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Our Regency Era Closet
Description from Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western Dress. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.
"White mull with allover embroidery with silver tinsel" (35). The description in The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire,
1789-1815, edited by Katell le Bourhis et al. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989) reads: "Evening dress of sheer muslin ...
embroidered in silver-gilt thread. American, c. 1810 .... The most stylish women in America were drawn to French fashion, even though
such dresses as this may have been considered very risqué" (102).
The embroidery on this dress looks today more brown or black than the gold it would have originally been when first sewn. Because we see this dress on a mannequin it is hard to get a sense of its daring, but the space between the breast and a good part of each breast itself is revealed by the very wide v of the neckline. The fabric is very sheer, here shown over several petticoats to make the dress flare out at the hem. If worn over legs, however, more would show even with the petticoats, particularly as the dress swayed with movement.
Description from Rothstein, Natalie, ed. Four Hundred Years of Fashion. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1984.
"This high-waisted English evening dress of 1810-1 is made of silk machine- made net and embroidered in chenille" (32).
The two day dresses on the left are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (far left: CI 26.233.7ab with petticoat CI 26.265.48;center: CI 60.26.3ab).
The dress on the right is privately owned by the collector Lillian Williams. The description in The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789-1815, edited by Katell le Bourhis et al. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989) reads: "Day dresses of block-printed cotton such as these were worn during the Directoire for everyday wear and country promenades. Characteristically they were embellished with many accessories, from embroidered fichus and reticules to pointed slippers and straw hats " (63). The center dress and the hooded wrap or Coqueluchon, below, are made of the same fabric of dark green covered with pink printed flowers. In the photo below, the dress and wrap are shown together, which, unfortunately, makes it difficult to distinguish between the two. It is, however, a short cloak. The dark green satin petticoat shown in the two photos is a good match for the print. The combinations on the far left, however, are offensive. While period fashion plates do show many odd combinations of color and prints, this combination seems a bit extreme. The lovely rose dress on the right worn with rose stockings, a white fichu, and a straw hat is the most elegant ensemble of the three.
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