French Walking Dress, July 1812

Journal des Dames et des Modes, July 30, 1812.

“Chapeau de Paille à jour. Robe de Marcelline.”

Walking Dress, July 1812This French day dress is of a very fine printed fabric in a plaid pattern, which is beautifully hand-painted in the print. “Marcelline” is a type of silk, and printed silks are often glazed, especially for day dresses, so perhaps this is a fine glazed fabric.

The dress is quite simple, with only a small row of ruched ruffles at the hem and a ruff around the neck. The straw bonnet marks it as a day dress. Long gloves worn with short puffed sleeves is more typically seen in English prints of evening dresses, but is quite common in French prints of day wear.  The French, at least judging from their fashion prints, used more colorful long gloves than the British. You often see gloves in a color to match the dress, whereas British long gloves are typically white or yellow. Note the looseness of the gloves, which are generally tied at the top to keep them in place. You don’t see buttoned long gloves, in French or British prints, until around 1830.

Notice the laced slippers, green to match the dress. Shoes that laced above the ankles were called sandals.

The straw bonnet with its broad brim and floral trimming is of a style that won’t be seen in England for another year or so.

 

 

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