Fashion plates, like fashion magazines (and some corners of instagram…) today, sell not only aspirational fashions, but also aspirational lifestyles.
There is a series of Costume Parisien fashion plates, stretching from the 1790s to 1820, that shows an fashionable lifestyle that I can very much see myself ascribing too…
I call it Regency Ladies Reading*.
Costume Parisien, ca. 1795, Bibliothèque des Arts Decoratifs. Costume Parisien, ca. 1800, Bibliothèque des Arts Decoratifs. Costume Parisien 1801, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien 1802, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien, 1802, Bibliothèque des Arts Decoratifs
1810-11 was by far the high point of the style. The fashion illustrator hit on a post he liked, and built numerous outfits, all modelled by ladies intent on their literature, around it.
Costume Parisien 1810, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien 1810, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien 1810, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien 1810, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien 1811, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisiene 1810, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisiene 1811, Bibliothèque de Arts DecoratifsCostume Parisien, 1812Costume Parisien 1812, NYPL digital archivesCostume Parisien, 1818
*Somewhat inaccurately, because the fashion plates originated in France, and some predate the English Regency. I suppose I could call it ‘Empire Ladies Enlarging Their Minds’….
I made a few improvements to it, and got some help from friend for a few more, and paired it with my Costumers for Climate Action sash.
For improvements, I loved the detailed yoke I’d made, but felt the sleeves were a bit plain in comparison. I had just a few scraps of the yoke fabric left, and by careful placement (and one small mend, which you can just see in the photo below if you look closely) I managed to cut a set of cuffs.
I’d paired the cuffs with fancy cut-glass buttons that imitate jet, and added matching buttons on the shoulder, where the yoke opens.
For more texture and visual interest, and a little bit of colour, Hvitr the tassel queen made me a set of tassels:
And Madame O the embroideress extraordinaire embroidered little motifs taken from a 1910s embroidery manual on the sash ends – no easy task as the sash was already cut, and the fabric is very wibbly and couldn’t be stabilised.
The tassels and embroidery were part of my ‘I don’t ask for stuff I just ask people to come spend and afternoon sewing for me’ birthday request (which often happens at a time of year completely unrelated to my birthday).
Kenna (@houkakyou) took a gorgeous set of photos of me in the outfit at Costume College.
The Costume College photos were one of those wonderful, happy accidents. I waited in the hallway with my pocket camera, hoping to snag someone walking by to take a few pictures of me on it.
I saw someone with a camera, and though “ah hah! I bet they will be able to do a decent job.” I introduced myself and asked, Kenna agreed, snapped a few on my camera, and then offered to take some with her (much, much, much better) camera. She suggested a new angle, I posed, and these were the result.
Note my little vintage silver & paua kiwi pin holding the sash closed!
Thank you Hvitr & Madame O for the dress help, and Kenna for taking the amazing photos!
This week’s Rate the Dress is very on-theme for the seasons here in New Zealand. Spring is in full swing, daffodils abound, and the first butterflies are out. So I’ve picked a frock with daffodils and butterflies, perfect for frolicking through meadows of blossoming bulbs. Maybe next week I’ll pick something very autumnal, for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere!
The ratings for last week’s dress were pretty clearly divided into three camps. Quite a lot of you thought the muted colours and single tonal range balanced the excessive details nicely, resulting in a good, but not great dress. And some of you thought that more is more is more is fabulous, and gave it a perfect (or nearly so) score. And then, there were those who thought the dress was just awful, resulting in an extremely unusual proportion of 3s and 4s!
The end result?
The Total: 6.9 out of 10
An average which accurately represents the opinion of exactly one of the raters!
This week: a 1920s child’s frock.
This week’s pick is very different to last week’s: a simple silhouette, with simple trim, and a simple, but unusual, mode of ornamentation.
This mid 1920s child’s ensemble is decorated with hand painted butterflies, daffodils, and a fairy riding a snail’s shell chariot.
In addition to the whimsical hand painting, which has echoes of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite’s fairies, the dress features ribbon trim held on with french knot embroidery.
The colour scheme and decoration are an excellent example of the merge between the aesthetic of the Arts & Crafts movement, and conventional design and fashion. While the fairy suggests Outhwaite, the daffodils suggest John Henry Dearle’s work for William Morris.
The outfit is most decidedly a luxury item: a decadent piece for parents to show off a beloved child at a garden party, carefully chaperoned and attended while the guests cooed over them, before they kid was given sensible clothes, a bit of ice cream, and allowed to go make mud pies on their own!
The FIDM blog (linked through each image) has more information on the dress, and the fad for hand painting in the ‘teens and ’20s.
What do you think? Is this so utterly adorable that its impracticality doesn’t matter, or is it terribly twee?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10
A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment. Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting. It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste.
(as usual, nothing more complicated than a .5. I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment, so I can find it! And 0 is not on a scale of 1 to 10. Thanks in advance!)
