Fashion Plates/stays
Posted by Kathy Hammel on March 01, 1998 at 13:48:45:
In response to thank you., written by P. Bingham on March 01, 1998 at 12:23:38
] Were not fashion plates essentially advertisements though?
Fashion Plates may or may not have been advertisments... in some of the magazines they may well have been... Ackermann's The repository of Arts, Literature, etc (1809-1829) typically gave the name of the dressmaker who'd provided the design...so in that sense, it could be construed as advertising. And many of the French fashion plates do show the name of the stores that sell the hats or gowns, etc. appearing in the plates... so again, that could be construed as advertising...
But you also have to take all the plates in a run together when making decisions... if a style wasnt' working, it seems likely you won't see it repeated in future plates... for styles that do catch on, you'll see them over and over again with just minor details altered to make it a 'new' style... so that's what I base my observations on... and observations are all I'm making here.
] I sincerely don't mean to be irritating.
You are not in the least irritating... I'm with you... I want the definitive answer... but someone else's definitive answer might not be yours, so I encourage you to keep asking questions and to keep doing your own research as well. We're all in the same boat... we question research, make theories, research some more, ask new questions and on and on...
On the subject of stays... I'm still looking for my own definitive answer, but the shape of many of the models in the fashion plates lead me to believe that stays were not out of fashion for long... But, my judgement is based mainly on just looking at hundreds of fashion plates for this era...and on the ocassional reference book... some of which I don't agree with.
] Thank you for for the book recommendation.
You can order the Regency Etiquette Book from RL Shep Publications PO Box 2706 Ft. Bragg, CA 95437. It's 17.95, plus tax if you're in California (7.75%) and then theres a few dollars shipping as well, I think.
] ,,, needed more information in order to be convinced
I need more information to be convinced too. Corsets are underwear (unmentionables after all!), and there are only a few rare fashion plates that show the things...though there are some adverts in La Belle Assemblee that tell where to buy them, but no good illustrations. There aren't any illustrations in the Regency etiquette book of corsets either (4 nice fashion plate reproductions in grey scale), but a couple of sections talk about the different types of corsets in vogue in 1811... (and the authors obvious distain of the things). One further thought: humans are vain creatures... how many of us have perfect figures? Just from that alone, I am quite sure corsets were used *always* by at least some --and probably many-- women (and a few men as well!)
Kathy
- thanks again... Patricia Bingham 16:04:41 3/01/98
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