We all, as readers and as writers, have a picture of the elegantly dressed people of the Regency era in our heads.
The picture comes from a variety of sources--Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, perhaps Ackermann's Repository of the Arts.
A picture of people like these:
The picture comes from a variety of sources--Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, perhaps Ackermann's Repository of the Arts.
A picture of people like these:
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These are the epitome of the well-dressed aristocracy at the height of the Regency, say 1815. Once the fashionable had abandoned the ladies' hoops and panniers, and the gentlemen's brocades and clocked stockings, fashion settled into a more predictable mode. Nevertheless it did have an evolution of its own over the years. |
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| From the classical simplicity of 1800 to the subtle enhancements of 1805:: | ||
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| From the subtleties of 1805 to the embellishments of 1810: | ||
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| From the trimmings of 1810 to the flourishes of 1815-1820: | ||
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And now for a closer look at the ladies: |
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Their accessories and costume details: |
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Their style--increasingly decorated from the neoclassical look of 1800 to the flourishes of 1820: |
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And now a closer look at the gentlemen: |
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Their accessories and costume details: |
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Snuffbox above Banyan below |
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Their style--more and more simple as the century advanced: |
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above Beau Brummell by Tom Tierney left & below dandies by Daniel Maclise |
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