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Bliss Bennet writes smart, edgy novels for readers who love history as much as they love romance.

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Archives for October 2015

Ackermanns Fashion Plates August 1810

October 28, 2015 By BlissBennet 2 Comments

Fascinating General Observations in this month’s fashion plate commentary by Arbiter Elegantiarum, condemning any female fashion that bears a resemblance to the dress of men:

“However ambitious of conquest the fair may be, they cannot expect to attain their object by inspiriting beholders with terror. Modesty and loveliness are their legitimate weapons, retreat and ambuscade their chief military manoeuvres. . . . ”

But AE goes on to enforce gender codes beyond simple fashion:

“I know there is a race of Amazons in the present age, the Lady Diana Spankers of the present day, to whom all this would appear the height of absurdity. To rival, not to captivate, men, is the aim of these heroines; but they will, I am sure, never find admirers or imitators amongst those who are distinguished for sensibility or intelligence.”

Lady Diana Spanker is a character in the children’s story “Mademoiselle Panache,”  by Maria Edgeworth. Edgeworth describes her as a “dashing, rich, extravagant, fashionable widow” whom her main character, a coquette, uses as a foil to make herself look more appealing. Lady Di’s “masculine intrepidity and disgusting coarseness” would likely be familiar to readers, as Edgeworth’s Moral Tales were hugely popular in the period.

 

Clothing for the beach is certainly different now than it was in the Regency, isn’t it?

 

Plate 11, Vol IV, no. XX, page110
Plate 12, Vol. IV, no. XX, page 110

 

August’s fabric samples include another colorful chintz for furniture, and a “leno,” which Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles tells us is “a fabric made with a leno weave” ; “leno weaving” is “a weaving process in which warp yarns are arranged in pairs,” giving an strength to open weave fabrics. Here’s a picture of a modern weaver’s leno wall hanging:

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Filed Under: Regency History

Ackermanns Fashion Plates July 1810

October 21, 2015 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

Volume 4 of Ackermanns opens with a sumptuous ball dress, one that sports a rather short hem—so that we could see those fabulous spotted shoes? I wonder how the “pink foil” spots on the white satin of the shoes was stuck on? And does anyone have any idea what the heck it is that the woman is leaning on??

The three ladies purportedly taking the air in Kensington Gardens look ready for a cloudy, showery day, rather than for a hot summer stroll. The post uses the word “ridicule” rather than the more familiar (at least to us) “reticule.” I wonder which word was more popular at the time?

I have no idea what an unella veil is; couldn’t find a listing in Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, and a Google search just turns up a character on Game of Thrones.

Plate 4, Vol IV, no. IXX, page 27
Plate 5, Vol. IV, no. IXX, page 27

 

In the general observations, Arbiter Elegantarium bemoans the introduction of “stiff stays and long waists,” particularly among “the middle and lower classes of society”:


 

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Comments on this month’s fabric samples include a long footnote about British muslin being falsely marketed as India muslin, and puffs for the new “establishing of the warehouse by Mr. Millard, in Cheapside” “as the India goods there are sold direct from the India warehouses.” Wouldn’t want the India Company to lose their revenue, would we, fashionable ladies?

Would you wear “seaweed muslin” (see sample 4)?

 

Vol. IV, no. XXI, page 52

Vol. IV, no. XXI, page 52

 

 


Filed Under: Regency History Tagged With: Ackermanns, clothing, dress, fashion

Ackermanns Fashion Plates June 1810

October 14, 2015 By BlissBennet 2 Comments

And I thought last month’s plates were cosmopolitan! But June’s first plate, a walking or carriage costume, features “a round high robe of Frenc cambric, with Armenian collar, “an Egyptian mantle of lilac shot sarsnet, trimmed with broad Spanish binding,” “a Parisian bonnet” with “French net,” as well as a “Chinese parasol.” Young women in the Regency may not have been able to go on the Grand Tour, but their clothing certainly gave the impression that they had!

Again we have a “child” outfit, not a “boy’s” or “girl’s” outfit, demonstrating once again how interchangeable clothing was for the youngest set.

 

Plate 37, Vol III, no. XVIII, page 388
Plate 38, Vol III, no. XVIII, page 388

Arbiter Elegantarium quotes Oliver Goldsmith’s Essay Number XV (full link here) to bemoan the current state of English fashion: “Foreigners observe that there are no ladies in the world more beautiful or more ill-dressed, than those of England.” Goldsmith held French fashions in far higher esteem than English ones, an opinion obviously shared by AE, a prime example of the longstanding English cultural inferiority complex when it comes to anything French.


 

This month’s fabric samples include a lovely “permanent lilac chintz furniture, never before produced in this country.” It does seem quite colorful compared to many of the other chintzes featured in earlier Ackermann’s plates. Sample #2, a Persian lace muslin, is particularly becoming; wish the image were better at capturing its detail…


 

Filed Under: Regency History Tagged With: Ackermanns, clothing, dress, fashion

Ackermanns Fashion Plates May 1810

October 7, 2015 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

This month’s theme is cosmopolitanism. The two fashion plates, both of promenade costumes, feature fashions from multiple countries around the globe. The first plate, labeled “In the Egyptian Style,” looks like something a traveler to the Middle East might wear, don’t you think? Visually, the second is far less obviously geographically situated, but its description features a “high French ruff,” a “cassoc coat”, an “Austrian tippet,” and an “Arcadian hat.” Though the hat’s adjective in all likelihood refers less to the headgear’s provenance and more to its overall rural or rustic feel . . .

Plate 32, Vol III, no. XVII, page 325.
Plate 33, Vol III, no. XVII, page 325

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Filed Under: Regency History Tagged With: Ackermanns, clothing, dress, fashion

A cover for A MAN WITHOUT A MISTRESS

October 2, 2015 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

So excited to share the cover for the second book in The Penningtons series, A Man without a Mistress:

 

Man Without a Mistress eBook Cover Large

Filed Under: A Man without a Mistress

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  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates January 1817
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates December 1816
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates November 1816
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates October 1816
  • Ackermann’s September 1816 Fashion Plates
  • Ackermann’s August 1816 Fashion Plates
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates July 1816
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates June 1816
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates May 1816
  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates April 1816

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