From La Belle assemblée, Volume 18. Publisher J. Bell, 1818
FASHIONS FOR SEPTEMBER, 1818.
EXPLANATION OF THE PRINTS OF FASHION.
FRENCH. No. 1.—PARISIAN WALKING DRESS.
Round dress of printed muslin, of a cerulean blue spotted with black, with bordered flounces of the same material to correspond : between each flounce a layer placed of black brocaded satin ribband.— Bonnet of straw-coloured gossamer satin, ornamented on the left side with a single full-blown rose, and a plume of white feathers. Cachemire sautoir*, and parasol of barbel blue, fringed with white. Slippers of pale blue kid, and washing leather gloves.
Round dress of fine Bengal muslin, with a superbly embroidered border; the border surmounted by two flounces richly embroidered at the edges, and headed by muslin bouilloné** run through with Clarence blue satin : Meinengen corsage of the same colour, with small pelerine cape, elegantly finished with narrow rouleaux of white satin and fine lace. Parisian cornette of blond, with a very full and spreading branch of full-blown roses placed in front.
*SAUTOIR, s. m. saltier. (Ne s'emploie que dans la locution adverbiale.)En sautoir, in the form of a cross of Saint Andrew ; cross-wise. Deux épées étaient placées en sautoir sur le cercueil, two swords were placed crosswise on the coffin. Porter un ordre en sautoir, to wear the riband of an order hanging in a point on the breast. Porter quelque chose en sautoir, to wear something slung across the shoulders.
From The royal phraseological English-French, French-English dictionary, Volume 2, by John Charles Tarver (1879).
** Bouilloné.—Puffed ; 1800 and after.
From Historic dress in America, 1800-1870, by Elisabeth McClellan (1910).
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5 comments:
All those lovely caps with lace and ribbons that women used to wear indoors — wouldn't it be nice to see a revival? They're the perfect solution to a bad hair day.
I can't imagine the flounces-all-the-way-to-the-knee look flattering ANYONE.
Anonymous, I wasn't always a big fan of the caps, but some of them are very pretty—and I do think wistfully about being able to pop one on and not have to mess with my hair.___Susanna, here's where we get into the perils of fashion illustration & styles of illustration. In photographs and in museums, these dresses are softer and more floaty than they appear in the drawings. It's a fussier look than some of us would like, but I suspect it was more appealing than the illustration indicates.
That makes sense, Loretta, though I'm guessing you'd need to be very tall and slim to be neither overwhelmed nor overly plumpened by those skirts!
You're right, Susanna. They probably wouldn't be very flattering on someone who's petite or portly. Way too many flounces.
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