Read Online The Jane Austen Handbook by Margaret C. Sullivan - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Margaret C. Sullivan
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are practical as well as beautiful. Lighter shawls of embroidered muslin or gauze can be welcome with ball gowns on chilly summer nights as well.
• Hats and bonnets
. Wear a hat or bonnet when you go outside in daytime. Leave your bonnet on when paying a short call, but take it off if you mean to stay for a few hours. Do not wear a bonnet or hat to an evening party or ball, though a turban or fancy headdress is fine.
• Caps
. Married ladies and spinsters who wish to indicate that they are not available for marriage wear caps made of muslin or lace with morning attire and sometimes for informal evening dress to keep their hair tidy.
• Stockings
. Stockings can be very light silk for balls or knitted from wool for warmth in winter. They come to a little above the knee and are held up with garters, which might be knitted or just ribbons tied above the knee
( Fig C-4 )
.
• Footwear
. Half-boots for riding or walking; dainty slippers, like ballet slippers, for evening, sometimes with decorative roses on the toes. Some ladies wear pattens, wooden slats with metal rings on the bottom, to keep their footwear out of muddy roads.
• Active wear . Ladies have special clothing for riding and more strenuous outdoor activities.
• Riding habit
. A habit is worn for horseback riding, of course, but it can also be worn for traveling or even justaround the house for morning wear. Habits are made of sturdy fabrics, fitted like a long coat, and are sometimes a little longer or fuller on one side to accommodate riding sidesaddle. Wear a chemisette with a frilled collar underneath to protect your neck from the sun, and if you are riding, wear a riding hat with a veil to keep insects and dirt out of your eyes. If you are just wearing your habit for traveling or walking, you can wear it with a regular bonnet.
• Walking dresses: A walking dress is like a riding habit, but with fancier trim and worn with a regular bonnet.
• Mourning clothes . Mourning clothes are made of bombazine, a silk and wool mix, or crepe, a crinkly black silk, both of which have a dull finish. Crepe also is used to trim headwear. According to custom, widows should wear mourning dress for twelve months, children for six months, and siblings for three months. For the first half of that time period, referred to as the first mourning, wear full mourning dress, or all black; for the second half, or second mourning, wear one black article of clothing along with white, gray, or lilac. Mourning jewelry such as a ring or brooch with a lock of the deceased’s hair is also worn. For more distant relations, wear black gloves or ribbons or a crepe band on your hat for a few weeks or months, depending on the closeness of the connection, as a sign of respect.
• Wedding clothes . A woman’s father traditionally gives her money to purchase enough clothing to last her a year so she will not put her new husband to immediate expense for her clothing. For the wedding itself, the bride will purchase a new gown that she will wear afterwards for other suitable occasions. The white wedding gown is not compulsory, but since white is such a popular color for gowns anyway, many wedding dresses are white or cream-colored. Wear a pretty bonnet or a hat with a veil attached to the back.
MEN’S ATTIRE
Like women’s clothing, menswear underwent a change at the close of the eighteenth century, moving away from the formal silks and laces of the French court. Men’s fashions are reminiscent of the clothing British men wear for country sports.
• Morning dress . In the daytime, a gentleman will wear a cutaway coat in a plain dark fabric, a style just made for riding on horseback, as well as a waistcoat, breeches or pantaloons, boots, and a snowy linen shirt and cravat.
• Evening dress
( Fig. E ) . For formal evening parties, coats are basic black, worn with a waistcoat
( Fig. E-1 )
, knee breeches
( Fig. E-2 )
, white stockings, and black shoes with gold or
• Hats and bonnets
. Wear a hat or bonnet when you go outside in daytime. Leave your bonnet on when paying a short call, but take it off if you mean to stay for a few hours. Do not wear a bonnet or hat to an evening party or ball, though a turban or fancy headdress is fine.
• Caps
. Married ladies and spinsters who wish to indicate that they are not available for marriage wear caps made of muslin or lace with morning attire and sometimes for informal evening dress to keep their hair tidy.
• Stockings
. Stockings can be very light silk for balls or knitted from wool for warmth in winter. They come to a little above the knee and are held up with garters, which might be knitted or just ribbons tied above the knee
( Fig C-4 )
.
• Footwear
. Half-boots for riding or walking; dainty slippers, like ballet slippers, for evening, sometimes with decorative roses on the toes. Some ladies wear pattens, wooden slats with metal rings on the bottom, to keep their footwear out of muddy roads.
• Active wear . Ladies have special clothing for riding and more strenuous outdoor activities.
• Riding habit
. A habit is worn for horseback riding, of course, but it can also be worn for traveling or even justaround the house for morning wear. Habits are made of sturdy fabrics, fitted like a long coat, and are sometimes a little longer or fuller on one side to accommodate riding sidesaddle. Wear a chemisette with a frilled collar underneath to protect your neck from the sun, and if you are riding, wear a riding hat with a veil to keep insects and dirt out of your eyes. If you are just wearing your habit for traveling or walking, you can wear it with a regular bonnet.
• Walking dresses: A walking dress is like a riding habit, but with fancier trim and worn with a regular bonnet.
• Mourning clothes . Mourning clothes are made of bombazine, a silk and wool mix, or crepe, a crinkly black silk, both of which have a dull finish. Crepe also is used to trim headwear. According to custom, widows should wear mourning dress for twelve months, children for six months, and siblings for three months. For the first half of that time period, referred to as the first mourning, wear full mourning dress, or all black; for the second half, or second mourning, wear one black article of clothing along with white, gray, or lilac. Mourning jewelry such as a ring or brooch with a lock of the deceased’s hair is also worn. For more distant relations, wear black gloves or ribbons or a crepe band on your hat for a few weeks or months, depending on the closeness of the connection, as a sign of respect.
• Wedding clothes . A woman’s father traditionally gives her money to purchase enough clothing to last her a year so she will not put her new husband to immediate expense for her clothing. For the wedding itself, the bride will purchase a new gown that she will wear afterwards for other suitable occasions. The white wedding gown is not compulsory, but since white is such a popular color for gowns anyway, many wedding dresses are white or cream-colored. Wear a pretty bonnet or a hat with a veil attached to the back.
MEN’S ATTIRE
Like women’s clothing, menswear underwent a change at the close of the eighteenth century, moving away from the formal silks and laces of the French court. Men’s fashions are reminiscent of the clothing British men wear for country sports.
• Morning dress . In the daytime, a gentleman will wear a cutaway coat in a plain dark fabric, a style just made for riding on horseback, as well as a waistcoat, breeches or pantaloons, boots, and a snowy linen shirt and cravat.
• Evening dress
( Fig. E ) . For formal evening parties, coats are basic black, worn with a waistcoat
( Fig. E-1 )
, knee breeches
( Fig. E-2 )
, white stockings, and black shoes with gold or
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