Thursday, June 6, 2013

Fashions for June 1817

Thursday, June 6, 2013
Morning Dress
Loretta reports:

During my visit to the 1809 Hedge House in Plymouth, MA, we discussed ladies’ caps, one of which was on display.  This is one aspect of historical dress that many find not at all sexy or even attractive.  Yet, unlike the ups and downs of waistlines and swelling and deflating of sleeves, the lace cap seems to remain in fashion, decade after decade, in the 19th century.




Cap at 1809 Hedge House


Opera Dress
The morning dress shown at top is obviously less structured than evening clothes.  But interestingly enough, the “Marlborough cap”—meant, like the dress, for wearing at home—is elaborately decorated, and one of the prettiest examples of a lace cap I’ve encountered.

 
 












These fashion prints come from the Philadelphia Art Museum's copy of the  1817 Ackermann's Repository, courtesy the Internet Archive.



2 comments:

Regencyresearcher said...

Tiny little bodices even as skirts become fuller.
I can't find a good pattern for a cap, or a turban. What would a Dowagwer wear on her head at a ball?

Kathy said...

I suppose caps would be nice in a time when washing one's hair was quite an operation! Then again, hair was considered very sexy and alluring- a woman without a cap might be considered "fast", or worse.

 
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