Gallery of Fashion, October 1798.
“Evening Dress.”
The “helmet” of diamond bands, with a diamond aigrette in front, is something I have not seen before, and must have been pretty amazing in person. The diamonds are painted with bright metallic silver paint, unfortunately impossible to see online.
There is so much exquisite detail in this dress that might be difficult to see on a small screen: the fine muslin of the dress embroidered with stars and the robe of tiffany (a transparent silk gauze) painted, not embroidered, with a grape vine. Here is a close-up:
The term “stomacher” used in the description does not refer to the triangular panel forming the front of an open bodice in the 16th through the late 18th centuries. Here, it refers to the silver band around the waist, sort of like a cummerbund, which I believe is called a low stomacher.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“The skirts of the hair (and no more than the skirts) cut short round the face, and combed forward in feather curls; the rest of the hair combed up smooth to the crown of the head, and ends dressed into ringlets, and intermixed with three diamond bands, arranged in the form of a helmet. Three-branched diamond aigrette placed in the front. Petticoat of fine muslin, embroidered in the star pattern. Robe of white tiffany, with a painted border of vines; the dress sleeves painted the same; and trimmed in two parts, as well as the robe round the neck, with rich broad lace. Striped silver stomacher. Diamond ear-rings. Pearl festoon necklace, with a medallion. White shoes and gloves.”
