Regency Fashion History 1800-1825 | Beautiful Pictures Empire Line Dresses

Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I on the 2nd of December 1804 and was keen to make France a leader of fashion and an innovator of design and craft skills. 

During the French Revolution, the French textile industry suffered and unlike in England, the use of textile machinery was nonexistent. 

Emperor Napoleon stopped the import of English textiles and he revived the Valenciennes lace industry so that fine fabrics like tulle and batiste could be made there.

Bonaparte was following a long tradition of promoting the French economy through fashion. Empress Josephine was a great fashion leader. She was an ideal model for the slender fashions of the day.  Many of her Regency fashion dresses were designed by Leroy.

Bonaparte did not ignore men's rôle in the revival of the textile economy and he forced male military officials to wear white satin breeches on formal occasions.

The costume history plate of 1800 shown above, is a good example of how the fullness of the muslin shift dress was first drawn together under the bustline with a girdle. The volume in the skirt is still great and bears a relationship with fuller skirts of the 1790s shown above.

Named after The First Empire, by 1800 the gown silhouette had a very décolleté low square neckline as seen above, a short narrow backed bodice attached to a separate skirt.

Regency dress in the period 1800-1820 was based on classical principles of flowing Grecian robes. For modesty until 1810 a tucker or simple chemisette (a side opening half blouse) filled the bare neckline by day.

The soft muslin dresses of 1800 clung to the body highlighting the natural body outline so stays were unpopular unless the figure demanded them.

The pantaloons were made of light stockinet in a flesh-toned nude color and reached all the way to the ankles or to just below the knee.  This is why Empire women often appear to be wearing no underwear when seen in paintings of the era.

The flesh-tone pantaloons acted in just the same way under clothes as they do today when a woman wears a flesh-toned bra and briefs under white or pastel trousers and top.

Later it became fashionable to wear a white or pastel slippery silk satin slip over the stays making the dress silhouette quite smooth. To support extra skirt fullness a small bustle pad lifted the dress back.

The fabric for Empire Line dresses was usually fine white lawn, muslin, or batiste.

Although muslins were less costly than silks, good white work embroidered lawn fabrics still cost money.  Muslin also laundered better than silks, but the white muslins still needed a great deal of attention to keep them looking pristine and clean.

Regular wearing of white gowns was a sign of social status as white soiled so easily. White gowns generally were kept for the evening and in the day pastel or colored robes were thought more suitable.

The classical decoration was inspired by images of Grecian ladies from original Greek art.

To help you date costumes in prints, paintings, and productions it is useful to understand that the classical line was debased by other types of decoration depending on fashion influences. For example, Napoleon's expeditions to the East and items brought back by him and other soldiers created interest in Egyptian ornamentation.

One of the problems of such simple classical silhouettes was their very simplicity. This soon led to boredom and decorative innovation as the restraint of staying pure in plain classical robes was too much for some.

Between 1804 and 1807 the classical robes developed an eastern exotic feel with Etruscan and Egyptian decoration with woven or embroidered borders on fabric lengths and on stoles. The eastern patterns first appeared from gifts Napoleon gave to his Empress Josephine after his visits to Egypt.

After 1808 Spanish ornament featured on robes and appeared as slashed areas and tiered sleeves. When sleeves covered the hand they were called à la mamelouk.  Image examples here illustrate this extra long sleeve length.

The Napoleonic Wars meant that a soldier's uniform had high visibility and military-style details featured on clothing for both sexes.

Frogging, braids, cords, velvet, and other trims lent a topical jaunty dashing air to many a garment, especially outdoor wear.

Peasant influence from European dress was particularly applied to the name of coats, cloaks, and mantles such as the Witzchoura redingote an empire cloak of Russian origin.

The most usual coat in the Regency era was the Pelisse coat.

The Pelisse can be a confusing term because there were several forms over a 50-year period. The first form of pelisse worn from 1800 to 1810 was an empire line coat-like garment to the hip or knee.

After 1810 it was worn full length and was a warmer longer-sleeved coat than the Spencer, but often made of the same materials.

It was usually fur trimmed, straight in cut, belted at a high waist like the gown and sported a broad cape-like collar an influence of military styles. The colors for the pelisses were golden brown, dark green, and blue. The Pelisse was normally worn over pale gowns which were visible as it was worn open at the front.

From 1818 onwards women wore a coat dress variation called a pelisse-robe. It could be suitable for indoors or outdoors and was essentially a sturdy front fastening carriage, walking, or day dress. 

You are reading and original Regency Dress Era 1800-1825 Fashion History article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com Copyright 2021 ©

By 1811 in Britain, the influence of the Middle Ages, termed Gothic crept into dress styles debasing the pure classical lines. The bodice gained more shaping and could be paneled. It was not cut as tight and narrow as in the first decade of the century, so it made the shoulder line broader and the dress more comfortable to wear.

The flowing medieval touches soon broadened to include Tudor and Elizabethan times with ruffed and Vandyke triangular pointed decoration and cross-over bodices. In England, copious trimmings on skirts were all the rage from flounces and padded rolls to pleated, fanned, and tucked trims.

When visitors from Britain returned to France after the 1814 peace treaty they were amazed that fashions were so different.  In Paris, waists were worn very much higher than in those of Regency England and skirt hems were wider, more A-line, padded, and decorated.

British fashion soon followed the French lead after the French ridiculed the English dresses in cartoons making them appear very ugly with bulbous tulip round-waisted skirts and solid corsetry.

The Spencer was a short top coat without tails worn by men during the 1790s as an extra covering over the tailed coat. It had long sleeves and was frequently decorated with military frogging. Its originator is thought to be Earl Spencer who singed the tails of his coat when standing beside a fire. He then had the tails trimmed off and started a fashion.

A female version was soon adopted by gentlewomen who at the time were wearing the thin light muslin dresses of the 1790s.

The Spencer was worn both indoors and outdoors and for eveningwear and was made of silk or a wool material known as kerseymere.

When it was worn as an indoor evening Spencer it was called a canezou.

Spencers stayed in fashion for about 20 years whilst the waistline remained high.

As the fashion for military touches persisted, many Pelisses and Spencers were covered in decorative braids, tassels, frogging, and cords, as a result, their wearers looked like members of the Hussars.

In time, a short jacket similar to a decorated Spencer was called a Hussar jacket.

You are reading and original Regency Dress Era 1800-1825 Fashion History article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com Copyright 2022©

The Redingote was worn from 1818 onwards initially indoors in cold weather, worn open  whilst revealing the dress beneath. Its name derives from the 18^th century version of a riding coat. It was used in place of a loose cloak and as it developed a series of shoulder capes it became very suitable for travel. As dresses widened so the Redingote widened.

Redingotes were usually trimmed with fur and mostly made of heavy dark cloth. 

See a timeline of the redingote.