Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, August 1816.
“Evening Dress”
It is interesting to see such a gigantic plume in 1816. Very tall plumes were common in the late 1790s through around 1805, but not seen much since.
This is the period of the highest, tiniest bodices, which you can see here, even from the back. The sleeves are becoming fuller, which will reach enormous poufs in the next decade.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“A gown of white soft satin, cut low all round the back and bosom. The skirt gored, and a good deal of fullness thrown behind. The body, which is disposed in small plaits, displays the shape, as our readers will perceive by our print, to a very great advantage; it is trimmed round the bosom with a wreath of small white net roses, with a little tuft of pearl in the heart of each. Long loose sleeve, composed of white lace, and finished à la Parisienne with a rich double frill of lace at the wrists. The skirt is ornamented, in an exquisitely tasteful style, with a broach flounce of rich blond, surmounted by a wreath of roses and deep scollops of white net, the points of which are finished by bows of white satin ribbon. The effect of this trimming is uncommonly beautiful. Hair, cropped and curled full in the back of the neck, and dressed light, and much parted on the forehead: it is ornamented with a superb white ostrich-plume, at the base of which is an aigrette of diamonds. Necklace, ear-rings,and bracelets also of diamond. White satin slippers, and white kid gloves.
“We have to thank the condescension of a lady of much celebrity in the fashionable world, to whom we are indebted for a sight of the very elegant and tasteful dress from which our present print is designed.”
