La Belle Assemblée, July 1817.
“Equestrian Costume invented by Mrs. Bell, 52 St. James Street.”
Mrs. Mary Ann Bell was the daughter-in-law of the publisher of La Belle Assemblée. She began managing the fashion pages in 1811, and her fashion sensibilities dominated the pages of La Belle Assemblée for the next 20 years. It is likely that much, if not all, of the fashion commentary during this time with written by Mrs. Bell, as well as the descriptions of the prints. She opened her own dress-making salon, called Magazin de Modes, in 1814. Descriptions of her own designs were always lengthy and effusive in praise of her elegance and taste.
But by 1817, many of the print descriptions are shorter and less effusive, as here. It is possible that by this time she was spending more time in her dress-making business and delegated print descriptions to others. The section entitled General Observations on Fashion and Dress still mentions Mrs. Bell and her salon frequently. In this month, it states:
“The crowds of beauty and fashion that are to be seen continually at Mrs. Bell’s Magazine de Modes, justify what we have constantly advanced of her superiority of taste in the different articles of fashionable attire …”
This print is described, very briefly, in the magazine as follows:
“Habit of fine Merino cloth, or the Florentia blue colour, finished about the bust and cuffs with Peruvian trimmings. Blue military cap, ornamented with plumes of feathers and rich silk cordons. Ruff of fine Mechlin lace. The hair arranged in the Grecian style. Blue kid half-boots, and lemon-coloured gloves.”
