Morning Dress for April 1801

From The Lady’s Monthly Museum. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She looked at the faces which stared back at her in disbelief. “I am not fit for bedlam, if that is what you are thinking. I know it is a sudden turnabout, but a turnabout it is. I have made my choice and am moving forward. How is it you said it, Richard? The past is in the past? And that is where it shall stay.”

“And you are certain of this, Catherine?” questioned Lady Matlock. “You are not just taking the role expected of you for the sake of the family?”

“Good heavens, no!” Lady Catherine shook her head. “I have spent far too many years doing as the family expects. Is not a lady in her dotage allowed to do the unexpected? In three weeks, I shall hand over the care of Rosings to the younger set and shall begin to take my ease.”

[from Listen to Your Heart]

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Leenie Brown

Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).

8 thoughts on “Morning Dress for April 1801”

  2. I like that outfit on the right, with the military influence which was very popular then and still shows up in clothing for women today. I’ve always been attracted to that, though I couldn’t carry that off with my figure or now at my age. :/

    You know, even though I own the book the mini excerpt above is from I don’t think I’ve read it. What’s with that?? All I can figure out is that things were rather hectic at the time I purchased it. Well, I need to remedy that!

    Hope you’ve been having a good week, Leenie. I don’t know about where you live but the weather here has been very up and down lately. I guess that’s typical for most season changes. Stay healthy.

    1. Our weather has been mostly wet – rain, freezing rain, ice pellets – with a bit of sunshine peeking through now and then. 🙂 But it is April in Nova Scotia so we have to expect “some” rain. LOL At least it isn’t snow.

      I like the dress on the right best, too, but I might prefer the hat on the left. (Not that I’m a fan of hats 🙂 except when on other people)

      1. Yes, April showers…and widely varying temperatures and thankfully no snow.

        I agree with you on the hat. Except for the bonnets I see in most period movies I’m not really fond of any hats in that period. But in those cases I think they’re taking the best of the best and choosing styles that appeal to a modern ideal of that time period. Sure, historically accurate but maybe leaving the really fussy ones on the design floor. Just my thought. Confession: I didn’t even look at the hats and now am noticing how a lot of the details are barely sketched in. Including that military influence I mentioned before. And looking at it this time I am thinking how stunning that would look in the light blue of the picture with gold trim or white!

  3. Lovely dress. Actually, my wedding dress had an empire waist. LOL! I had no idea it would have been Regency approved. Thanks for always showing such cool pictures.

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