The first plate in Ackermann’s Repository for September 1815 is described as a “Dinner Dress,” a label I can’t remember seeing in earlier Ackermann’s fashion plates. The gown, though elaborately trimmed, does have a less formal feel than the typical evening gowns featured in Ackermann’s pages. The copy says the overdress (worn under a white satin slip) is “primrose-colored French gauze,” and makes no mention of stripes, both of which seem to be at odds with the actual dress depicted in the plate. Both this dress and the white carriage dress of plate 17 feature the deep rows of flounces that seem to be all the kick in 1815.
Plate 16, Vol. XIV, no lxxxi
As for the carriage dress… Can you imagine driving around in the dust and dirt in a pristine white muslin dress? No wonder the lady needs a handkerchief in hand! I appreciate that the dress is “of short walking length”—for walking, or for ease of ascending into or descending from the smart carriage in which this lady is sure to be riding? Her bonnet is described as an “Anglesea chip hat,” although it is covered with such an explosion of ostrich feathers, one can’t really make out the shape of the chapeau beneath them…
Plate 17, Vol. XIV, no lxxxi
An embroidery pattern concludes September’s Ackermann’s Repository, a pattern featuring heart-shaped leaves and aster-like flowers, perfect for an autumn project.
Thanks hope it’s a helpful reference!