La Belle Assemblée, August 1814.
“Morning Dress.”
This is one of the few prints I have seen of a dress for nursing mothers. It is, again, attributed to the “fertile imagination” of Mrs. Bell. The description mentions embroidery at the hem and the bodice, which is not shown in this print, or any other version of it I have seen.
Beneath the cradle, a bit difficult to see, is the signature of the engraver, William Hopwood, who engraved prints for this magazine as well as for Ackermann’s Repository. He is one of the few who signed his works for these publications.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“MORNING DRESS of jaconet muslin, laced in the body and sleeves, and finished round the bottom of the skirt by an embroidery in coloured silks. A small front of plain muslin fastens at the bosom over the cased one; the former is also ornamented with embroidery. We are certain no lady, on first seeing this elegant dress, could possibly surmise the purpose for which it is designed, that of enabling a lady to suckle her own child: it is, however, so contrived as to enable a lady to act the part of a nurse without discomposing her dress in the smallest degree; and the moment the pleasing office is over, a single pin leaves her again in the most elegant style of morning costume. Head-dress, small lace cap.
“The above dresses [including this one] are from the fertile imagination of Mrs. Bell, the Inventress of the Ladies’ Chapeau Bras, of whom alone they can be obtained, at No. 26, Charlotte-street, Bedford -square.”
