Last week’s rate the dress was an 1817 paisley-on-paisley pelisse and not-quite-poke bonnet, as depicted in a period fashion plate that was re-coloured in the 1940s.  Paisley on paisley was more popular than I had presumed, though there was a pill in the pudding:  the ‘perplexing  purple purse’ (as Tracy dubbed it), which, as Daniel showed us by finding the original, un-re-coloured fashion plate, wasn’t intended to be violent violet! The other thing that didn’t tickle everyone’s fancy was the plethora of ruffles, but since you’d be hard pressed to find something from the late 1810s that wasn’t abundantly frilled, that can’t be helped.  All in all, the outfit came in at 8.3 out of 10, which is pretty fabulous for a  not-so-popular late Regency look. Since vivid purple didn’t work for you last week, but black might have, I’ve gone with a purple and black ensemble this week (it made sense in my mind!). The obvious place to go looking for purple clothes was in the wardrobe of Heather Firbank, whose closet has featured …