200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, May 1823)

 Pictured below is a:

Cloak or mantle of levantine silk, of flamme de ponche colour; at the bottom are four narrow satin rouleaus, and also round the hood, which is drawn with white satin ribbon: small square standing collar.  The cloak is lined with white sarsnet, and for cool mornings and chilly evenings will be found appropriate and comfortable.

The cloak is worn with a leghorn bonnet "with a plume of white ostrich feathers".  "Leghorn" was a type of straw grown from a particular kind of wheat in Tuscany:

Leghorn bonnets are much in favour for plain walking dress; they are also worn in the promenade, but not so generally as silk and satin.  In the first case, they are ornamented only with ribbons; in the last, with flowers or feathers.

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's repository, April 1823)

 Merriam-Webster defines "morning dress" for women as "a woman's dress suitable for wear around the home; especially: an informal dress for housework".  This dress, made of "Cyprus crepe, of a pale lavender colour" with "nine bands of of gros de Naples, bound with satin" is a far cry from that.   However the "square collar of worked muslin" and the "round cap of sprigged bobbinet" add a domestic touch to the outfit.  

Surviving morning dresses from this era appear to have used much less expensive material and be much simpler in construction.  They run more to printed cotton than crepe and satin.  One suspects that dresses like the one in this print were only ever worn by a minority of the beau monde, if at all!

In this issue, the fashion writers of Ackermann's Repository penned a few observations on the change of seasons:

The heavy garb of winter begins now rapidly to give way to the lighter attire of spring. Cloth pelisses have disappeared; velvet ones are still partially worn, but they are more generally adopted in silk.  Beaver bonnets are seldom seen; Leghorn and silk are very general.  Swans-down muffs and tippets begin to be substituted in carriage dress for ermine and chinchilla.

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, March 1823)

 

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!

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, February 1823)

 Before the middle of the twentieth century no respectable person would be seen outdoors without some kind of headgear.  This meant that hats and headdresses were as necessary to a complete outfit as shoes—and much more visible.

1. [Top left]  Bolivar hat of black velvet; the brim, narrow and equal width, is continued from the right side about the satin band of the crown, form a double front, which is finished on the left with a small gold tassel...

(Named for the South American freedom fighter Simon Bolivar, the "Bolivar hat" had a broad brim and a cylindrical crown.  While the Bolivar hat was usually worn by men, this version has been adapted for women.)

2. [Top right] Cap of tulle; the crown covered with three satin tulip leaves...

(Caps were worn indoors by married and older single women.  They performed a double function of proclaiming the wearer's status and concealing thinning and/or greying hair.)

3. [Centre] Circassian turban of silver muslin, with a bird of Paradise, beneath which is a rich ostrich feather falling very low on the left side.

(If caps were worn indoors during the day, turbans were worn with formal evening wear.)

4. [Bottom left]  Bonnet composed of Ponceau velvet...  This bonnet is very fashionable in black velvet and satin, with pomegranate-blossoms.

5. [Bottom right]  Bonnet composed of gros de Naples of two colours: the crown, which is round, and rather low, is of lemon colour; the front is of lavender colour, and very full, but confined by four flat straps, which are continued withinside...

(While hats were worn, bonnets were THE most fashionable head wear for women through most of the nineteenth century.  Like all fashions bonnet styles were in constant flux. The ones depicted here are starting to increase in size, culminating with the very LARGE bonnets worn in the late 1820s and early 1830s.)

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, January 1823)

 ... Or to give its title in full: Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics.  The "fashions" part of the journal consisted of a pair of fashion plates in each issue, along with descriptions of the plates and articles reporting on the latest fashion news from London and Paris.

To start off 1823 on a suitably festive note, we have a ball dress.

White crèpe lisse dress, worn over a bright pink satin slip; the corsage of white satin, cut bias, and fits the shape: it is ornamented with simple elegance, being separated into narrow straps, nearly two inches deep, and edged with two small folds of pink crèpe lisse set in a narrow band of folded white satin, finished with a tucker of the finest blond lace. The sleeve is short, of very full white crèpe lisse, partly concealed by two rows of white satin diamonds, edged with pink crèpe lisse, and united by half a dozen minute folds of white satin: at the botton of the dress is one row of large full puffs or bouffantes, of white crèpe lisse; between each are eight white satin loops, attached to the bouffantes, and surrounding a cluster of half-blown China roses.  The hair, without ornament, à la Grecque.  Ear-rings, necklace, armlets, and bracelets, of dead gold, with pink topazes and emeralds, interspersed, and fastened by padlock-snaps studded with emeralds. Long white kid gloves.  Pink satin shoes.

From all this verbiage I come away with a two key points.  Firstly, that the "bright pink slip" was meant to be seen under the transparent overskirt (unlike the twentieth century garments of the same name).  Secondly, that the bias cut was not invented by Vionnet in the early twentieth century, though here it is only used to make the bodice.  The engraving informs me that waists were still fairly high and skirts narrow in the early 1820s, though the use of decorations at the hem is a first step in making skirts fuller.

The Repository doesn't name a dressmaker, so I've no idea if this was an actual garment or an artist's  fantasy.   Readers of this detailed description, however, would probably have been able to use it to create a facsimile with the aid of their dressmaker—though they might have used less expensive materials!  

(The Philadelphia Museum of Art has put scans of the complete run of Ackermann's Repository up on the Internet Archive.)