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Archives for August 2017

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates June 1814

August 24, 2017 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

I’m intrigued by the hat in the first of this month’s fashion plates, described as an “Oldenburg bonnet.” I’d never heard of such a bonnet before, and began searching for hints about where the name may have come from. I found mention of Her Imperial Highness, the Grand Duchess of Oldenburg, the mother of the current King of Prussia, Alexander, who visited England in March of 1814, in Edward Seymour’s History of the Wars Resulting from the French Revolution (1815). Seymour reports that the Grand Duchess, “impelled by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, was continually engaged in visiting those objects of curiosity more particularly calculated to enlighten the mind” (Vol. II, page 450). Her visits included two to Oxford University; one of those visits was commemorated in this print, now at the British Museum:

 

The Oldenburg Procession through Oxford, May 1814

As you can see from the above print, the Duchess wore a quite distinctive hat. The new style bonnet, in vogue for several years after the Grand Duchess’s visit to England, is described in The Habits of Good Society (1863) as “nothing more or less than a coal-scuttle in straw, and turned up around the brim; it was tremendously warm to wear; and caricatures were drawn at the time showing a gentleman’s difficulties in making love to his inamorata, whose face was enclosed in the Oldenburg bonnet” (187).

Ackermann’s version is not quite so extreme as the Duchess’s, but it still keeps the face quite hidden:

Ackermann's June 1814 Plate 36: Walking Dress

Vol. XI, no. lxvi, plate 36

 

No such hiding for the lady in Plate 37, “Full or evening dress.” Her gown is cut quite low in the back, and adorned with silver beads down the back seams of the bodice, an ornamentation I’ve never seen before in a Regency-era fashion plate. Have you?

Ackermann's June 1814, plate 37: "Full Dress"

Vol. XI, no. lxvi, Plate 37: Full Dress

I’ve also never seen sleeves decorated in the fashion show here, either. They are described as composed of “tull or silk net and white satin, with four drawings of easy fullness, lengthwise on the arm, severally edged with silver beading, and terminate at the wrist with a silver Vandyke fringe.” I wonder if the length-wise ornamentation made for difficulties in bending one’s elbow?

The lady’s tunic is described as “evening primrose colour,” but looks more like a lavender to my eye. Perhaps the plate’s original color faded or underwent some chemical reaction?

 

Last month’s fashion for fleur de lis continues in June’s fabric samples: see #2, an “elegant printed marcella for gentleman’s waistcoats, remarkably appropriate to the season, and peculiarly adapted by the fleur de lis by the present circumstances of the times.”

 

 

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Filed Under: Regency History Tagged With: Ackermann, Ackermanns, Ackermmann's, clothing, dress, fabric, fashion

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates May 1814

August 16, 2017 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

The fleur de lis is the theme of this month’s fashion plates and embroidery patterns, in celebration, no doubt of the abdication of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France the month before. Plate 30’s Opera Dress features fleur de lis embroidery around its bottom; hair is to be “separated on the centre of the forehead by a pearl ornament or fleur de lis.” Plate 31’s Walking Dress also features the French symbol, this time on a shawl: “White silk shawl handkerchief, the corners richly embossed with the fleur de lis.”

Ackermanns May 1814, Plate 30: Opera Dress

Plate 30: Opera Dress

 

Ackermanns May 1814, Plate 31: Walking Dress

Plate 31: Walking Dress

The “General Notes” encourage the theme: white evening dresses are “constantly attended with the fleur de lis whenever it can be introduced.” Lilac and sea green dresses are occasionally seen, too, all with the French ornament embroidered round the bottom of the dress “without exception.” And white silk shawls and scarves featuring the symbol are also “much in vogue.” No sympathizing with the French revolutionaries for Ackermann‘s readers!

This is one time where having the descriptions alongside the fashion plates themselves really helps us understand more than what the plate shows; I don’t think I would have “seen” any of the ornaments as  fleur de lis  without their identification in the accompanying description.

 

Description of plates 30 & 31

 

The “General Observations” notes several other fashion trends for the early summer of 1814:

• Loose sleeves, “generally carried down to the wrist, some of them continuing to be drawn four and five times down the arm, and each drawing fastened with a small bow of white satin ribband.”

• Bosoms cut less square

• Embroidery less common down the front than about the bottom of the skirt

• Long hair more fashionable than short, especially when worn “very low on the neck behind.”

• “Blücher” hats, no doubt named after the Prussian field marshal who battled Napoleon at the Battle of Nations at Leipzig in 1813

• Silver sprigged or spotted muslins, rather than silk or gossamer, for summer gowns

• Single flounces

 

Ackermann's 1814 embroidery designs

Needlework patterns featuring the fleur de lis

 

Do you think lilies were the fashionable choice for floral decorations in English ballrooms this month?

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Filed Under: Regency History Tagged With: Ackermann, Ackermanns, Ackermmann's, clothing, dress, fabric, fashion, Napoleon, needlework

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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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