Fashions for May
1849 Illustrated London News
No. 1. A Grecian hair coiffurre. A Camelion* silk dress, laced down the front with silk gimp cord, chemisette and sleeves of muslin, with embroidered bands.
No. 2. A drawn silk capote. A cachemire cloak trimmed with black lace. *[Camelion* silk is silk shot with three colours.]
See commentary below.
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Description of the Figures
Left: A poult de soie capote, trimmed with ruches of the tame, and ornamented with China astres. Right of ditto. A lace cap. Left of ditto. A cap composed of a lace scarf.
The three days of Longchamps, owing to the propitious weather, were more than usually brilliant; the élégantes were attired in all the novelties of the season. Although long files of equipages were seen in the avenue of the Champs Elysée and the Bois de Boulogne, they did not contain all the fashion of Paris; Herz having collected at his Matinée Musical (morning concert), a portion of the title of the grande monde, whose toilettes were as remarkable for elegance and novelty as those seen in the grren alleys of the Tuileries.
Promenade Dresses are frequently made of camelion tafeta (a silk shot with three colours). The corsages are rather high and tight, the sleeves plain, and open under the arm à la Grecque — that is, it descends down the outride the arm, over an under aleeve of tarlatane bouillonné (puffed) which is continued to the wrist.
Scarfs with facings or lappels hare in some degree superseded mantelets; they are disposed in a variety of ways; nothing can be more elegant than a acarf of camelion silk with a border to correspond of a ruche of chicorée (silk cut in notches). Lace i2 frequently substituted for the ruche; it is sometimes laid on flat and some times placed on full.
Some elegant Caps are made of tulle bouillonné(puffed); others are composed of half scarf, forming a lappet on one side, others again are composed of a small scarf placed à la Fauchon—that is, across the top of the head, and tied under the chin.
Silk Hats are mostly ornamented with tulle or lace.
Some charming Drawn Capotes are composed of tafeta covered with gauze, which is fastened down to each division of the drawing; they are ornamented with ribbons and flowers.
References
“Fashions for May.” Illustrated London News (27 April 1844): 205. Hathi Trust version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 3 December 2015. The text above was created from the web version with ABBYY FineReader.
Last modified 3 December 2015