British Lady’s Magazine, November 1818.
“Evening Dress.”
I usually find dresses of 1818 getting too fussy for me, but I think this one is quite pretty. The headdress is a bit odd, but the dress is lovely.
Mrs. Smith (formerly Miss Macdonald) designed this dress. She did a major push in 1818 to promote her designs, paying to have her designs featured in Ackermann’s Repository and the British Lady’s Magazine for the entire of 1818. She may also have provided the descriptions.
Here, she describes a “chenicle band” around the head. I had initially thought it was a mis-spelling of chenille, but the term is used in several other descriptions of ensembles by Miss Macdonald/Mrs. Smith in this magazine. I have no idea what “chenicle” might mean, and I have not yet come upon that term in descriptions of dresses by other designers in any of the contemporary ladies’ magazines. This designer promoted herself as the “inventor” of several items, including the Ionian cork bonnet and the Athenian corset. Perhaps the “chenicle band” is another of her inventions.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“EVENING DRESS of beautiful India muslin, worn with a beautiful little black corsette body of silk, trimmed with rose-coloured ribbon; the skirt of the dress trimmed to correspond with the addition of lace and artificial flowers; the sleeves are made very full and short of muslin, and fastened with three garnet clasps; round the head is gracefully worn a chenicle band, with a white satin coronet; white kid gloves, and white satin shoes. For these dresses [including this one] we are indebted to Mrs. Smith, late Miss Macdonald.”
