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Archives for October 2018

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates January 1817

October 17, 2018 By BlissBennet 1 Comment

 

January 1817’s fashion plates focus on French fashions: a full dress made for the Duchess de Berri, and a plate of hats of Parisian design. The Duchess’s court dress features an open robe (of British net!) trimmed with blond lace and adorned with intermingled lilies and roses. The underlying white satin slip features five rows of trimming: two satin twisted rolls; a wide wreath of lilies of plain blond; a deep flounce of blond lace; and a waves of lily stalks, surmounted by what appear to be fleur de lis. Ackermann’s fashion writer of late has taken to referring readers “to the print” rather than to actually describing the bodices of the gowns featured; a sign of growing social delicacy, perhaps? Or just a lack of sewing knowledge on the part of the correspondent? Rubies intermixed with pearl are the jewels of choice here, including necklace, earrings, bracelets, and armlets. The lady’s headdress is said to be “a single lily, placed in a bunch of fern,” although the fern here looks to be of the feathered variety.

Ackermann's January 1817, plate 4: Full Dress

Vol. III, no. xiii, plate 4: Full Dress

 

Each of the hats below are “furnished… from one of the first houses in Paris.” The similarities amongst them suggest that stylish misses wore their bonnets with large crowns, as well as deep fronts, and that floral decorations were the most in favor—auriculas, white roses, China asters, Provence roses, and unspecified “fancy flowers.” Straw in natural shades, or in black, dominate.

Ackermann's January 1817, plate 4: Parisian Head-Dresses

Vo. III, no. xiii, plate 4: Parisian Head-Dresses

 

Ackermann's Fashion plates description, January 1817

 

General observations on English dress and fashion include:

• Walking dresses made of the warmest materials for winter promenades

• Muffs made of ermine, sable, and “Isabella bear” fur

• A former trend of wearing sable and ermine caps “are rather too showy for the present chaste style of promenade dress”; bonnets of beaver, velvet, or black straw are preferable

• The “most elegant novelty for the carriage costume” is a pelisse “composed, we believe, of the wool of seal skin, and lined with white sarsnet”

Ackermann's fashion plate description January 1817 part 2

 

• “Fancy silks of every description are in high estimation for dinner dress, as is also plain and striped levantine, plain and fancy poplin, and plain velvet;… fancy striped poplin and spotted silk of a new pattern are higher than any thing else in estimation”

• The “Charlotte spencerette, composed of white satin, with a mixture of royal purpose, has just been introduced, and is greatly admired”

• Winter flowers are much worn in the hair for full dress; bandeaus and sprigs of diamond or pearl are in high estimation, while hair ornaments of coloured stone are rare

• Coloured stones are more in fashion in full dress jewelry than they have been in the past; crosses and lockets are “highly fashionable”

January’s fashionable colours include lead-colour; Provence rose-colour; royal purple; very dark green; various shades of brown; Clarence blue; and ruby

 

Ackermann's January 1817: Parisian fashions description

January’s issue includes the quarterly report of fashions from Paris, where the sartorial trends are as mixed as are the country’s politics. As our correspondent reports, “Some of our élégantes affect and excess of plainness and simplicity in their dress, which agrees as ill with the studied graces of their manners as rouge would with a Quaker’s bonnet. Others rush into the opposite extreme, and in their age for show decorate themselves with all the colours of the rainbow, and bird defiance at once to elegance and good taste.” Our correspondent christens the two groups Formalists and Dashers. Of course, a British woman’s taste “will point out the happy medium” amongst the descriptions of the melange of gowns that follow.

Seemingly, the form of the gowns worn by each group are similar. In day dress, the only real difference is in the cornette: formalists wear “a simple morning cap of a moderate size, without any ornament, not even a ribbon,” while dashers don “a high cornette, trimmed extravagantly with bows and drawings of glaring red orange or lilac; the colour of the ribbon is always different from that of the dress.” In dinner dress, it is the trimmings on the gowns themselves that differentiated the two groups. Formalists wear gowns with no trimming at all, or at most two narrow bands of velvet, “always of a sober colour, or a single flounce composed of the same materials as the dress,” while dashers  “wear three or four flounces, put on pretty close to each other, so that there is not above an inch of the edge of each flounce visible; each of these flounces is bound with ribbon, always of the most glaring colour.” Needless to say, our correspondent is not at all in favor of this trend (“at once tawdry and heavy”).

A novelty that I do not recall having been mentioned before in Ackermann’s pages is the witzchoura, which a quick search online reveals to be a type of sleeved cloak with a large collar and occasionally a hood. Deriving from the Polish word wilczura, meaning “wolf fur coat,” the style is said to have been introduced by Napoleon’s Polish mistress, Marie Walewska. I doubt any British belles would have had such a garment made from an actual wolf…

Fashionable colours in Paris include amber, blue, pink, yellow, and scarlet, quite different from those reining in London.

Ackermann's January 1817, French fashions description part 2

 

“Ornaments for painting on Fancy Work,” rather than an embroidery pattern, is featured in January’s issue. The classically-inclined pattern here is similar to the one which appeared in December 1816’s pages:

Ackermann's January 1817: Ornaments for painting on fancy work

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

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates December 1816

October 10, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

 

The death of the Queen’s brother sent the court into mourning in late 1816, but the fashion plates from the December issue do not shy away from bright colors. Court mourning may have “retarded the appearance of those novelties” in fashion, but as mourning is “expected to be short,” Ackermann’s columnist feels no compunction at describing “what is expected to be most in request among belles of taste at its close.”

Both of this month’s dresses are, in fact, both French, “but in the best style of Parisian costume,” reassures our columnist. Was there a “worst” style of Parisian costume?

Ackermann's Fashion Plates December 1816, Plate 36: Promanade Dress

Plate 34, Vol. II, no. xii

Plate 34 features a Promenade Dress, one almost entirely hidden under a crimson “Angouleme pelisse.” Candice Hern suggests the style is named in honor of the Duchesse d’Angloulême, the eldest daughter of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, who lived in exile in England from 1807 to 1814. Its bright color certainly appears appropriate for the December holiday! I’m particularly drawn to the model’s “ridicule” or reticule, which is described as being made of “black silk… exquisitely worked in imitation of the ends of an India shawl, and trimmed with black silk fringe.” Its boxlike shape, with its triangular top, makes it look like a little house, don’t you think?

Ackermann's fashion plates December 1816: Plate 35, Carriage Dress

Plate 35, Vol. II, no. xii

Were ladies on the road during December, traveling to visit relatives for the holidays? Plate 35 also features an outfit for out of doors time, a carriage dress made of “pale faun-colour cloth, made a walking length, and trimmed round the bottom with four rows of rich blue silk trimming.” The front (although we can’t see it in the plate) is reported to be “cut very low,” is also trimmed with the same rich blue silk, although “but very narrow.” The “tasteful half sleeve, over a plain long sleeve, made tight at the wrist,” is also “bound with blue trimming.” The description mentions the usefulness of an India shawl when actually riding in a carriage, although no such shawl appears in the plate. And while no mention of it is made in the description, a small but quite colorful red reticule features prominently. Makes me want to visit the Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam…

Ackermann's Fashion plates December 1816, description part 1

General Observations on Fashion and Dress for December include the following:

• For “juvenile and hardy élégantes,” high dresses made of poplin or levantine will be in style

• Cloth shawls will be matched with such dresses; those featuring narrow gold bindings and gold tassels are “likely to be most prevalent,” although ermine and other costly furs are also likely to be popular

• Bonnets of black straw, beaver, and velvet are “all talked of,” while “feathers, to correspond, will be universal”

Ackermann's December 1816 Fashion plates, description part 2

 

• Fancy velvets and white merino cloths will dominate carriage costumes

• For evening dresses, fancy gauze, and white net spotted with white silk, “are likely to be in the highest estimation for juvenile belles,” while “white satin, white and figured velvets” will be “generally adopted by mature élégantes”

 

I don’t remember Ackermanns’ columnists making distinctions between the dress of young girls and older women before; is this where the idea that young girls only wore white comes from, I wonder?

 

Instead of a needlework pattern, this month’s issue features “Ornaments for Painting on Wood and Fancy Work.” Puffing its own wares, Ackermann’s notes that “painting and ornamenting Tunbridge and fancy ware” has become “an elegant and useful amusement” among the fair sex, and that anyone interested in pursuing such a recreation may find the materials necessary at the Repository of Arts.

 

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

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates November 1816

October 3, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

 

Unusual ornaments are what first catch my eye in November 1816’s Ackermann’s fashion plates. Plate 28 features a white Morning Dress shown from the back, which gives extra emphasis to two bright spots of color in the print: a silk handkerchief “thrown carelessly over the shoulders,” and a bright green parrot with a red cheek perched on the model’s hand. I’m guessing that the artist drew from imagination rather than an actual avian model, as I’ver never seen a green parrot with a bright red cheek; amazon parrots, which were apparently quite popular in 19th century England, had read heads, not cheeks, while the bright red cheek patch depicted here is more commonly seen on the grey-bodied cockatiel (my mom kept one when we were kids). I hope the lady doesn’t mind if the bird makes a mess of her lovely flounced gown…

Ackermanns fashion plate November 1816: Morning Dress

Plate 28, Vol II, no xi

 

Ackermann's fashion plates November 1816: descriptive copy

 

Plate 29, an Evening Dress of striped gauze, is unusual for its bodice, half gauze, half lace. But what really struck me in this print was the lady’s ruby ornaments: not only the usual necklace, cross, and bracelets, but two “armlets” which rest just below the edge of the puffed short sleeves. Not something I imagine one would choose to wear for an evening which included dancing; one wouldn’t want to spend one’s time pushing the things back up into position…

Both gowns continue with 1816’s trend of multiple frills and borders on the bottom of the skirt. The evening gown has not 2 or 3, but 5 rows of trim on the gauze gown itself, as well as an additional flounce of blond lace on its hem.

Ackermann's Fashion Plates November 1816: Plate 29, Evening Dress

Plate 29, Vol II, no. xi: Evening Dress

 

General Observations on English Fashion and Dress include the following:

• Walking costumes made from poplin and sarcenet are popular, especially in shades of dark brown, purple, and bottle-green

• Black straw bonnets, or velvet ones to suit the color of the dress are more common in walking costumes than straw in natural shades

• In evening dresses, bodices match skirts, but the sleeves are more often white net, or clear white muslin let in with lace

Diamond butterfly c 1820. © SJ Phillips Ltd.

• A new trend in full dress ornaments: “a butterfly in diamonds” which is “placed in the middle of the forehead, and worn without any other ornament”

• Wreaths of winter flowers are also common in full dress, although they are brought round the front of the head rather than being placed at the back

Fashionable colors for the month: Purple geranium; brown of different shades; dark green

 

Fashion news from France includes the following:

• Promenade costumes of white percale, topped with square shawls of bright colors: scarlet, royal purple, orange, lavender, and dark green  (made of cashmere for the most well-to-do, those of French manufacture for the rest)

• The bodies of dresses are never made separate from the skirts, which Ackermann’s correspondent asserts is a real advantage over English designs

• Muslin is the only think worn in dinner dress

• Blond lace is still common in full dress trimmings, especially when fastened up with sprigs of hearts-ease or orange blossom. But among the younger set, tulle over white satin is more popular.

• Gold ornaments are not currently in vogue; colored stones, or pearls with crosses or lockets are far more popular

The fashionable colors in Paris include royal purple, scarlet, orange, lavender, and dark green

 

 

November’s muslin patterns:

Ackermanns November 1816 muslin patterns

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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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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