No commentary from Arbiter Elegantiarum in September, just descriptions of one Full Dress gown and two Promenade Costumes. I'm struck by the lace-up fronts of two of the dresses (described as a”stomacher front” in the first plate, and “bosom of the robe laced with white silk cord”); this style isn't seen very often in Regency-set films. Perhaps because it is associated more with earlier periods' styles?
Unless I'm misreading, the “neck-chain and cross” around the first lady's neck is reported as being of “dead gold filigree.” Anyone have any idea of what “dead gold” is?
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- Plate 17, Vol. IV, No. XXI, p. 178
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- Plate 18, Vol. IV, No. XXI, p. 178
I'm taken by the unusual shapes on the “Indian shawl cambric” of this month's fabric sample #3, and can imagine it making a lovely dress. Alas, Ackermann's says “this article exclusively belongs to the simple order of domestic costume. It is sometimes seen in the high morning robe, but is better adapted to the embroidered shirt and foundling cap of the same, which most agreeably relieve it.” I was having a hard time picturing this fabric as a baby's cap; good thing I had C. Willett Cunnington's English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century to remind me that adult women sometimes wore “foundling caps” as part of morning dress (see illustration below).
Foundling cap
