Early Victorian Era Fashion Plate - August 1843 Godey's Lady's Book

Early Victorian Era Fashion Plate - August 1843 Godey's Lady's Book

Description of Fashion Plates

Fig 1 - Dress of plaid silk. Corsage gaged; trimmed with a cape of the same material as the dress; narrow at the waist; broad on the shoulder, trimmed with fringe. Sleeves are gaged same as the waist; skirt perfectly plain. Rice straw bonnet, trimmed on the outside with ribbon, and on the inside with ribbons and flowers.

Fig 2 - Dress of white muslin, made plain, with the exception of an insertion down the front and round the dress. Body and sleeves a la puritan; collar and cuffs of cambric, lightly embroidered; cap composed of lace and ribbons.

Fig 3 - Morning Home Costume - Dress of light green pekin, checked with brown, and a darker shade of green. The skirt is long and very full, and set on in gathers round the waist. The corsage is of a three quarter height, and made full. A piping of the silk confines it round the neck, where a lace chemisette peeps up all round. The sleeves are tight to the arm, but made with one seam only, and are finished at the top by an epaulette with two folds of the material of the dress. Cuffs of lace are turned up over the wrist. The front hair is in smooth bands, and a cap of lace, with a rosette formed of artificial roses, to confine it at each ear, conceals the back of the head, and gives an air of extreme simplicity to the costume.

Fig 4 - Peignoir of thin muslin, worn over a primrose-colour under-dress. The skirt, as usual, is long and full, and opens in front, where it is trimmed with a row of insertion, edged at each side with valenciennes. The corsage is tight to the figure, very long in the waist, and trimmed down the centre to match the skirt. A small cape of muslin is also edged with lace, and a collar entirely of the latter finishes the dress at the neck. The sleeves are small, cut considerably longer than the arm, and gathered into the proper length at the seam, which is inside the arm (see plate). An epaulette trimmed with a double row of valenciennes takes off from the length of the arm. A ruffle of the same lace falls over the hand. A ribbon glace primrose and white is put round the waist in front, crossed behind and tiedat the left side in a small bow with two long ends. The hair is worn in one long ringlet in front, and a simple cap of valenciennes placed carelessly on the back of the head. This is trimmed with three flat bows and long ends, one on the summit, and one placed over each ear.