Fashion Plate, London Fashions for March, 1814

The fashion plate shown here appeared in The Lady’s Monthly Museum or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction. Published in London between 1798 and 1832, The Lady’s Monthly had a collection of subjects for women including poems, essays, and household management. These pocket-sized magazines also published fashion plates such as this one.

This fashion plate depicts fashions for March 1814. The standing woman wears a tubular shaped dress with a high waistline, which continued to be fashionable after its first appearance around 1800. It is also white, a common color for Neoclassical fashions. Trim around the neckline was a popular embellishment as well as the addition of a fur stole. The seated woman illustrates a coat lined in ermine, a fur once emblematic of royalty. The coat has an empire waistline and slightly puffed sleeves. Its maroon color is matched in the toque on her head. 

References

The Lady's Monthly Museum.” National Portrait Gallery, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp160061/the-ladys-monthly-museum women wear their hair in a style with a center part and little ringlets framing the face.

“1810-1819.” Fashion History Timeline, 1 June 2020,https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1810-1819/#:~:text=The%20high-waisted%20neoclassical%20silhouette%20continued%20to%20define%20womenswear,triangular%20ones%20by%20the%20end%20of%20the%20decade