Bliss Bennet. The passion of historical romance.

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

  • HOME
  • BOOKS
  • BIO
  • BLOG
  • EXTRAS
  • CONTACT

Archives for June 2018

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates May 1816

June 13, 2018 By BlissBennet 1 Comment

 

Mrs. Gill of Cork-Street, Burlington Gardens, continues to rule the dress design pages of Ackermann’s Repository for 1816. May’s entries, as were April’s, both favor white for their gowns, Plate 28’s evening dress made of satin and lace, Plate 29’s carriage dress of cambric and muslin. The evening gown’s starkness is lightened by tiny dots of color in the form of “Coloured stones” (“amethysts and emeralds are most in favour,” our correspondent notes below in the “General Observations on Fashion and Dress”). Here they are are used not only in a necklace, but as ornaments on the sleeves and bodice. I don’t recall seeing such stone ornaments in earlier Ackermann’s prints.

 

Ackermann's May 1816, plate 28: Evening Dress

Plate 28, Vol. I (2nd ed.) no. v

 

Our correspondent reports that the carriage dress depicted in plate 29 is “the most elegant carriage dress of the months and the only novelty worth mentioning hat that appeared in the carriage costume.” The description of the dress doesn’t really say what’s so novel about it, though. Is it the robe which overlays the dress, made in the chemisette style The blue ribbon bows which ornament the sleeve between elbow and wrist? Or the “elegant ruffle” which edges the end of each sleeve?

 

Ackermann's May 1816, plate 29: Carriage Dress

Plate 29, Vol. I (2nd ed.), no. v

 

Ackermann's Fashion plate description part 1, May 1816

 

Highlights from “General Observations on Fashion and Dress” include the news that pelisses continue to be “more fashionable than any thing else” in promenade costumes; that green sarsnet is most in favour for casual dress; Irish satin even more in favour for dinner dress; and the robe à la Bergère (shepherdess) is most in favour for full dress. We also hear about the introduction of a new type of stay, the corset des Grâces, which, our correspondent claims, “possesses the double advantage of improving the shape, and conducing towards the preservation of the health; no compressions, no pushing the form out of its natural proportions; it allows the most perfect ease and freedom to every motion, while, at the same time, it gives that support to the frame, which delicate women find absolutely necessary.” I couldn’t find any images online of this particular corset style; anyone have any books on corset history that show what it might have looked like?

Ackermann's Fashion Plates description May 1816 part 2

In London, May’s fashionable colors are reported to be green, lilac, azure, primrose, straw, and wild rose.

 

May’s edition also includes a lengthy account of French fashions, including the news that that not much has changed in recent months with the exception of changes in fabric and hats. The Parisian belle has set aside cloth and velvet for the spring, exchanging them for the lighter fabrics of sarsnet, satin, India muslin, and white spotted silk. High-crowned chapeaux and cornettes, which had begun to decline in fashion, have once again become extremely fashionable. Some are colored, but most are white, made either from satin, or chip and blond put very full over satin. Court ladies, loyal royalists, are reported to wear rings featuring a miniature of the French king, “which is always placed on the fore-finger of the left hand, as being the one nearest the heart.”

White is the color of choice in Paris, although there is some request for hyacinth, jonquil, rose-color, lilac, and green.

Ackermann's May 1816 French Female Fashions column

 

Leaves dominate May’s muslin patterns:

Ackermann's May 1816 Muslin pattern

 

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

RSS Bliss Bennet. The passion of historical romance.

  • 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

Categories

  • A Lady without a Lord
  • A Man without a Mistress
  • Book Production
  • Guest Post lins
  • Rebel without a Rogue
  • Regency Curiosities
  • Regency History
  • Uncategorized
  • Writer's Life

Archives

  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
SITE NAVIGATION

Home
Books
Bio
Blog
Contact
Newsletter
Privacy Policy

TWITTERTweets by BlissBennet
SOCIAL
Bliss Bennet Facebook
Bliss Bennet Twitter
Bliss Bennet Pinterest
Bliss Bennet GoodReads