A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

Chemise à la Reine with bound sleeves, the neckline trimmed with a frill, Marlborough Hat wrapped with a wide ribbon striped in black and color. (1784) "Chemises" belonged to the category of simple and comfortable dress which was in vogue from about 1781 overall due to Marie Antoinette. At the time, one said that an upper-body garment was made en chemise when "the beginning of the sleeves ended in two pieces which were added" (Dictionary of the abbé Jaubert, 1778).  One frequently finds in the notes of Mlle Bertin mentions such as "a piece en chemise of Italian gauze", "a fichu-chemise * of Italian gauze", etc.  On the date of the appearance of the " chemises à la reine ", Bachaumont fixes it for us in writing about the portraits of the Queen and Madame, by Vigée-Lebrun, shown in 1783: "The two princesses are en chemise , a costume invented recently for women ." And he added, "Many people have found it inapp

Négligé of a young Lady of quality, her gown is a type of chemise of thin silk stuff, round gauze cap, frilled kerchief and apron of muslin.  The child is dressed in a frock coat over his matelot. (1784) "In the tenderest infancy, one inculcates, so to speak, women's love for vanity and lightness!  Everyone contributes to this: the papa, the mama, the nursemaid, and family friends; the dancing master who educates the young girl has precedence over the reading master, who must inspire in her the fear of God and love of her future duties.  The marchande des modes and the seamstress are beings whose importance she will evaluate before hearing of the existence of the shape which nourishes her and of the weaver who dresses her ... "We deign to regard with reflection these marionettes that are seen in our promenades, to prelude with silliness the errors of the rest of their lives.  The little gentleman , in a cloth suit, and the little lady , coiffed in the manner of

Young Lady as seductive Shepherdess, in a galant Hat posed on a Peasant Cap and crowned with a Globe Ribbon, in the moment where by the means of her Lorgnette, she follows something in the Air, launched by her Lover, whose Portrait is worn on her Arm. (1784) Lorgnettes - "There are false appearances in fashion, hence the lorgnettes hidden in the hat, in the fan, that one uses to look at everything.  For excellent eyes hide their perfection through using a useless instrument and which most often announce affectation.  Is it not one of these which is put in the beauty's hand, this glass which intercepts the ray of the mirror of the soul, of the home of love, and who raises to it this feature so delicate, so tender, that art and caprice mar and disfigure it? "What does the expression of this eloquent organ become, when one can only perceive it through a crystal which tires it?  While the lorgnette is in the hand of hauteur and disdain, coquetry gives to the eyes

Lady in solitary daydream, with Muslin Gown and Petticoat trimmed with striped Blonde, spotted Gauze Mantelet, large Kerchief of plain Blonde, coiffed with a Bastienne surmounted with a Plumed Hat, watching, over her Fan, the Object of her reflections. (1784) "Never have women dressed themselves with such simplicity.  No more rich gowns, no more trim on the gowns, no more three-row manchettes .  A straw hat with a ribbon, a plain handkerchief on the neck, an apron at home: no more curls, hérisson ,* these follies of coiffure, no more cul-de-Paris ,** gores, no more flounces ..." The little Tableau de Paris , 1783 * This has come up frequently, but I never translate it.  Hérisson translates to "hedgehog", and it's used in reference to the very constructed, tall hairstyles of the 1770s - not the teased puffs of the 1780s. ** Probably bum rolls/hip pads.

  Pretty Woman in contemplation, dressed in a solid white Gown and a Petticoat trimmed with striped Muslin, with a spotted Gauze Mantelet with a large Fichu Collar.  The Hat knotted with a Marlborough Ribbon.*  She holds her open Snuffbox and thinks of nothing that doesn't serve her. (1784)   Snuffboxes . - "Fashions are exhausted in the area of trinkets, of the type that if on passed in review all the snuffboxes (that are now called boxes) which have been worked for thirty years, one would see that it is no longer possible to imagine anything in this part.  Those in raised enamel, the others in flat enamel, those in guilloché gold, and trimmed with diamonds and precious stones, those in chased vermeil or porcelain, or in scales, offer to the eye all sorts of designs and varieties. "The little masters do not fail to have their boxes enriched with a portrait of some woman who never existed, but whose beauty is so ravishing that they are charmed to suggest that thi

Picasa/Blogger's pictures have finally started working again, allowing me to refill my buffer of fashion plates (I was down to only about six) and to put the pictures into the How's Your Weekend post!  It's much more interesting with them in. In related news, I've spent this weekend working hard on my own 1920s presentation, More Than Just Flappers , to be given at Clermont in late June.  Right now it's just about finished, technically speaking, but I need to start actually running it to get it down and check the time.  I of course want to be dressed appropriately, so I've ordered a nice indigo-ish cotton twill for a dress and white rayon for some underthings, and I've made a kind of draped muslin for a dress.  Starting with the pattern above - from Cut of Women's Clothes , originally from The Ladies' Tailor (The Tailor & Cutter ), 1921 - I'm adding in two gathered side insets as in the design in the lower left of the page below from Mc

  Young Person in indolent négligée with a simple Fourreau d'Agnes, amadis sleeves, triple Kerchief, Ribbon Necklace, and Globe Cap; having an air of braving the heat of the Sun as much as the fires of Love. (1784) Globe Cap . - "The aerostatic discoveries did not fail to furnish a number of ingenious names for fashions.  The Galerie des Modes alone provides much evidence of this.  In addition to this plate, which dates to 1784, others from the same year show the globe ribbon (pl. 176), the globe hat (pl. 188), the hat à la Montgolfier (pl. 190), the demi-balloon hat (pl. 197), the hat à la Blanchard (pl. 199), the Globe cap (pl. 202).  Furthermore, the twelfth and thirteenth books of coiffures, for [1785], show the aerostatic balloon hats worn in 1783, à la inflammable air , au flying globe, au Robert's globe , etc. "To be precise, note that the first attempt of the Montgolfier brothers was on the 5th of June [1783]; that of Robert was on the 1st o

Lady, a sincere and faithful friend, with a Gown and Petticoat à l'Anglo-Americaine,* edged elegantly with a different fabric, fitted sleeves, Ribbon bow and tour-de-gorge à la Gabrielle d'Etrées,** playing with her Dog while waiting for better. (1784) "One could advance, without fear of being contradicted, that it is hardly usual today for women to wear the full parure than for men to wear suits à la française ... "Women no longer wear the full hoops which gave them an immense breadth, or those gowns with trains that trail for an ell on the ground: in the poorest parures , even wool suits are simplified (we make an exception for court suits which never vary and which can only remind us still of the suits of our fathers).  Everything is changed, women are no longer coiffed en cheveux : they wear hats or caps.  Their throats and necks are no longer uncovered.  No more the 'false rump'; they hardly wear little coudes † with pockets to give a certain

Lady in beautiful Morning dress, with white and trimmed Gown and Petticoat, silk Muff, spotted Gauze Mantelet, Coiffed over a half- Baigneuse with a demi-Globe hat and thinking of the end of the Day, to that which occupies the Night. (1784) "On the method by which women draped their mantelets, the Journal de Paris of February 12 1781 reports a curious anecdote, which it took from the Morning Chronicle .  A French gentleman had written to the editor of the latter newspaper that at a ball, in London, he had found on land 'a woman's cloak, of black taffeta, lined with the same and edged with lace.'  And he added maliciously: 'measuring, carefully, the length between the top of the cloak, in the back, and the pleats or horizontal crumpling formed around the bottom of the waist, by the force of the cloak when the person tightens it in the French manner to elevate her stature and when she gathers the whole upper part at the hips while the lower part, trimmed w

* There are two 39e Cahier (bis)es.  The first one is five coiffure plates and a fashion plate, the second is all dress.  I'm sorry, I'm confused too. Lady dressed in a very elegant grand Domino to go to a masked Ball. (178 4? ) This domino differs very little from that of plate 86, to which we return for the explanation of the successive forms of this fancy dress for its variations for masques. We note, however, the difference in hairstyles; the use of felt hats, positioned on the lower and lower coiffures, extend even to ball toilettes.

Simple robe à la sultane, such as is actually worn without a grand parure.  This gown is open in front and allows the whole petticoat to be seen; in the back it has the form of an untied polonaise and descends almost to the ground like the Lévite.  Hat coiffure with a cap of Gauze invented by Mlle Bertin. (1782) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1525 .

Young Lady performing a dance; she is dressed in a Carmelite* morning Lévite, the Trim of the same fabric, the Collar gathered muslin with a large hem, petticoat of pale pink silk trimmed with the same, white Belt with colored fringe. (1782) Dance . - "One dances no more at the Opera ball; one no longer runs there; one only looks for confusion there: one walks on one's feet; one is smothered: here is the great pleasure: but no contre-danses . "Dancing is so perfected today that it is necessary to dance with a marked superiority to participate.  When Marcel , his head supported on one of his hands, wrote: What things in a minuet! did he himself anticipate that soon it would no longer be permitted to dance for one's own pleasure, that the man of the world would become an actor in a bal paré ,** and that he would dance for applause?" Sébastien MERCIER, Tableau de Paris , ed. 1785 * The Carmelites are a Catholic order dating back to the 13th century, wh

Morning robe à l'Anglaise with amadis sleeves , coupé petticoat with a large volant of muslin, kerchief with double row of trimming.  This woman is coiffed with a hat of long-haired Vicuna with a ribbon around it. (1782) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1547 .

So, I spent the past week engaged in making a Regency day dress for myself.  Fastest thing I've ever fully put together!  Albany's TulipFest is not really intended as a costumed event, but the Empire State Costumers (join us!) can turn any party into a dress-up party. (I'm the second from the right.) To start, I used the pattern I took from an evening dress in the Albany Institute's collection (combined with some Janet Arnold sleeves) and striped cotton from Renaissance Fabrics .  As usual with extant pieces, I am not quite as dainty, so I knew I would have to enlarge it.  Unfortunately, I chose to widen it from the center front, which made the straps set at the wrong angle and there were just all sorts of issues.  Think I'll definitely take another go at it, raising the waistline and fitting it better, but for now I need to move on. l'original Next up: I'll be doing a talk at Clermont on women's fashion in the 1920s in June, and I would

Robe à l'Anglaise, rétroussé to give ease in dancing. (1782) "In 1768, in its December issue, the Courrier de la Mode recommended as particularly favorable for balls, "English dress", with fitted sleeves, sabot cuffs trimmed with gauze, with a gauze apron without a bib* and bows on the shoes: such is still the costume of our dancer who has simply replaced the 'little English hat trimmed with flowers with a postilion**' with a tuft of plumes, an aigrette, and a bouquet." * Bibbed aprons being mainly a Continental style. ** I believe this means a turned-up brim in the back.

I don't entirely understand this section, nor the next - the 34th, 38th, and 39th books are listed as having second versions that fit in, date-wise, after the 40th.  But as they are here, I will still show them.  (Except the ones which I can't find anywhere, such as the first in this section.) Full robe a la Sultane, closed in the front of the bodice and pulled up in drapery on the side with bows and tassels; it has  mancherons* like the Circassiennes; it differs from the ordinary robe a la sultane, which is open in front and without mancherons* like a Polonaise, the petticoat is coupé, the Coiffure is a turban . (1782) "There was a very appreciated gown trimming in the winter, of fur bands.  But outside of cloaks and mantelets (see plates 25, 59, 70, for example), they could hardly be applied on the surface of court gowns (plate 46).  The preference was for marten, black fox; squirrel, beaver; ermine had as much success, and in 1768, for the half-mourning

Deshabille a l'Anglaise of taffeta, trimmed flat with a band of gauze edged with a gauze frill; the Camisole is made with basques, edged in the same manner, as is the turned-down collar.  The Coiffure is a peasant cap. (1782) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1543 .  There is a duplicate in green, 44.1544 .

Robe a l'Anglaise, amadis sleeves, the waist tightened with a Levite belt, the petticoat worn over a bouffante. (178 2 ) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1542 .

Levite of pink satin trimmed with piping and white lozenges, the Trim of the petticoat is in drapery with Lozenges, the Scarf worn as a baldric, the Coiffure is a crested  Pouf belted with a doubled narrow ribbon and adorned with flowers. (178 2 )   Gloves . - "Gloves did not cease to be an indispensable accessory of the toilette. Abbe Jaubert, in his Dictionnaire , notes (1773) that "one wears them in all seasons and women above all can hardly do without them."  He enumerates the types of leather from which they are made: chamois, goat, sheep, lamb, suede, deer, elk, etc. and which never hinders the industry of silk, thread, wool, or cotton gloves, that are done as a trade,* nor that of gloves of velvet, satin, taffeta, linen, and other fabrics. "The types of gloves are as varied as their materials.  There are the furred, the glazed, the perfumed; there are also embroidered ones, where the junction of the fingers, the perimeter of the neck of the thumb,

New robe a l'Anglaise trimmed with Gauze and Blonde lace, with a garland of flowers which covers the middle of the trim.  Belt of white taffeta whose ends are trimmed with blonde lace.  Coiffure a la Vestale. (178 2 ) The use of ribbons of flowers for trimming the hair did not cease to be in favor during the whole eighteenth century.  They were also frequently used to trim caps.  In 1769 the Courrier de la Mode noted its success; it recommended, in place of ribbons, the use of garlands of flowers of one or two colors mounted very close together.  One thus uses overall Italian flowers or those of Toulouse, made of fine, gummed cloth "which imitated nature to fool oneself".  The little ones were the most sought-after.

Robe à l'Anglaise trimmed with brocaded Gauze; the trimming is flat, edged with a Gauze frill. (1782) The transition from the grand, hooped gowns of the reign of Louis XV to the supple and fitted owns which marked the end of the reign of Louis XVI is grasped very exactly.  This evolution was begun over a long period of time and around 1768, the editor of Courrier de la Mode could write: "Women have succeeded from the grand paniers to simple elbows[?]*, have renounced multiple flounces; the tight gown trimmed with straight parements showing the elegance of their waist; all the too-awkward ornaments ... "In general, there is in the manner of dressing today something more picturesque and less stiff than in that of other times; we make each day some steps toward beautiful simplicity.  No true taste in the parure without this noble simplicity and without an analogy between a parure and the part of the body to which it is destined." Le Courrier de la Mod

[The 38th and 39th books are coiffures, and are not in the Bunka Gakuen text.  I believe I will come back again and do all of the hat/hairstyle plates after I finish with the dress plates.] Adjusted lévite, trained like the robes à l'Anglaise.  Coiffure a large round hat on a toque that is low in front, a single curl in front and four hanging on the Chignon. (1782) "Merchants put up on their signs English shops .  The lemonade sellers, on the windows of their cafés, announce their punch in the English language.  London redingotes, with their triple collars and their capes which envelop the little masters.  Little boys have their hair round, flat, and without powder.  The father is seen exiting his hotel, dressed in thick wool, trotting in English fashion, the back curved.  It has been a long time that women have been coiffed with elegant hats, whose fashion came to us from the banks of the Thames.  Those racetracks established at Vincennes recall those at Newmarket.

Peliss e l évite with cuffs and Collar trimmed with ermine, the petticoat of spotted white Satin, the muff of the same trimmed with bands of ermine, and the Belt also of ermine, the Pouf surmounted with batiste flowers and plumes.  This Gown was worn by a Lady of quality during the Mourning for M. Thérèse of Austria, mother of the Emperor and the Queen of France. (1781) This plate is from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 44.1524 .

Grey second mourning suit lined with black, edged with a black gance, the white vest embroidered with black, fringed manchettes. (1781) "One knows a point called the precise time that it is necessary to grieve for the loss of a father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, brother and sister.  Not only the term is calculated, but also the graduated expression of sadness; all the nuances are laid down and engraved, that is, printed.  Mourning has three nearly equal periods.  One knows that women may or may not wear diamonds; when men may wear the épée and silver buckles, or have bronze shoes and buckles.  The sadness decreases with the color of dress: batiste manchettes , wool stockings, wool suit, silk suit, embroidered manchettes , trimmed narrowly, tears more or less abundant!  Even the coaches have black harnesses suring the first months, and then they are whitened during the next six weeks.  Mourning, for men and horses, lightens in a progressive ma