Journal des Dames et des Modes, Paris, January 20, 1817.
“Chapeau de Velours épinglé. Regingote de Mérinos.”
Redingote is typically translated as a coat dress or a three-quarter or full-length over coat, a lighter version of the male redingote. It’s apparently a heavier version of a pelisse.
This blue velvet redingote is a great example of the new direction fashion is moving toward. This is French, so, of course it is a bit ahead of England in terms of style. There is much more emphasis on shoulders, which are fuller and set lower than only a few years before. The skirt of the coat is wider, in more of a bell shape. The bonnet shows the slight reduction in the height of the crown, and the new wider brim. The bonnet’s ribbon trimming and plume, as well as the strapped slippers, echo the blue of the coat.
Prints like this showing a rear view, especially French prints, give us an excellent view of the exquisite tailoring: the beautiful pleating of the upper back, and the long inverted pleat from waist to hem.
This print was designed by Horace Vernet and engraved by Pierre Baquoy.
