I was searching through sites yesterday; just wasting time--basically, looking for pictures of original Regency or Empire dresses. It was surprising how MANY "apparelly conservative" websites have fallen in love with the "Jane Austen" style. By "apparelly conservative," I mean that the sect in and of themselves have made rules and regulations for modesty in dress. To some, this could mean dresses only. To others, it means covering up the collar bone and the elbows.
For example, here are a few websites that you MUST look at!
http://www.biblicalgarden.com/
http://bakerlane.com/
However, I find this quite ironic. Do they know that Kent University of Ohio, calls this period "the age of nudity?" Do they realize how scantily clad those women were and the motive BEHIND the dress? In fact, "apparel conservative" individuals during the early 1800's actually wore the older styles of the mid to late eighteenth century.
If one only looks at the Regency time period, with regard to fashion, in context of the surrounding eras of dress, the lack of clothing is definitely apparent. During the eighteenth century, the clothing was mostly dark and heavy, such as linen, wool, silk, or a combination of the three. A woman typically wore about three to four layers and the female figure was disguised with hoops, petticoats, and corsets.
However, in the early nineteenth century, the height of fashion was to be as "naturally nude" as possible, while still being dressed. The waistlines went high, the necklines went low and hoops were done away with (except at court), in order to allow as much of the body to be viewed (when walking or standing) as possible. It became the vogue to wear white and sheers, even in deep morning (as long as one wore black trim), and in France, some even dropped petticoats altogether, or wore flesh colored undergarments. It even became a fashion (in France), to "drench" oneself BEFORE a ball, so that nothing was left for anyone to imagine!
http://locutus.ucr.edu/~cathy/jd2.html (scroll down to "Ball Dress 1801")
This "nudist" fashion only lasted for about twenty years, and by the 1830's dark fabrics, waistlines, and necklines once again returned to darker and more covering. Petticoats by the dozens, hoops and corsets also came back into fashion, hiding the female figure and to leave much to mystery.
So what of this phenomena? "Apparelly conservative" individuals cladding themselves in "nudist apparel?" Well, one must conclude, that "what goes around, comes around," RIGHT?
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