Fashion Plate, October 1799
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Mary C. Whitlock, former department chair and founder of URI’s Historic Textile and Costume Collection, found many loose fashion plates in antique shops around Massachusetts and donated them to URI’s collection. These fashion plates were either cut out of the original binding because it was so worn, or sold as loose-leaf images, so are not presented in their original bound form. This fashion plate is from The Lady’s Monthly Museum, October 1799. A bound version of the last six months of the publication, Volume 3, is housed in the Art and Design Library of the Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries in Scotland. Fashion plates were hand colored after printing, thus it is not surprising that the coloration in the URI copy differs somewhat from the one in Edinburgh.
The dresses depicted are morning dresses in white muslin with sparse yellow or red details. They appear to be a transition between the round gowns of the earlier 1790s and the pure Neoclassical look of the early 1800s. Neoclassical influence is seen in the simple white color, the low round neckline, the slightly elevated waistline, and the scarce decoration. The descriptions accompanying the fashion plates in the Edinburgh copy state that the bonnets are straw or chip trimmed with muslin or silk net.
The original description of these fashions is found on page 312 of the Lady’s Monthly Museum, October 1799, vol. 3. The page is labeled “Cabinet of Fashion, with Elegant Coloured Engravings.”
Morning Dress
First Figure. Helmet bonnet of straw or chip, white or lilac muslin crown, tied under the chin with a yellow handkerchief; orange bow. Cambric muslin dress, drawn close round the neck; buttoned half way, then forming a train, trimmed with orange-coloured border. Epaulets on the shoulders, and small puckered cuffs trimmed with lace. – Orange-coloured gloves and shoes.
Second Figure. Round straw or chip bonnet, with white silk net; full frill at neck. Scotch cambric open dress, trimmed with fancy border. Slate-coloured gloves and shoes.
References
https://www.capitalcollections.org.uk/view-item?key=T3siUCI6eyJ0eXBlIjoxLCJpZHMiOlsyMTVdfX0&pg=8&WINID=1606707188318&fullPage=1#er_RhhUYr3gAAAF2FzX6vA/33424
A number of the Lady's Monthly Museum periodicals have been digitised by The New York Public Library and are available through The HathiTrust, a partnership of academic and research institutions offering access to millions of documents from collections around the world.
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The Lady’s Monthly Museum or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction: Being an assemblage of whatever can tend to please the Fancy, interest the Mind, or exalt the Character of The British Fair.
By A Society of Ladies. Vol. 3
London
Published by Verner & Hood, Dec. 1, 1799
Publisher
The Lady’s Monthly Museum or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction: Being an assemblage of whatever can tend to please the Fancy, interest the Mind, or exalt the Character of The British Fair.
By A Society of Ladies. Vol. 3
London
Published by Verner & Hood, Dec. 1, 1799