Morning Dresses

Morning Dress, 1819, from Rudolf Ackermann's The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashion, and Politics, 1809-1829. This is another great favorite of mine. I have a copy of this over my desk with a quotation from Mary Hays' Letters and Essays, Moral, and Miscellaneous, 1793. I like to imagine this is how Mary Hays or other women writers of the day looked as they sat down to write in the morning. The dress, petticoat, and French cornette cap are trimmed with matching blue ribbons and lace. The petticoat has more trim than seen in the earlier morning gowns, left.

Morning Dress, 1819, from Rudolf Ackermann's The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashion, and Politics, 1809-1829. The cap here is called the Parisian mob, and it is tied with a pink ribbon and has some fake flowers trimming it. The lady sits on her cashmere shawl in her muslin morning gown. She wears leather gloves as she reads her letter. Nine rows of pink ribbon and one row of buttons trim the bottom of her gown. Buttons were still quite expensive, so this trim would indicate wealth. The little cape on the collar is a pelerine, and these became longer and much more common in the 1830s.

Morning Dress, 1821, from Rudolf Ackermann's The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashion, and Politics, 1809-1829. This is another of my favorite dress, one I particularly covet and can imagine how wonderful it would feel. The entire dress is made of pale pink cashmere. Imagine the cost of such a dress today, when a simple sweater of cashmere can cost hundreds of dollars! The dress wraps around the body and ties with matching bows. The cap is a cornette of lace and net and ties with a matching pink ribbon. The lady sits drinking her morning coffee or tea, in no doubt, the most comfortable dress she owns.

Morning Dress, 1824, from Rudolf Ackermann's The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashion, and Politics, 1809-1829. This is an elaborate morning dress, made of striped silk, with two satin rouleaux at the hem. The cresent and star trim above the rouleaux are also of satin. The neck features an Elizabethan ruff. The cap is a cornette of tulle, with rouleaux pulling in bouffants of tulle. Stella Blum, in her Ackermann's Costume Plates: Women's Fashions in England, 1818-1828 (NY: Dover, 1978), defines the rouleau as "A strip of fabric loosely stuffed into a tube-like shape and used to trim dresses, generally at the hem" (89). The lady wears a cashmere shawl of green with a border and reads her morning mail.