Ackermanns Fashion Plates September 1811

 

Walking continues to be popular amongst the ladies of fashion; for the third month in a row, Ackermann’s fashion plates feature a walking or promenade costume. Autumn is in the air; our walker this month appears in a few more layers (and a higher neckline) than last month’s did. And the hat of our reader is adorned with “autumnal flowers” as well as matching blossom-colored ribbons. Do you think all those ruffles might prove a distraction from her book?

Only a small extra note this month, noting the “complete revolution” in ladies’ shoes. Though we hear that “Rodwell’s brass military heel and copper fastenings are quite the ton,” as is “the gold and jet clasp to the regent slipper,” we have no pictures of same, alas. Perhaps some might be on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s special exhibition, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain. Alas, the exhibition ends this week. Have any readers had a chance to take it in?

 

 

I’ve never heard a color described as “chaste,” have you? But this month’s fabric sample (#1) is so-labeled, in reference to the myriad choices of trim one can pair with it. How odd! The fabric itself, a striped chintz suitable for window or bed curtains, is lovely, and it is made by Mr. Allen of Pall Mall, whose skills have “procured him the most flattering patronage of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent.” Yes, you, too can shop where the prince does!