Fashion In The Time Of Jane Austen by Sarah Jane Downing Page A
Authors: Sarah Jane Downing
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derived from The Speaking Fan published by Charles Badini in 1797. Displaying the ‘Rudiments of Fanology’, it began as a party game but developed into a tool of romantic intrigue. However, it is for concealment that Catherine Morland uses her fan at the Cotillion Ball in Northanger Abbey when the boorish John Thorpe is in sight: ‘that she might not appear to observe or expect him, she kept her eyes intently fixed on her fan.’
With the rise of the reticule, fans became smaller at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and those displaying images of the sights of the Grand Tour were particularly popular. English taste remained modest, with church fans printed with psalms, educational fans with maps or botanical diagrams, and art fans depicting famous works, although pierced ivory brisé fans remained most popular. Cockade fans that opened up into a full circle became popular from 1808, some including a spy glass in the centre, with crape fans embroidered with silver and spangles leading the fashion in 1817.
‘Watering Place Morning Dress’ ( The Gallery of Fashion , October 1795). Pea green gloves, green silk handkerchief tied over the hat, green sash and shoes show that accessories could be used to quite striking effect to pull an outfit together.
Early nineteenthcentury fans. Carved brisé fans were hugely popular, as were paper or silk fans with neoclassical motifs.
Jane refers to her white fan in her letters but ivory fans remained the most usual, possibly because they were also used as dance fans to make a note of the names of dance partners. This is most likely what William is doing ‘working away his partner’s fan as if for life’ at the ball in Mansfield Park . Little jewellery was worn with the style à l’anglaise but watches began to be worn suspended from the waistline, men adding a fob on the opposite side to create symmetry. The French Revolution caused many ladies to get rid of their jewels in a desperate attempt to avoid la guillotine , their diamonds replaced with neoclassical pearls, amethysts and cameos. These they wore literally from head to foot – from their classically inspired tiaras, golden girdles, and slave bangles to the rings on their toes.
‘Carriage Dress’ ( Ackermann’s Repository , January 1810). The erminetrimmed cape and matching cap would be snug for travelling and the watch pinned at her elevated waistline would help her keep track of the time!
Madame de Pompadour had carved her own cameos, but for those less talented and less wealthy Josiah Wedgewood created a method for making porcelain cameos. The passion for cameos inspired a flood of neoclassical jewellery that drew inspiration from all parts of the ancient world as dictated by the latest discoveries at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and after the Nile campaign, Egypt.
The topaz crosses given to Jane and Cassandra by their brother Charles.
In 1800 the Morning Post declared amethyst and topaz to be ‘preferable to all others’ for necklaces and earrings. It was perfect then, that in May 1801 Jane wrote to tell Cassandra that their brother Charles ‘has been buying gold chains and topaze crosses for us; - he must be well scolded’. She must have been pleased because she commemorated the occasion by having Fanny Price receive a topaz cross from her brother William in similar circumstances. Unlike Charles, William did not supply a chain (at first Fanny wore the cross on a ribbon) but Mary Crawford gives her a gold chain ‘prettily worked’. These gold chains made a less costly alternative to strings of pearls, which were fashionably draped between cameos at the girdle and bust-line.
Queen Louise Augusta of Prussia (Vigée Le Brun, 1802). In 1805 the Journal des Dames wrote: ‘a fashionable lady wears cameos at her girdle, cameos in her necklace, cameos on each of her bracelets, a cameo on her tiara. The antique stones are more fashionable than ever, but in default of them one may employ engraved
With the rise of the reticule, fans became smaller at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and those displaying images of the sights of the Grand Tour were particularly popular. English taste remained modest, with church fans printed with psalms, educational fans with maps or botanical diagrams, and art fans depicting famous works, although pierced ivory brisé fans remained most popular. Cockade fans that opened up into a full circle became popular from 1808, some including a spy glass in the centre, with crape fans embroidered with silver and spangles leading the fashion in 1817.
‘Watering Place Morning Dress’ ( The Gallery of Fashion , October 1795). Pea green gloves, green silk handkerchief tied over the hat, green sash and shoes show that accessories could be used to quite striking effect to pull an outfit together.
Early nineteenthcentury fans. Carved brisé fans were hugely popular, as were paper or silk fans with neoclassical motifs.
Jane refers to her white fan in her letters but ivory fans remained the most usual, possibly because they were also used as dance fans to make a note of the names of dance partners. This is most likely what William is doing ‘working away his partner’s fan as if for life’ at the ball in Mansfield Park . Little jewellery was worn with the style à l’anglaise but watches began to be worn suspended from the waistline, men adding a fob on the opposite side to create symmetry. The French Revolution caused many ladies to get rid of their jewels in a desperate attempt to avoid la guillotine , their diamonds replaced with neoclassical pearls, amethysts and cameos. These they wore literally from head to foot – from their classically inspired tiaras, golden girdles, and slave bangles to the rings on their toes.
‘Carriage Dress’ ( Ackermann’s Repository , January 1810). The erminetrimmed cape and matching cap would be snug for travelling and the watch pinned at her elevated waistline would help her keep track of the time!
Madame de Pompadour had carved her own cameos, but for those less talented and less wealthy Josiah Wedgewood created a method for making porcelain cameos. The passion for cameos inspired a flood of neoclassical jewellery that drew inspiration from all parts of the ancient world as dictated by the latest discoveries at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and after the Nile campaign, Egypt.
The topaz crosses given to Jane and Cassandra by their brother Charles.
In 1800 the Morning Post declared amethyst and topaz to be ‘preferable to all others’ for necklaces and earrings. It was perfect then, that in May 1801 Jane wrote to tell Cassandra that their brother Charles ‘has been buying gold chains and topaze crosses for us; - he must be well scolded’. She must have been pleased because she commemorated the occasion by having Fanny Price receive a topaz cross from her brother William in similar circumstances. Unlike Charles, William did not supply a chain (at first Fanny wore the cross on a ribbon) but Mary Crawford gives her a gold chain ‘prettily worked’. These gold chains made a less costly alternative to strings of pearls, which were fashionably draped between cameos at the girdle and bust-line.
Queen Louise Augusta of Prussia (Vigée Le Brun, 1802). In 1805 the Journal des Dames wrote: ‘a fashionable lady wears cameos at her girdle, cameos in her necklace, cameos on each of her bracelets, a cameo on her tiara. The antique stones are more fashionable than ever, but in default of them one may employ engraved
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