…be a requirement of gentlemen’s court dress throughout the 19th century. Figure 1: Pair of knee buckles with tooled pinchbeck bezels, close-set paste stones on sterling backs, and steel chapes…

…only in ceremonial and Court dress. The change in the style of women’s shoes, in particular, had a role in the decline of shoe buckles. The flat-heeled slipper that became…

…After the restoration of the Bourbon family to the monarchy in 1814, French court dresses seen in prints show many of the same elements of English court dress, including lappets….

Le Beau Monde, October 1807. “Drawing Room Full Dresses.” Despite the print title, these elegant evening dresses were not meant to be worn at a formal court Drawing Room, eg…

…activities, including day wear, evening wear, and specialty fashions such as court dress, riding habit, and mourning dress. Terms such as undress, half dress and full dress will be explained…

…strictly formal. Prints labeled “Afternoon Dress” would be recognized as Half Dress. Dinner dresses and Opera dresses also were typically considered Half Dress, as neither dinner parties nor the theatre…

…often seen with court dress, ie the most elaborate and expensive dress an aristocratic woman will ever wear. This would have to be a very special evening dress to be…

Journal des Dames et des Modes, Paris, February 4, 1801. “Costume Paré” French prints of ladies that are titled Grand Paré represent full dress. Perhaps Costume Paré represents full dress…

…The odd-looking black thing he is holding is a chapeau bras, a black bicorn hat that was carried, for full and court dress, but almost never worn. This note follows…

Full Dress, Half Dress, and Half Full Dress are terms seen frequently in fashion prints of the Regency period. I have found no definitions of those terms in any of…