costume

Ackermann’s September 1816 Fashion Plates

September 12, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

Stripes! I can’t remember a previous gown featured in Ackermann’s Repository that featured stripes to the degree that plate 16’s half dress does. Not only is the gown itself made of striped sarsnet, the slippers that accompany it are, too! But in 1816, stripes alone are not enough to adorn even a simple day dress; the candy striped concoction here features two flounces of lace with headings, and bows of Pomona green above the highest flounce. Similar bows run down the top of each sleeve, too. I think I would have preferred a striped dress to be weighted down with less adornment—would you?

Ackermann's Repository September 1816, plate 16: Half Dress

2nd series Vol II, no. ix, plate 16

Plate 17 features a plain white evening dress—at least, plain in terms of its fabric, British net over a sarsnet slip. But the dress features as many embellishments as its companion day dress. A double flounce of lace, a wreath of roses, and a rollio of white satin above the roses bring the skirt trimming almost to knee-height; a companion bouquet of moss roses “shades” the bosom, while a quilling of blond lace frames the bodice. Even more detailed are the dress’s short and full sleeves, which are “divided into compartments by rollios of satin.” (FYI, a “rollio” is a type of rolled trimming, used for decoration; according to Cunnington’s Dictionary of English Costume, fabric is “rolled into a very narrow tubular shape”). Pearls are the jewelry of choice for this gown. Was it made for a very young lady?

Ackermann's September 1816 Fashion Plate 17: Evening Dress

2nd series, Vol. II, no. ix, plate 17: Evening Dress

Ackermann's Fashion Plates September 1816 descriptions

General observations on British Fashion and Dress include the following:

• The Gloucester bonnet and spencer are in vogue for carriage dress

• The cold weather has led ladies to wrap themselves in silk scarves and shawls, laying aside muslin pelisses as not warming enough

• Lace is not so generally worn in morning dress as in the past (although the columnist’s adumbrations against it suggest this may be more of a recommendation than an actual observation)

• Silks striped of the same color are popular in dinner dress, as are gowns of shot sarsnet

• The Gloucester robe is an “elegant novelty” in full dress

The prevalence of “Gloucester”-named apparel stems, I’m guessing, from the July 1816 marriage of the Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1776-1834), nephew of George III, to King George’s fourth daughter, Princess Mary.

Fashionable colors for September echo those of August, with the addition of Pomona green and lavender.

This month’s magazine also includes fashion news from France, where the bad weather experienced in England had turned fine only a few weeks earlier. Worked muslin is in fashion for promenade dresses, unlike in colder England, and white is the most commonly seen in evening dress. The author mourns poor French taste in not matching bonnet linings with trim or ribbons:

“for example, you see a bonnet lined with blue, trimmed with green, and perhaps ornamented with a bunch of different coloured flowers; at present, blue, rose-colour, and green are favourite linings; but, I think, plaid silk is still more than any thing in request, and some of our most distinguished fashionables have sported bonnets entirely composed of it” (180).

Luckily for French fashion, reports the correspondent, the Duchess of Berri (mother of the current heir to the French throne) sets the French style with her notable taste in dress.

Ackermann's September 1816 French Female Fashions description

Curves, rather than stripes, take center stage in September’s needlework patterns:

Ackermann's September 1816 Pattern for Needle-Work

Ackermann’s August 1816 Fashion Plates

August 8, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

August 1816’s first fashion plate depicts its “evening gown” not from the front, but from the back, a rare sight in a fashion plate of the period. You can see how tiny the bodice was in the back, only a few scant inches of satin plaits (pleats) covering the mid-back; the bodice itself is cut quite low, down the shoulders. I wonder if the lady could have worn any sort of corset with a dress cut so low? The trimming around the bodice’s edge is made of white net fashioned into roses, with a “little tuft of pearl in the heart of each.” I hope those roses weren’t too scratchy…

We see very little of the “Walking Dress” shown in plate 11, covered as it is with a pelisse of blue and white shot sarsnet. The text describes it as “made half-high”; it looks more to me as if it has three layers, echoing the cloaks worn by the more fashionable male whips, which featured multiple capes. The look is repeated in the triple layers of “rich lace” that finish the bodice. I particularly admire the jaunty white satin hat; its turned-up brim gives it an “air of peculiar smartness.” A good model for Georgette Heyer’s The Grand Sophy as she takes the reins and drives her carriage down St. James’ Street…

General trends in August’s fashions:

• Feathers are far less common on hats than are flowers worn á la Françoise (as in plate 11), or simple ribbon adornments

• Carriage costumes still feature scarves, but “the Princess Mary’s bonnet and spencer are higher in estimation.” The princess, eldest daughter of George III, was finally allowed to wed, marrying her cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, in July, only two months after the marriage of Princess Charlotte, daughter of the prince regent. This column includes a description of Mary’s wedding gown.

• Backs of immense breadth, with sleeves falling off the shoulder, are out; backs are now of “moderate” breadth, with sleeves just touching the shoulder

• Long sleeves remain fashionable in full dress, a trend that Ackermann’s columnist does not favor: “it is true they are always composed of crape, lace, or gauze, but however light the material, they are certainly not appropriate to full dress.”

• Fashionable colors for August include green, celestial blue, straw-color, pale pink, and violet

Long lines of embroidery—to adorn the hem of a gown?—are featured in August’s needlework patterns:

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates July 1816

August 1, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

July 1816’s fashion plates both feature white gowns, one for the opera, and one for morning dress. The opera dress is made of lace worn over a satin slip, while the morning dress is made from muslin (“the only thing now adopted by belles of taste in the morning costume”). Both feature full sleeves, coming tight only at the wrist. And both feature dramatic trimmings about the hem: the opera dress with lace festoons trimmed with “byas” (bias) satin and held by pearl ornaments; the morning dress with two bands of “rich work” (needlework) with a scalloped edge. The lady in the morning dress holds a large book of sheet music; is she just off to practice her pianoforte?

In general fashion notes:

• Matrons are sporting pelisses, while the younger set prefers the spencer

• Straw and Leghorn hats and bonnets are still in fashion

• China crepe scarfs, richly embroidered in colors at the end, are worn for carriage costumes, or scarves of French silk net

• Coloured bodices are not currently in fashion, although white satin bodices are quite popular

• The corset de Grâces is still in fashion; the Thuringuen habit is reputed to be on the rise amongst female equestrians

• Peach-blossom is much in favor as a color in fashions

A long letter from “Eudocia” to “Sophia” reports on the fashions in Paris:

Ovals and scallops feature in July’s needlework patterns:

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Ackermann’s Fashion Plates October 1815

March 14, 2018 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

The first of October 1815’s fashion plates includes a negligé, but don’t get too excited; this negligé is far different than the garment we currently associate with the term. The French word négligé appears in an English source as early as 1715, but at that time was used as an adjective, to describe someone negligently or informally attired. By the mid-18th century in America, the term had also come to describe a lady’s loose-fitting gown or informal male garment. During the same period in England, the word was also used to describe a kind of men’s wig, and a necklace or girdle of irregularly set beads. Not until the mid 19th century did negligé take on its current meaning, a light dressing gown or nightgown, typically made of flimsy, semi-transparent fabric and trimmed with lace and ruffles.

Plate 22 features a white cambric muslin petticoat, topped by a white negligé, which to my eye looks more like a short, light jacket than a dressing gown. Although it is trimmed all round with “French work” to match that of the petticoat flounce, it appears to be made of the same cambric as the petticoat, not of any silky or semi-transparent fabric. More of a comfortable additional layer to keep the arms warm on chilly October mornings than something meant to entice the eyes of another.

Ackermanns October 1815 plate 22: Morning Dress

Vol. XIV, no. vxxxii, plate 22

Though Plate 23 is labeled ” Walking Dress,” its model sits, rather than walks, amongst picturesque rocks, a book open in one hand. She, too, is dressed in white cambric, though her second layer is more colorful than that of the lady in plate 22: an open pelisse of grey sarsnet, lined with salmon satin. Look at the slashed sleeves; though they appear grey in the plate, the description says they, too, are made from the salmon satin. An unusual color combination, don’t you think? I’m very drawn to the model’s French bonnet, with not one but three grey ribbons set about its crown, to match the pelisse.

Ackermann's Fashion Plate October 1815: Walking Dress

Vol. XIV, no. lxxxii, Plate 23

Ackermann's Fashion Plate copy October 1815

This month’s needlework patterns feature swirls of leaves in three different settings.

Ackermanns October 1815 Needlework pattern

Ackermann’s Fashion Plates December 1814

November 15, 2017 By BlissBennet Leave a Comment

The last issue of Ackermann’s Repository for 1814 features an unusual fashion plate: a collection of five different head-dresses! From the simple cottage bonnet (#4) to the elaborate Russian à la mode (a tall, almost stovepipe top, but without the coat-scuttle-like brim of the Oldenburg bonnet), 1814’s Regency lady could find examples of hats for any and all occasions. I’ve never heard of a “melon cap” (#2) before, but I’m rather taken by it, with its puckered satin and what is described as “narrow bead trimming inlet.” I wonder what it looked like from the front?

Ackermann's fashion plate 29, December 1814: Head-Dresses

Vol. XII, no. lxii, plate 29

Hat #1, a “full turban,” can be made from either silver net or “tiffany,” another fabric term with which I was unfamiliar. Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles reports that tiffany is “a very thin, fine, semitransparent French silk fabric. Used in France and England during the 17th century for veils.” Perhaps by Regency times, the term had taken on the second or third definition included in Fairchild’s: “A very think plain wave linen fabric with a sized finish” or “A lightweight, sheer muslin; a kind of gauze. Sometimes, it is sized, dyed, and used for making artificial flowers.”

Ackermann's Fashion Plates December 1814: text

Which bonnet would you choose to step out in to celebrate December’s festivities? If none of the above are to your taste, perhaps you would prefer the “Spanish hat” featured in plate 30 (below), which is paired with a short, walking-length pelisse in puce. I think of puke green when I hear the word “puce,” but here it refers to a dark purple brown or brownish purple color. But even this version of puce has gross-out associations: puce is the French word for “flea,” and the color is said to be the color of what remains after a flea has been crushed.

Ackermann's Fashion plate 30, December 1814

Vol. XII, no. lxxii, plate 30

For a color with such an unpleasant name, it certainly appears attractive in this plate, especially with the unusual choice to pair it with trim of “celestial blue satin.” And are those triple “copes” meant to echo the Garrick coats, with their three to five caplets or collars, favored by those dashing Regency gentleman noted for their driving skills?

The year’s volume concludes with “Patterns of British Manufactures,” rather than with the needlework patterns that had become far more common in the journal during 1814. Was the expense of cutting out and glueing down these small fabric scraps growing too costly to keep up? Or were manufacturers less interested in displaying their new wares in Ackermann’s pages than when the Repository was new?

Happily, this month’s fabric samples include one of “erminette,” a fabric also used in the Walking Dress of plate 30. Yet another fabric term that sent me scurrying to my dictionary! The long description of the sample states that this fabric is a new invention, created by “Messrs. Fryar of Huddersfield (the patentees of the seal shawl).” This fabric, it is claimed, “combines the warmth of the Vigonia and Angola cloths with the lightness and flexibility of an Indian shawl.” Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, which describes it as “a brown woolen dress fabric,” has the dating a bit off, stating that it was produced in the late 19th century.

Ackermann's December 1814 fabric samples

Two of the other fabrics are suited for more exotic outfits: the “Persian dress” and the “Albanian costume.” For holiday masquerades? Or just for a touch of the unusual?

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