Dinner Dress, February 1816

Dinner Dress February 1816La Belle Assemblée, February 1816.

“Parisian Dinner Dress”

The title of the print names the dress a Dinner Dress, whereas the description names it a Concert Dress. Either would classify it as Half Dress, ie more formal than day wear, but not as fancy as Full Dress. This dress might have been worn to a dinner party, then to a concert — it would have been appropriate for both occasions.

The print is described in the magazine as follows:

Parisian Concert Dress.

“Frock of pink crape, over a slip of white satin with builloné flounce, and quilling of white crape round the border; full sleeves of white patent net, confined by a white satin ribband; the dress made extremely low in the back, and the waist very short, ornamented round the breast by a full double tucker of fine lace. The hair dressed in the Chinese style, with a few ringlets next to the face, the hind hair brought in rows of plaited braids on the summit of the crown, finsihed by bunches of dove-coloured ribband, à-la-Montespan. Sandals of pink kid, with rosettes of the same colour. A blue shawl of the new Parisan manufacture, with a rich border of different colours, is thrown over this dress on quitting a theatre or crowded apartment.”

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