Ackermann’s Fashion Plates February 1815

 

February 1815’s plates feature one dress for daytime wear, and one for the evening. Like January 1815’s gowns, this month’s Evening Dress (plate 9) features a pale-colored gown with a deep border, although this border so quite elaborately trimmed, with “blond lace and pink, or primrose-colored ribband, festooned and decorated with roses,” you can barely tell there’s a border under there at all. I’m also struck by how small the bodice of this gown is; either its wearer is extremely small-bosomed, or low-cut bodices are becoming ever-more in fashion. The pedestal upon which the model leans is a nod to the increasing trend towards Grecian forms in furniture. The “French scarf, fancifully disposed on the figure,” almost gives this model the air of a royal.

 

The morning dress of plate 8 is far more subdued in color, although almost as elaborately trimmed as its companion evening gown. White cotton ball tassels trim the front of the white round gown from bodice to hem; needle-work or French embroidery confines the hands at the end of the long sleeves; a flounce of lace or needle-work sweeps the floor at dress’s hem; and blond lace adorns the dress’s falling collar and cape. The mobcap’s ribbon and the shoes’ kid dab just a touch of color (light blue) on the ensemble. But this dress, like its evening companion, also features quite a plunging neckline, although if one’s eyes are drawn to it here, one also encounters a satin bead or pearl cross as well as a tempting décolletage…

 

 

This month’s edition concludes with a needle-work pattern, one that though it features flora, reminds me of insects with its butterfly-like leaves and its small flying seedpods. Although one would never see seeds in real life descending from the skies in such an even pattern…