A Fashionable Neoclassical Dress, 1800-1805

This formal dress, c. 1800-1805, of white cotton gauze, features small floral sprays across the textile. It is detailed with a border design “composed of vine and a modified Greek fret worked in a chain stitch with fine red and white wool.”  This is a classic example of what is known as the Regency, Empire or Neoclassical style which began in the last decade of the 18^thcentury (post-American and French Revolutions) and continued to inspire women’s fashions into the 1820s, and in some places, beyond.

A dress like this would not have been out of place in the first quarter of 19^thcentury in Boston. By the time of Henry Sargent’s painting of The Tea Party(c.1824) showing the elegant attire of the age – although clad in long columnar dress, with shawls and hats of every variety, we begin to see additions of pouf sleeves, decorated hems, fancy trimmings altering the silhouette and profile. The setting for this elegant gathering was none other than Boston’s Beacon Hill, and is a companion piece to his masculine habitués detailed in The Dinner Party.[1]

 (Via the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/formal-dress-67396⁾

Accession #22.665

1. For additional information on Sargent’s painting, see Jane C. Nylander, “Henry Sargent’s Dinner Party and Tea Party,” Magazine Antiques, May 1982.

If These Shoes Could Talk….New England Shoe Stories, 1750-1850

I greet you with excitement on this wintery morning: Presenting the invitation for "Cosmopolitan Consumption: New England Shoe Stories, 1750-1850," co-curated with Sandra Rux, curator emerita of the Portsmouth Historical Society and independent museum professional.  We have selected over 35 pairs of historic shoes from over a dozen museums and private lenders. The exhibit will display wedding shoes, dancing slippers, boots, everyday and remade shoes, as well as some rare garments and accessories. Visitors will see dazzling brocades and damasks, silks, leather, and calamancoes—from New England, Great Britain, and France. Many of the pieces in the exhibition have never before been viewed by the public.

Through the lives and letters of clever apprentices, skilled cordwainers, wealthy merchants and elegant brides, Cosmopolitan Consumption will take us on a journey from bustling London streets, to ship cargo holds, to New England shops and, ultimately, to the feet of eager consumers throughout the region. The “shoe stories” recount a young bride dancing with George Washington during his visit to Portsmouth or a pair of shoes remade from a 1730s wedding dress to a pair of 1773 wedding shoes. They trace the fortunes and misfortunes of wearers as shoes were altered to accommodate poor health and changing styles, and finally, they provide glimpse into the shoemaking business of artisans like Sam Lane of Stratham, who sold his shoes at Market Square in Portsmouth. This rich shoemaking heritage continues today. We ask our viewers to consider how these fashionable shoes reveal the hopes and dreams of New Englanders.

Invitation design by Phineas Graphics

Visitors will also be treated to lectures, gallery talks, a workshop, and a unique shoe-shopping event! Of particular interest, we will hold a mini-shoe symposium 29th-30th May. Susan Holloway Scott, bestselling novelist of historical fiction and well-known history blogger (http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com), will present a talk entitled "For the Love of Shoes." The symposium will be held at the Discover Portsmouth Center. (More information to follow.)

So, mark your calendars: February 14-June 5 2015 at the Portsmouth Athenaeum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire!

For updates, you can follow us at twitter using #Shoes2015, at www.PortsmouthAthenaeum.org or Portsmouth Athenaeum on Facebook

We extend our appreciation to the many lenders and sponsors who have made this endeavor possible.

"The pink of fashion:" Mrs. Eliza Hamilton Visits SweetBriar, 1818

From the 1814-1822 diary of Samuel Breck (1771-1862):

August 3, 1818 

Mr.& Mrs. Andrew Hamilton  and Miss Ellen Lyle made a call. Mr. Hamilton is lately from England and drove down in a very stylish London Barouche—chariot; that is to say, a chariot with lamps etc which can be thrown open so as to form a Barouche. A seat is fixed on the rear for the footman to sit in, with his face to the horses. It is a beautiful vehicle, uniting style to taste, but heavy, requiring four horses to draw it. 

Mrs.Hamilton in her dress was the pink of fashion, having lilac boots, with feathers and shawl to match, and her gown etc highly and richly decorated. This extravagance is habitual with her, and finery in her attire is a hobby and daily occupation with her. She appeared affable and ladylike in her manners, and looked as well as I could see through a thick veil, both blooming and pretty.

English & French fashions, 1815.
morning dress and walking costume, Journal des Dames

While the passage is in and of itself of interest for the detailed description of Mrs. Hamilton’s very fashionable visiting ensemble, it is also revealing of what might be called the “Discourse of Fashion.” The very manner in which Mr. Breck chooses to describe her Appearance as “The pink of fashion” is a literary Expression, Most likely going back to the age of Shakespeare. It refers to the height or epitome of something. The expression was still in common usage in the Later 19th century. For example, William Thackeray (1811-1863), uses the expression “in the very pink of the mode” to mean “at the very height of fashion.” Even Charles Dickens (1812-1870) made use of the expression (although for a different purpose) when he opined that an Italian town he had visited was “the very pink of hideousness and squalid misery.”

The comment that she was “through a thick veil, both blooming and pretty,” with “blooming” referring again to being in the pink - of health, complexion and fashion.

And what of her visiting garments? She was English, married in London and, given the arrival in the Barouche with a Footman (no doubt liveried), especially attuned to the latest in Fashion. The description says as much:  She wore lilac boots, with matching feathers and shawl, and her gown was highly and richly decorated.

This British dress (1816-21), from the Victoria and Albert Museum, features detailed smocking with muslin puffs and softly gathered sleeves. Given the time of year, it would have fit the description in 1818 of a decorated gown. 

One can envision the dress, accented by a lilac shawl (see below) and the very popular half boots. Imagine the green damask boots below from @vintagetextile in lavender, with the same shade used in the plumes of her hat or bonnet. Clearly, Mr. Breck's remark that "extravagance is habitual with her, and finery in her attire is a hobby and daily occupation" was a topic of discussion in their Social circle.

A look at fashion Plates from the Regency period, such as Ackerman’s and La Belle Assemblee, provide Compatible visual imagery to her textured and Coordinated visiting garments.

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About Samuel Breck

The diarist, Samuel Breck, was a Philadelphia merchant, musician, horticulturist and philanthropist. Born in Boston in 1771 into a prosperous family, he married Jean Ross, the daughter of a successful Philadelphia merchant. He moved to his country estate, known as “Sweetbriar” (now part of Fairmount Park, Philadelphia) and constructed a fine transitional Federal/late Georgian style house in 1797. Breck’s diary contains reference to Marquis de Lafayette and Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, among others.

http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/findingaid1887breck.pdf

http://www.sweetbriarmansion.org/samuel_breck_diary.html

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About Sweetbriar

Sweetbriar is open for tours by appointment only. Please call 215-222-1333 to make an appointment.

http://www.sweetbriarmansion.org

View of SweetBriar by David Hughes

French Walking Dress, 1817, La Belle Assemblee