La Belle Assemblée, August 1806.
“Opera and Evening Full Dresses.”
This print is from the first year of this new magazine, when all fashion prints were uncolored. I love these early prints as they are so beautifully drawn and engraved. I almost feel that hand-coloring would detract from the elegance of the engraving. You may see copies online of this and other 1806 La Belle Assemblée fashion prints that are colored. I own a few. That coloring was not done by the publisher. Hand-colored prints were not offered until December 1806, and then only for a higher price. Uncolored prints were still offered for a couple more years for a lower price. I have always assumed the ones from 1806 that are colored were painted later by the owner of the prints, likely a subscriber to the magazine.
The hat on the left figure is called a “trencher-hat,” which refers to a hat with a triangular brim rising to a point above the forehead.
Several prints in 1806 also include additional head-dresses, as here, where we have two types of turban. Perhaps they are suggested as options to the trencher hat.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“The first figure represents an Opera Dress; the head-dress consists of a trencher-hat, made of crimson silk, ornamented with pearls at the four corners; the hair hanging in curls at the sides; a white India muslin gown, trimmed round the neck with crimson sarsnet, and fastened with diamonds; short full sleeves, turned up, and ornamented with a bow of the same; a bow also of the same is attached in front. White gloves and shoes.
“The second figure represents a lady in full evening costume; her hair dress in bandeaux of plaited hair, a diamond star placed in front. A white muslin gown, short full sleeves, sloped low round the neck, confined in front with a large diamond. An Indian shawl; white gloves and shoes.
“Of the two turbans on the side of the plate, one is made of light blue crape, and the other of white silk.”
