White Wedding Dresses before Victoria

Loretta reports:

I’ve blogged on this subject before, but myths persist.  The release of Royal Weddings, containing my short story set on the eve of Queen Victoria’s wedding in February 1840, is an appropriate occasion for examining the myth about Her Majesty starting the fashion for white wedding dresses.

So let’s look at some primary sources, complete with pictures, illustrating white wedding dresses before 1840. 

BRIDAL DRESS.
This costume is remarkable for its richness, and exceeding simplicity; it is composed of a white satin dress; the corsage uni, cut very low on the bust, finished with a double cordon of gold and satin rouleaux twisted alternately. The bosom is shaded by a tucker of tulle, à la vierge. The skirt is very ample, and set round the waist in deep double folds; it is cut of an ordinary length in front, but gradually increasing on the sides, so as to form a sort of train behind. Its only trimming is a cordon, similar to that round the bust, and sleeves. Zone of mosaic gold and plain gold bracelets. The coiffure is of a corresponding simplicity, merely dressed in full bows and braids; with a wreath of white roses, and mantilla of blonde.
—The Royal lady's magazine, and archives of the court of St. James's, 1832

And, from the U.S.—

PHILADELPHIA—AUGUST.
THE LATEST FASHIONS.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE.
FIG. 1.—Bridal Costume, &c.—A robe of the finest Indian muslin over white satin, embroidered round the skirt with a garland of roses; two flounces worked to correspond; and the same pattern on the corsage, in the form of a stomacher. Another row of work round the neck, just under the blond coleret; pointed corsage; a bow of white satin, with long ends in front; full sleeves, with a very narrow cuff. The hair arranged in reversed braids; a coronet of red roses and orange blossom round the head; pearl chain across the forehead, and a lace veil, very gracefully fastened to the bows of hair behind ; white lace stockings, satin shoes, and kid gloves.
--Atkinson's Casket, 1835

As part of my shameless self-promotion of Royal Weddings, look for more on wedding dresses at my other blog.

Robert Hooke Experiments with a Plant from India, 1689: "Very Merry...& Speaks Words without Coherence"

Susan reporting:

I've written five historical novels set during Restoration England (1660-1684), one of the most fascinating eras in English history. While my books have been focussed on the politics and scandals of the court of Charles II, there are a good many other things bubbling up in this time period as well. In many ways, the Restoration marks the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. The Royal Society is founded in 1660, scientists and philosophers like Sir Isaac Newton are making important discoveries, and even the King keeps a private "closet" for scientific experiments.

One of the leading men of this era was Robert Hooke (1635-1703), a natural philosopher and architect whose diverse achievements included creating the balance spring used in pocket watches and, as the author of the landmark book Micrographia, coined the word cell for biological organisms. But this was also the age of the polymath, and among the many papers that Dr. Hooke presented to his colleagues in the Royal Society was one on his experiments with a plant newly arrived in England from the East Indies, that, when properly administered, seemed to possess some very exciting qualities:

         An Account of the Plant, call'd Bangue, before the Royal Society, Dec. 18. 1689.
It is a certain Plant which grows very common in India...and the Use thereof (tho' the Effects are very strange, and at first hearing, frightful enough) is very general and frequent...'Tis call'd, by the Moors, Gange...The Dose of it is about as much as may fill a common Tobacco-Pipe, the Leaves and Seeds being diced first, and pretty finely powdered. This Powder being chewed and swallowed, or washed down, by a small Cup of Water, doth, in a short Time, quite take away the Memory & Understanding; so that the Patient understands not, nor remembereth any Thing that he seeth, heareth, or doth, in that Extasie, but becomes, as it were, a mere Natural, being unable to speak a Word of Sense; yet is he very merry, and laughs, and sings, and speaks Words without any Coherence, not knowing what he saith or doth; yet is he not giddy, or drunk, but walks and dances and sheweth many odd Tricks; after a little Time he falls asleep, and sleepeth very soundly and quietly; and when he wakes, he finds himself mightily refresh'd, and exceeding hungry...The Plant is so like to Hemp, in all its Parts, both Seed, Leaves, Stalk, and Flower, that it may be said to be Indian Hemp....

From The Philosophical Experiments and Observations of the late Eminent Dr. Robert Hooke, London, 1726.
Above: Four Smokers by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677)

The perfect figure in 1914

Loretta reports:

While a Nerdy History Girl is perfectly capable of watching Downton Abbey devotedly, she can’t help noticing its historical oddities.  For instance, in the second decade of the 20th century, what would people have thought of the figures of the countess & her daughters?

In 1914, Lina Cavalieri, opera singer & famous beauty, published My Secrets of Beauty.  In the chapter "How to Improve Your Figure," she explains the ideal:

“FRANKLY determine how far your figure falls short of perfection. Perfection, that is, according to the canons of classic statuary. The standards of the Greek sculptors have never been improved.”

If we read her description of those proportions, then take a look at the Venus de Milo, it becomes easy to understand why Kitty Gordon is one of the examples of perfection.

“Her arms, neck and shoulders furnish an ideal which every woman should try to attain.”

As promised, Ms. Cavalieri tells her reader how to grow taller, thinner, plumper.  For women whose figures, even by the standards of the time, are overabundant, she suggests:

“First give attention to your diet . . . Say reduce your diet at the beginning by one quarter, then one-third, and after that one-half. The slimming results will soon become apparent.

“But do not be satisfied with one means of securing a flatter back and slender hips. Exercise, especially in the open air. Walk, walk, walk, beginning with a short walk if you are unaccustomed to walking, and increasing the distance each day.

“And if possible have recourse to massage. I have before said in this series of articles that I consider massage the first aid to beauty. It has always seemed to me a cure-all for defects in beauty. It improves the complexion, improves the figure, brightens the expression and makes more beautiful the eyes. Therefore, to give the flat back and narrow hips that are part of an elegant figure, I advise deep massage, with an astringent liquid preparation.”

“After exercise and diet for improving the figure, there is nothing so important as to be well corseted.”

Above all, though, those classic statuary offer the key:

“For the consolation of women who have shapely figures, though built upon an ample scale, let me quote this dictum of an authority on womanly beauty: "It isn't the size, but the shape that counts. Proportion is the thing.’"

Photograph at top from Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph of Kitty Gordon from the book (larger photo here).

Breakfast Links: Week of March 28, 2011

No April Fools here! Only a fresh serving of our weekly Breakfast Links: miscellaneous blogs, web sites, and news stories gathered from the farthest reaches of the Twitterverse. If you’re on Twitter, please follow us – that little bird in the right-hand column will lead the way.

• Silly Jane Austen video: "I'm reading your favorite novel... to my sister!" JA Old Spice Parody

• Some fierce, over-the-top caps worn with aplomb by late 18th c English & French ladies: http://bit.ly/f6SAMN

• Museum conserves rare Tiffany church windows vital to American cultural history: http://bit.ly/gPuEL4

• Great images of attitudes towards dirt throughout history http://www.historyextra.com/gallery/dirt-filthy-reality-everyday-life

• The royal wedding cake will feature oak leaves, acorns and ivy symbols, but why? The royal icing on the cake: http://bit.ly/fv4aos

• Swooning over these amazing Penguin Classics Threads covers, including Secret Garden! http://bit.ly/hDI2uX

• Interesting thoughts about the Restoration of Charles II & the London mob of 1660: http://bit.ly/e5DPUe

• A Rare and Extensive Archive of Love Letters by Elizabeth Taylor Up for Sale: http://t.co/2PYuN3k

• Our fascination with automata continues: c 1810 jeweled pistols shoot tiny singing birds, not bullets: http://bit.ly/fsiCBX

• The racy fashions in “Some Like It Hot” caused bans and boycotts after its release on this day in 1959: http://bit.ly/f4X5AN

• Restoration of the Duke of Wellington's jacket at the Tower of London: http://bit.ly/iajOjh 

• Three Hundred Years of the Royal Ascot http://bit.ly/fNhtdX

• The little-remembered "Arctic Diana", Louise Arner Boyd; Women at Sea: http://paulinespiratesandprivateers.blogspot.com

• The Fox Sisters & The Davenport Brothers: Victorian spiritualists: Could they speak to the dead? http://bit.ly/ePDYQ0

• On this day two hundred years ago, Jane Austen politely told Rev. James Stanier Clarke to take a shovel and shove it. http://wp.me/6Mf3

• An elaborate bridegroom's shirt c1860, embroidered by his bride. Plus charts, if you're feeling lovesome/ambitious: http://bit.ly/dH05U4

• Royal wedding cartoons show William and Kate are lucky it's 2011 http://t.co/wDXN0

• "Dumb Politically, Blind to the Census, Deaf to the Enumerator." Suffragettes boycot the 1911 census http://tinyurl.com/3dfxsq7

• Handwritten epigram of congratulations from Lady Hamilton to Lord Nelson after Battle of Copenhagen: http://bit.ly/hbbnTo

For April Fool's Day: A Stupendous Regency Prank by Theodore Hook, 1809

Susan reporting:

April Fools' Day deserves a rascal, and today we're offering this disarming young fellow, left, as a Regency rascal extraordinaire. Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841) was to become a writer, playwright, & financial finagler. But in 1809, he was a twenty-one-year-old known for his outrageous wit, mischief, and audacity, newly freed from school and ready to concoct the prank that made him famous.

For grievances now long forgotten, he decided a Mrs. Tottenham deserved to be his victim. With two friends as accomplices, he spent six weeks sending out hundreds of fake invitations to famous folk (among those who innocently appeared were the Lord Mayor of London, the Duke of Gloucester, and the chairman of the East India Company) and orders for goods and services to scores of tradesmen. Then, on the appointed day, he and his friends sat in a room across the street from the unfortunate Mrs. Tottenham's house and watched the mayhem they'd created in this quiet residential neighborhood. Here's how it was reported in a London newspaper at the time:

A HOAX.- This very malignant species of wit was yesterday most successfully practised at the house of Mrs. T––, a lady of fortune, at No. 54, Berners-street, which was beset by about three dozen tradespeople at one time, with their various commodities, and from the confusion altogether, such crowds had collected as to render the street impassable. Waggons laden with coals from the Paddington wharves, upholsterers' goods in cart-loads, organs, pianofortes, linen, jewellery, and every other description of furniture, were lodged as near as possible to the door of No. 54, with anxious tradespeople and a laughing mob. About this time, the Lord Mayor arrived in his carriage, but his lordship's stay was short, and he was driven to Marlborough-street police-office. At the office, his lordship informed the sitting magistrate that he had received a note purporting to come from Mrs. T––, which stated that she had been summoned to appear before him, but that she was confined to her room by sickness, and requested his lordship would do her the favor to call on her. Berners-street was, by this time, in the greatest confusion, by the multiplicity of tradespeople, who were returning with their goods, and spectators laughing at them. The officers at Marlborough-street office were immediately ordered out to keep order, but it was impossible. The first thing witnessed by the officers was six stout men bearing an organ, surrounded by wine-porters with permits, barbers with wigs, mantua-makers with band-boxes, opticians with the various articles of their trade, and such was the pressure of tradespeople who had been duped, that at four-o'clock all was still confusion...The street was not cleared at a late hour, as servants wanting places began to assemble at five o'clock...besides a coffin which was brought to Mrs. T––'s house, made to measure...there were accoucheurs, tooth-drawers, miniature painters, and artists of every description.

While this elaborate prank angered most of the unwitting participants, it amused a great many others, and was widely written about and discussed. Hundreds of people had been involved, and a "quarter of the town disturbed." Although Hook was suspected, nothing could be proved against him, and he gleefully escaped any punishment. Nowadays we're sure it would have landed him his own show on MTV.

Above: Theodore Hook, artist unknown, c. 1808. From The Life & Remains of Theodore Edward Hook.