Fashions of London and Paris, October 1801.
“Walking Dresses”
I adore this print. This is how I always picture the ladies in Jane Austen’s novels. In this early period, a great majority of the dresses in the prints are white, with the accessories — hats, scarves, gloves, parasols, etc. — providing touches of color.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“Fig. 1. A round dress of thick white muslin; a pelice of cambrick muslin trimmed all round; long sleeves. A bonnet of buff silk, trimmed with purple ribbon.
“Fig. 2. A round dress of white muslin drawn close round the throat, with a double frill; long sleeves. A green handkerchief tied carelessly round the neck. A straw hat turned up in front, and trimmed with green ribbons.”
The descriptions from this magazine are always so brief that I wonder how helpful they would have been to the home or professional dressmaker. I suppose they were simply to study the print and figure it out. In these early years of the new century, the styles were simpler, so perhaps the print was enough to inform the seamstress.
