Regency Dresses from Lady's Magazine

Not nearly as well engraved or tinted as Ackermann's or La Belle Assemblee, and the paper quality quite grainy.  But they've held up pretty well for 200 years!

Ladies' Magazine, Regency Fashion Plates

Ladies' Magazine, Regency Fashion Plates

Ackermann's Regency Fashion Prints with Children

Ackermann's Fashion Prints, Regency Fashion Prints Pretty sure the child in Red on the left is a boy in "long pants"? Or Jammies?

Equestrian Ladies from Costume Parisien

I colorized the plate on the right- my original was so faded, everything was greyish-yellow, except the lady's green shoes and bright scarf.  Also, I added some color to the fur hat on the left.

From Georgette Heyer's "BLACK SHEEP" -Ackermann's & Costume Parisien "Walking Dress" & "Carriage Dress"

"... no one had ever cast a slur on Selina's eye for the elegant and the becoming. In her youth she had been the least good-looking but the most modish of the Wendover girls; in her middle age, and endowed with an easy competence, she enjoyed the reputation of being the best-dressed woman in Bath. If Fanny did not, like Abby, seek her advice, she was shrewd enought to respect her judgment; so that when, presently, she showed Selina the sketch of a grossly overtrimmed walking-dress, her secret longing to be see abroad in this confection was nipped in the bud by Selina's devastating criticism.

"Oh dear!" said Selina, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "All those frill, and tucks, and ribbons–! So–so deedy!"

So nothing more ws seen of that fashion-plate ..."

Ackermann's Fashion Plate, 1823

I think this is one of the prettiest fashion plates I have.  Even tho the background is white, the artist gives one the impression of a lady walking in the dark.  It's also one of the best preserved plates, a bit yellowed with time, but no spots or stains, very clean.  The lady in pink is another favorite.

Costume Parisien

Lady's Magazine Fashion Print

My Lady's Magazine prints are very yellowed, and a bit spotty; so it takes a little time to clean them up.  I think I'll show a few "as is",  We'll see.  Here's another one.    Coming: a few Mystery engravings.

La Belle Assemblee Fashion Plate

 

The "La Bell Assemblee" prints are very spotty, perhaps mildewed, so I had to do a lot of cleaning up. The next one is in perfect condition: I'm not sure its an original or a later reprint. The paper seems similar to the others, but I can't tell for sure.  The original engravings are very detailed and beautiful, tho not colored like Ackermann's & all the other fashion plates.  I really like the caps: they aren't really well described in fiction, and when reading, say, a Georgette Heyer novel, I tend to imagine the Hollywood "maid's cap".  Apparently they could be quite  detailed and elegant.  Women in those days nearly always wore hats or caps.  It was a bit "fast" to go bear-headed!  And to go around bare-headed and with the hair hanging down: Ooo La! La!  Very naughty.

First Print.

Fashion plates from the French Fashion magazine "Modes Etc"

These are very good engravings, but the watercolor washes over them were rather sloppy, and when scanned every flaw in the paper was magnified.  I whitened them, and touched up some of the painting.

 

Costume Parisien fashion plates, early 1800's

Here's a pretty old Costume Parisien, #48.3 .  No date, but judging from the dresses, pretty early 1800's.

Costume Parisien, Napoleon Era Fashion Plates

Here are some French Ladies from the Napoleonic Era:

Lady on the right is using a quizzing glass, not only a prerogative of men!

The dress on the right is using a shawl (probably cashmere) for the bottom third of the dress, a fashionable trim in those days. Cashmere is warmer than wool: about 3 times for their comparative weights, and the fashion of wearing lightweight muslins & cottons made warm outer-wear imperative.

Examples of Spencers and-or Pelisses.

Costume Parisien Napoleon-era fashion plates for MEN

Now I'm scanning & cleaning up some Costume Parisien fashion plates.  Half the problem is my scanner over-or-under-exposes everything,  Once scanned into Photoshop, I just hold the original artwork up and work to get the digital image looking pretty much the same, with less age-related yellowing.

Ackermann's Repository seldom had drawings of men, and they weren't nearly as detailed as the French fashion plates.  The rather sad thing is I mostly own post-Waterloo (1815) for men.  However, the fashions didn't change that rapidly: once guys discovered comfortable & attractive clothes, they pretty much stuck with it.  Well, jeans have replaced skin-tight knit -or buckskin- breeches!

Ackermann's Regency Fashion Plates, Scans from original Plates

Evening Gown

Morning Dress

Walking Dress       .....       Dinner Dress

Left: Opera Dress

Right: Court Dress

Feathers always

required at Court

Presentations

Half-Dresses

  Promenade Dresses

Ackermann's Repository prints

Here are some prints from Ackermann's Repository of Fashion, from 1800-1820.

Christmas Cards

I belong to a Georgette Heyer 'List', where we chat about her books. Each year we have a Card exchange, and I like to make cards using fashion plates from the era (Regency). There were three or four magazines for ladies at the time, the best being Ackermann's Repository. The French Costume Parisien also has splendid plates, although their ladies look to be about 8-foot tall.

Here is this year's card.