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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

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates March 1816

May 8, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

 

March 1816’s fashion plates feature some quite unusual headdresses and trimmings. In fact, the sleeves and the trim around the upper robe of Plate 16’s Evening Dress are “composed of novel materials, which we are not allowed to describe”!! Regency novels often feature scenes of young ladies poring over fashion plates to choose styles for their own new gowns, but such reticence in description suggests that the plates were as much about directing viewers to the gown’s creators (in the case of March’s plates, one Mrs. Gill, of Cork-street, Burlington Gardens) as they were to inspiring viewers to copy them.

 

Ackermann's Fashion Plate 16, March 1816: Evening Dress

Plate 16, vol. I (2nd series), no. iii

 

The model for this month’s Evening Gown stands beside a classically-designed pedestal, which seems quite suitable, as the gown in some ways resembles an over-decorated column. The white satin underskirt is trimmed with a deep flounce of blond lace; the French gauze overdress features elaborately twisted white trim, interspersed with blue knots or florets. The headdress also mimics the look of a classical column: a Circassian turban, with long ends hanging from each side over the ears and down below the bustline. It’s topped with an aigrette (a new word for me!), a head ornament made either of the feathers of an egret, or a spray of gems resembling the same. I don’t spy any feathers atop this model; the copy says this aigrette is composed of rubies intermixed with pearls.

 

Ackermann's Fashion Plate 17, March 1816: Carriage Dress

Plate 17, Vol. I (2nd ed), no. iii

Mrs. Gill’s Carriage Dress, plate 17, also puts me in mind of classicism, although this time classicism at one remove: the classicism of the university. Doesn’t that Polish cap, with its silk tassel and square shape, put you in mind of a graduate student proceeding down the aisle to claim a diploma? “Uncommonly novel and pretty,” the copy describes it.

 

The dress that accompanies it is almost as unusual, with its pink striped silk overdress and bodice which looks more like a contemporary balconette bra than anything I’ve seen before in a Regency-era dress. A high body of jaconet muslin covers the rest of the lady’s front. The copy doesn’t say what the brown fringe on the dress’s hem and running down the sleeves is made from; it looks almost like a fuzzy caterpillar, running down her arm, doesn’t it? I’m guessing this is an outfit designed for an open, rather than a closed, carriage—with so much trim, you’d definitely be aiming to be seen!

 

Ackermann's March 1816 General Observations on Fashions 1

This month’s “General Observations on Fashion and Dress” runs to fashion news runs nearly four pages long, and is followed by almost as many pages reporting on “French Female Fashions.” Somewhat ironic, given the copy of the “General Observations” chides that “we are too much indebted to our Gallic neighbors for the modes and materials of fashionable attire.” In England, “pelisses continue very much in favour,” although mantles are, “though slowly, gaining ground.” Wellington mantles, “just introduced,” the “barouche wrap,” and the “Richmond spencer” are popular, as is the Cobourg hat. In fabrics, French striped silk (for morning dress) and French spotted silks (for evening dress) are increasingly in vogue. In France, chintz is “entirely exploded”; cambric, muslin, and sarsnet have taken its place for elegant morning dress. Both writers talk of fashions shifting far more quickly than I had imagined—changes taking place over a month, or a few weeks ago. By the time you have a printed copy of Ackermann’s in hand, the styles it details might well be out of fashion!

 

 

Ackermann's March 1816 General Observations on Fashion 2

Ackermann's March 1816 General Observations on Fashion 3

 

The fashionable colors in France this month are purple, damask, rose, green of various shades, and jonquil. Lots more details in each column; I leave you to peruse at your leisure!

 

Ackermann's March 1816 French Female Fashions

 

And this month’s needlework patterns:

 

Ackermann's March 1816 needlework patterns

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ackermann, Ackermanns, Ackermmann's, clothing, dress, fashion, needlework, Regency costume, Regency dress

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates September 1815

March 7, 2018 By BlissBennet 1 Comment

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.

 

Ackermann's Fashion plate #16 September 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…

 

Ackermann's Fashion Plates September 1815, plate 17: Carriage Dress

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.

 

Ackermann's Embroidery Pattern September 1815

 

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2017 Historical Romance Reading Challenge

January 19, 2017 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

 

It’s been a hectic end of 2016, and a busy beginning of 2017 for me. I’m just starting a term as President of the New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America; I’m finishing the final edits on A Lady without a Lord, the much-delayed third book in The Penningtons series (yeah!); I’ve been working with my web designer to implement an updated look for my author web site; and I’m shivering in my socks because of ongoing intermittent problems with the heating system in our house (we’ve been told that the part arriving tomorrow will definitely fix the problem this time…). But I wanted to put up this quick blog post, just to let everyone know that I haven’t fallen off the earth, and will be continuing on with my Ackermann’s fashion plate project starting next week. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Writer's Life

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  • Ackermann’s September 1816 Fashion Plates
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  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates June 1816
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  • Ackermann’s Fashion Plates April 1816

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