I’ve got so much to post, I don’t know where to start. I’m working on a gown for Karen Millyard, plus I have all of my old Regency ballgown photos. But here are some shots of a 1810s gown and cape at the ROM.
I have to admit, the pattern of this dress is not my style. But the sleeves and silhouette are great!
It looks like the bodice is separate from the skirt. There’s a possibility that the cape is attached to the bodice, so that it makes a coat. I think I’ll need to visit the gown again and get a closer look. But, my guess is that this outfit consists of a dress and a caped jacket, the front of the jacket closing in buttons, with the cape part closing with a hook at the neck. Must revisit to clarify.
Click on the photos to zoom in.
Front portion of Regency outfit. I love the lines!
Close up shot of the sleeves, and of the zig-zag fabric. Honestly, if I hadn’t seen the gown, I never would have thought they would have used such a fabric in the Regency era!
Close up of the bodice.
Gown back.
That is certainly a loud fabric. I wouldn’t have thought it would be a regency fabric either. I guess there must always have been people who wanted to stand out in the crowd. Also love the quilt behind the dress.
Yes, the quilt is pretty. I was having a discussion the other day about doing historical costuming. We were saying that often people have these ideas that there is a “regency dress” which basically everyone wore. In reality, there was a lot more variety to the clothes of the period, such as with this crazy fabric! I imagine it could look well on a fair-skinned, dark-haired woman, like Miss Bingley in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice! I wonder what the personality of the woman who commissioned it was. Was she as loud as the fabric?! Or she could have been meek like Catherine Sloper who wore rich gowns to compensate for a lack of love and intimacy. Hmm…
And i imagine the fabric has probably faded a bit as well. Goodness knows how loud it would have been. Mind you it might be in such good nick because the owner was too timid to ever wear it!