If you want to know even more aboutall the costumes, entertainment, and drama of the ball, cometake a look at the book in person for a little Jane Austen era party inspiration!
Another Bridgerton inspired dress. This one I made last summer and I was able to squeeze in a few new pictures this week.
This dress was inspired by a waistcoat and cravat combo worn by Benedict.
The navy blue bee embroidered waistcoat with a soft sage green cravat colors looked so well together.
the navy embroidered bee fabric was perfect for a Sleeveless Spencer that was popular about around 1798-1800.
This is the easiest costume I have ever made. Took a day to make the spencer and a day to make the dress.
This dress is the most comfortable thing I have ever made that I have worn it around the house
Sadly for me I have already seen another waistcoat and cravat combo that he wears that has caught my eye in the season 2 trailer. And yes I have already started looking for fabric.
Open gown and petticoat of cream silk, painted with sprays of leaves, flowers and fruit, mainly in red, blue and green. The bodice is lined with white linen, is boned and comes to a sharp point at the back and features long, fitted sleeves. Gown skirt is cut with a wide circular train. Silk painted in China, exported to Britain, and made up by a mantua-maker. Dress shows various signs of contemporary alteration and is reputed to have been worn as late as 1806.
“my honor is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious every minute within your presence” SHUT UP SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH YOU HIMBO I LOVE YOU GOOD GOD
The loosely cut style of the banyan (a man’s informal robe) is based on that of the Japanese kimono. Robes like this became popular in Europe from the mid-17th century, brought back by members of the East India Company, and by the 1670s European tailors were making banyans, also known as nightgowns. During the 18th century nightgowns evolved into several different shapes, from the simple T- shape of the original kimono to others cut more like the European coat. Their generically ‘oriental’ air was part of a wider taste for exotic designs that formed part of the fashion for Chinoiserie.
Cream silk gauze Madras lace frock with silk satin detail, 1817
I had decided to set G&G in the year 1818 before I looked into specific fashion trends around that time. I was interested to discover that this happened to be a period of transition from the “Classical” styles seen earlier in the Regency Era (and in most Jane Austen adaptations) to the “Romantic” styles popular from the 1820s-1840s. (See also this previous post.)
This gown is a really nice example of this in-between phase in women’s fashion during the late 1810s and early 1820s. It’s classic white, but covered all over in lace and ribbon. The waistline is still above the natural waist, although not as high as it would have been a few years earlier. The skirt is fairly straight, but edging towards the conical shape that would be popular for the next few decades. The short, puffy sleeves also show the transition from the simple, close-fitting short sleeves seen on evening gowns earlier during the Regency Era and the huge “leg of mutton” style long sleeves seen from the mid-1820s into the 1830s.
The British dance of death, exemplified by a series of engravings, from drawings by Van Assen; with explanatory and moral essays. Main Author: Van Assen, Benedictus Antonio, d.ca.1817. Contributors: Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856. illus. Riviere & Son. Published 1828 London, Printed by and for Hodgson and Co.
When this post came across my dash, I was very curious as to what the book The British Dance of Death was all about. It’s available online via The Internet Archive, and appears to be a fairly conventional book of moral lessons for young people (this chapter is basically “Don’t have premarital sex, especially not with prostitutes!”), but with the grim specter of Death thrown in to make it extra fun.
The 19th century was kinda messed up.
The British Dance of Death, p. 29-30:
“[B]ut at the very moment when Love thus holds emporium over the senses; when the heart palpitates with refinement of passion, and a long season of extatic bliss appears in store–even at such a soul-thrilling juncture, envious Death appears, and with a well-poised dart, dispels the fond illusions of the tender youth, by consigning him at once to the chilly sepulcher, thus planting the barbed dart of misery in the bosom of her to whom he so lately proffered up his heart.”
