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undress

A term used for simple, casual gowns for wear at home.

tucker

A white edging of lace, lawn, or muslin, usually frilled, on a low neckline. A tucker was often worn for modesty during the daytime on a low-cut dress that might be worn without it during the evening, When it was turned over to hang down over the front of the bodice, it was called a “falling tucker.”

tippet

An abbreviated cape. Similar to what might today be called a stole or a boa. In the late 18th century they were long and slender, in the form of a modern boa. By the mid-Regency, they had become a sort of capelet.

The print shows a detail from “Morning & Walking Dress,” Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, November 1810. It is described as a “French tippet of leopard silk shag.”

stuff

A general term for ordinary wool.

stays

A corset. Stays was the more commonly used term through the end of the 18th century, when he French term “corset” began to be used. Both terms were in common use during the Regency.

Stays of the Regency era were typically long, reaching the hip bones, with shoulder straps and a busk in front. They are most often made of linen or cotton, lightly boned for additional stiffness, and laced up the back. Shorter corsets were also worn during the Regency, but the long corset seems to have been the most popular, as it helped to smooth the line of the vertical silhouette.

The early 19th century stays shown are from the Kyoto Costume Institute.

spencer

A short, waist-length jacket (ie following the high waist of the current fashions, not the natural waist), with or without sleeves. Generally an outdoor garment worn in the morning or afternoon, but could also be part of an evening ensemble, when it was most often sleeveless. The spencer was adapted from a short, double-breasted men’s jacket, without tails, that was named for the 2nd Earl Spencer, who is said to have started the fashion in the 1790s.

The print shown is a detail of “Parisian Home Costume” from La Belle Assemblée, July 1817.

sarsnet

A thin twilled fabric which uses different colors in the warp and weft, thus allowing the fabric to subtly change colors as it moves. Though it is sometimes spelled sarsenet or sarcenet, the fashion magazines of the Regency period almost always use the spelling sarsnet.

round gown

A dress with the bodice and skirt joined in a single garment (during the Regency and earlier, these pieces were generally separate), with the skirt closed all around, ie not opened to expose an underskirt.

reticule

A lady’s purse. More properly called a ridicule, probably because it seemed a ridiculous notion in the late 18th/early 19th century to carry outside the dress those personal belongings formerly kept in large pockets beneath the dress. When waists rose and skirts narrowed, bulky pockets could no longer be accommodated without spoiling the line of the dress, and so the ridicule became an essential accessory. The term “reticule” seems to have come into use around the mid-19th century. It is used often in Candice’s books as the more familiar, if less accurate, term.

The image shows a detail from a “Costume Parisien” print from the French magazine Journal des Dames et des Modes, December 26, 1801: “a ridicule of scalloped-edged tulle.”

quizzing glass

A monocle or small magnifying glass dangling from a neck chain or ribbon, worn as a fashionable accessory by both men and women.

See examples of quizzing glasses from Candice’s collection here.