Our model from March 1823 is warmly dressed in
A deep amethyst-colour pelisse... wadded, and lined with pink sarsnet; a little wrapt, and fastened down the front with hooks and eyes...
It was trimmed with velvet.
A pelisse was a front-fastening, full length coat with sleeves. As an outdoor garment its main competition was the shawl:
Our fair pedestrians now rarely envelop themselves at once in a shawl and pelisse, though the latter have lost nothing of their attraction; but they present no peculiar novelty at present. Shawls are confined entirely to high dresses: the Angola shawls begin to decline; but those of India are as fashionable as ever. Promenade gowns are still principally of tabinet or silk: black is much worn in the latter.
So popular were Indian shawls that an entire industry developed around making cheaper imitations. The most notable of these were the paisley shawls manufactured in Paisley near Glasgow. Alas for Paisley, the industry collapsed when shawls fell out of fashion in the late 1860s, though the word "paisley" is still used to describe the kind of patterns that were woven into these shawls!
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