The June wallpaper is available for download from Solitary Elegance. This month’s fashions are an 1809 walking dress (on the left) and an 1815 ball dress (on the right). This month’s background comes from part of an embroidery pattern for muslin found in an 1817 edition of Ackermann’s Repository. I don’t have any juicy fashion gossip this time, so enjoy instead a lovely assortment of head dresses from 1811.
May’s wallpaper is available for download from Solitary Elegance. This month’s fashions are an 1809 ball dress (on the left) and an 1810 promenade dress (on the right). The elaborate background is derived from an embroidery pattern featured in an 1812 edition of Ackermann’s Repository.
Last month you may recall that the General Observations essay took issue with the abundance of green in spring fashions; not only is our May wallpaper green, but the Arbiter Elegantiarum is also forced to reconsider his position in this month’s General Observations.
The ball dress may look a little familiar: yes, this is the plate on which my JASNA ball dress is based! I didn’t have it when the dress was finished, but was able to buy one about a year later. This is the plate that started my interest in collecting fashion plates: I thought it would be fun to have a gown based on an actual Regency design, and after looking through several on-line image galleries, the May 1809 ball dress from Ackermann’s Repository was a favorite. Then it seemed like a good idea to have the matching fashion plate to go with the dress. While I looked through print shops and online auctions, I saw other interesting and lovely fashion plates, and the collection has grown little by little ever since.
April’s wallpaper is now available for download from Solitary Elegance. I’ve also been able to add a little more information to January and February; it’s exciting to finally have the text describing the first Ackermann fashion plate.
Back to April: most of the ladies have had to stand up since January, so this month’s pair is taking a seat for a well-earned rest. The 1809 gown, on the right, is a full dress, while the gorgeous pink gown on the left is a ball dress from April 1812. (Yes, it’s my favorite of the pair, as well as one of my all-around favorites.) This month’s “General Observations on Fashion” article is a snarky delight, bringing to mind Dame Maggie Smith’s perfectly devastating “Difficult color, green.” Enjoy!
March’s wallpaper is now available for download on Solitary Elegance. These two opera dresses, dating from 1809 (on the right) and 1811 (on the left), seem to be sizing each other up!
I like to share the descriptions of the fashions when I have them, and luckily there is a wealth of information available for March: not only are both gowns’ descriptions available this month, but I’m also able to include a complete General Observations article and a description of gentlemen’s fashions for March 1809. Anybody interested in the minute details of gentlemen’s dress from this era will learn plenty about the fashionable cuff lengths, number and types of buttons, and much more. The General Observations article provides all the colors and fabrics a well-dressed lady would have worn.
A little trivia: the floral background on this month’s wallpaper is derived from an embroidery pattern featured in an 1813 edition of Ackermann’s Repository.
February’s wallpaper is now available on Solitary Elegance! A few people have asked about a widescreen version of the wallpaper, so I’ve added a 1280 x 800 pixel option to the available sizes.
Aren’t these ladies fun? Miss 1809 (on the left) is labeled a “Dancing Dress” instead of the usual Ball Dress found on other fashion plates, and she certainly is getting into the spirit of the evening. The plate on the right is a “Walking Dress or Carriage Costume” (how versatile!) from February 1811. Both models’ poses are so lively in their own way, and I love the rich gold color of the 1811 plate — still vivid after 200 years.
Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c. was one of the finest monthly publications available during the late Georgian and Regency eras. Published by Rudolph Ackermann in London from 1809-1829, each month’s Repository featured a pair of fashion plates in addition to other illustrations and articles covering a variety of topics. Some issues included embroidery patterns and fabric samples, which have provided inspiration in the creation of Regency costumes and the genteel lifestyle seen in Jane Austen film adaptations. These delicate aquatint illustrations and lovely fashions continue to delight and inspire us today.
To commemorate 200 years of Ackermann’s Repository, my web site Solitary Elegance will feature a new desktop wallpaper each month in 2009 showcasing two fashion plates: one from 1809 and the other from a different year during Jane Austen’s lifetime. Enjoy!
14 January ETA: I’m honored and delighted to report that my new wallpaper gallery has been featured in this month’s (Issue 47) online newsletter from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath! Thanks so much!
Happy New Year! With Masterpiece Theatre’s Complete Jane Austen starting this Sunday (13 January), I thought I’d better do a little site maintenance, just like the way I frantically clean house just before somebody visits. If last year’s ITV-related surge is any indication, the next few weeks will be busy.
One of a pair of “Promenade Dress” models from the June 1811 Ackermann’s Repository magazine, this lovely lady now graces the Solitary Elegance header.
My ball gown was designed and created by Tamara, one of the co-authors of the La Mode Bagatelle Regency Wardrobe pattern package. It’s based on a gown featured in at least two different fashion periodicals from the early 1800s. I can’t post an original fashion plate because I don’t own one yet. (I lost out in an eBay bidding war for one earlier this summer … *grumble*). The original gown design was described as follows:
An empire waist gown with an overlayer studded in pearls and with ropes of pearls holding it shut. Accessories include a white shawl and beaded bracelets worn on the bicep.
After studying the fashion plates, Tamara made a petticoat, gown, and an overlayer. The lace overlayer is completely detachable from the rest of the gown so the main gown could easily be worn on its own or the overlayer could be worn with a different gown. The sleeves are open to allow the gown’s sleeves to show through. Paired bead strands hold the overlayer together. The skirt is fuller in the back than in the front but no train.
We decided on a few modifications. The original gown was white on white, but we chose pale pink satin for the gown, and pink lace for the overlayer. The lace we chose has a nice scalloped edge very similar to the overlayer border on the original fashion plates. Tamara added several decorative touches like the extra beading at the waistline and the ribbon trim on the sleeves, neckline, and at the waist. Project followers will note that the ribbon looks a little different on the finished product – originally Tamara was going to sew beads on the ribbon but changed her mind and wound a pair of thin cords around the ribbon instead. A few small beads were sewn into the lace as well for additional texture and to catch the light.
A friend made freshwater pearl strands to wear in my hair, and a pair of upper arm bracelets. The bracelets are carved rose quartz rounds alternating with round gold fill beads. Over-the-elbow gloves of white kid leather complete the accessories. I had planned to buy vintage gloves, but soon discovered that most of the older styles are too small for my hands. Luckily I found an eBay shop offering new gloves in modern sizes. Closeted Janeites (and customers with other uses for long leather gloves) will be pleased to know that the seller promises discreet shipping in a plain envelope, much to the Gimlet’s amusement.
The final fitting day was very exciting, and Thing Two wanted to dress up, too. Later he tried to share his beads with me. A little carried away by the fashion plate spirit, we attempted a mother and child photo, but Thing Two was uncooperative, to put it mildly. I am increasingly convinced that the serene cherubs in those old prints were stuffed and mounted, or perhaps cardboard cutouts.
The Gimlet Gallery has a few more pictures of the dress as seen at the JASNA AGM. Many thanks to Tamara for her creativity and craftsmanship, and many thanks to Linda for her generous and perfect finishing touches. The gown is gorgeous; I love how it turned out and am eager to find more reasons to wear it … thus far I’ve resisted the temptation to lounge around the house in it. Now, where did I hide those bonbons?
Download the current wallpaper: May
