich feathers died to match. The huge fur muff would stay popular for the next few years, but muffs in the late 1820s were generally of a more reasonable size.
Evening Dress. This image reminds me of all the harp-playing heroines of the 1775-1820 period. Frances Burney's Ellis or Juliet of The Wanderer, 1814, even gives harp lessons. The dress below can be seen in color in Moore's The Gallery of Fashion. Moore describes the dress thus: "Evening dress of gossamer satin, body and Spanish slashed sleeves of pink satin, cap with rosebuds ... An evening or musical party full dress of gossamer satin, with festoooned trimming, bordered with rouleaux of rose-pink satin. Body and Spanish slashed sleeves of pink satin. Cap ornamented with rosebuds" (12).
To Return to Ackermann's Repository Fashions