Recently I commented on a morning gown whose influences were largely from British history. In this April 1812 Ackermann fashion plate, the pink ball gown is indicative of the impact of trade and foreign travel in eastern lands and the advances of the Industrial Revolution on fashion. A young lady attending the ball would have (in her mind) come as a strong exotic eastern woman, resplendent in her turban, peasant bodice, and other rich oriental details.
Click on this fashion plate to enlarge it.
Ball Dress: a round Circassian robe of pink carpe , or gossamer net, over a white satin slip, fringed full at the feet; a peasant’s bodice of pink satin or velvet, laced in front with silver, and decorated with the same ornament. Spanish slash sleeve, embellished with white crape foldings, and finished at its terminations with bands of silver. A Spartan or Calypso helmet cap of pink frosted crape, with silver bandeaus, and embellished with tassels, and rosets to correspond. A rich neck-chain and ear-rings of Oriental gold. Fan of carved ivory. Slippers of pink kid, with correspondent clasps; and gloves of white kid: an occasional square veil of Mechlin lace.”
Detail of the Spartan or Calypso helmet cap, mechlin lace, fan, peasant bodice, and Limerick gloves.
Eastern Turkish influence includes those of Circassian women, whose reputation dates back to the Ottoman Empire and the Sultan’s harem. Circassians became a common symbol of orientalism during the Romantic era. In Europe and America
Circassians were regularly characterised as the ideal of feminine beauty in poetry, novels, and art. Cosmetic products were advertised, from the 18th century on, using the word “Circassian” in the title, or claiming that the product was based on substances used by the women of Circassia.- Wikipedia
The gossamer net represented the advances made in machine made lace during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. (Click here to read my article about net lace.)
Early 19th century dress made with embroidered black net.
The white crape foldings in the Spanish slash sleeves remind me of the puffs in the hem of this early 19th century gown.
Limerick gloves were “a celebrated style of glove that became popular throughout England and Ireland during the late 18th, early 19th century. Commonly referred to as ‘chicken-skins’, the gloves were renowned for their exquisite texture. They were made from a thin strong leather derived from the skin of unborn calves and sold encased in a walnut shell.”
Limerick glove. Image @The Museum of Leathercraft.
Circassian women were regarded as strong, beautiful, and exotic, which is how the woman wearing the ball dress depicted in the Ackermann fashion plate must have felt.
Circassian woman. Image @Clipart, etc.
The circassian robe, or an outer garment used in ceremonial occasions, is not as evident in the fashion plate as in the dress below, where it flows over the gown’s train.
Eliza Farren in 'A Scene in the Fair Circassian' with Robert Bensley by James Sayers. Etching ca. 1781 from the National Portrait Gallery NPG D9544
Rich lace, tassels, and an ivory fan completed our fashionable lady’s the ensemble.
Decorative imported ivory fan. Image @Independence Seaport Museum.
Detail of the hem.
More about the ball gown’s fashion influences:
- Click here to read Maria Edgeworth’s short story of Limerick Gloves
- Costume plate of Circassian women
- Decorative Ivory Fan
- A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Lace in the South Kensington Museum, Mrs. Bury Palliser, 1881,
Jane Austen's World 
These are fabulous. I have written two papers on Orientalism and find this a very interesting subject. Thank you so much. I am going to use these fashion plates as examples later for a couple of dresses.
Oh, I really love that ball fringe on the hem. Something I find interesting too is that you can see the entire outline of the woman’s body (including her gently rounded stomach) in the plate. So different from the stiff, hidden-by-corsets outlines of the eras both before and after the Empire.
Beautiful! I love when you showcase the gowns and fashion.
Beautiful and fascinating. Beats the schlocky polyester junk sold in our department stores as clothing any day of the week. And the fashion plate depicts a real female, with meat on her bones. I definitely prefer this to the body-mass challenged sticks the current “fashion” industry promotes.
Wonderfully informative, as always! Brilliant post.
Thank You.
Rose
I’m questioning the fabric ‘crape.’ I’ve seen it spelled as such many times on this blog, and others describing period cloth. Is this the same as the modern ‘crepe?’
The spelling of “crape” comes directly from the Ackermann’s Repository description of the dress and published in 1812. Wikipedia states: “Crape or crepe (Anglicized versions of the Fr. crêpe).”
I would point out that the tassels are a really, really important part of the exoticism of the dress – especially as all of the other aspects of the original circassienne/circassian type gown seem to have been lost. (I wrote about the original circassienne at one point.)
Love those sleeves!
Cassidy, Thank you for the link to your fashion post – fabulous costumes! – and for your explanation of the tassels in that post, which I could not find and therefore omitted. Perfect.
Did Madame de Stael originate the craze for wearing turbans?
I think both turbans and crinolines are an African influence.
As always, another lovely article. Why can’t our dresses be so pretty with tassels?
Fabulous article. I love anything to do with clothing and accessories. The visuals are great, not to mention the links. Thanks! ~Jen Red~
Loved this post! I would not have had any idea that the dress had so many connotations as you discussed. Thank you for this!
I adore the fashion of this time period. These gowns are so elegant.
Hallo.
In case you’re interested: this is an article on authentic Circassian dress:
http://www.circassianworld.com/new/culture/folklore/1379-circassian-costumes-jaimoukha.html
-Zeina, a Circassian ;)