Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, July 1809.
“Promenade Dress.”
The hemline of this dress seems unusually short for this period. The long hemlines of only 4-5 years earlier, including many day dresses with trains, had been replaced by 1809 with shorter hems for walking dresses that no longer dragged the ground, allowing us to finally see feet beneath the skirts. But the length of this dress is shorter than the typical walking dress at this time. We don’t begin to routinely see ankles until around 1812. So, this dress must have seemed very fashion-forward. Or perhaps scandalously revealing.
The print is described in the magazine as follows:
“A high round frock of fine French cambric, or the most delicate plain muslin, trimmed at the feet, wrists, and throat, with a fine Vandyke lace; the bosom formed in alternate stripes of footing lace and needlework. A Tyrolese cloak, of shaded lilac sarsnet, edged with Venetian binding, and terminated with a trimming of broad white lace, put on full. A double frill of the same round the throat, clasped in front with silver or cut steel. The hair dressed compact, in the Grecian style. A veil à la Maltese, of the most transparent texture, edged in rich vandykes, is thrown with simple elegance over the whole, softening the countenance which it partially displays. Sometimes the head is covered with a small French cap of silk, the same as the cloak, or of a well-contrasted colour. Parasol to correspond with the cloak, with deep white Chinese awning. Slippers of the same, or of lemon-coloured kid. Gloves, Limerick or York tan.”
