1814 Vernet Project: Peculiar English Bonnets
I think I've omitted to mention it, but I'm participating in the Vernet Project this year. One wild outfit from 1814, as true to the fashion plate as possible, with period materials and techniques ditto. Whee!
One of the things I've learned about so far is bonnet shapes. Typically, Regency outdoor bonnets/headwear falls into three categories:
1. Poke bonnets. This is the typical square crowned, flared brim shape, and tends to date from the 1810s.
2. "Jockey" bonnets - this is my name for them. These are earlier Regency bonnets, having a small, round crown close to the head, with straight brims that can be short, angled, or very long.
3. Toques. These tend to be brimless or nearly so, with all the emphasis on the crown.
There are plenty of variations of these three shapes over the decades of the period, but also plenty of fringe styles and examples that don't fit in neatly. One of them is a bonnet that has an unusual heart-shaped or even square-shaped type of brim. The brim itself can be long, short, wide, narrow - what have you; but the brim front shows this consistent shape. I searched my Flickr fashion plate albums and found a small but significant number of examples.
The earliest one I found is a square/heart-shaped blend, from 1809. (It reminds me somewhat of an Elizabethan coif!)
The majority are from 1813-1818. This 1813 example has no dip in the middle; the 1815 blue one is longer and wider.
Both of these show the center dip; the first is small, from 1817. The second, from 1818, is larger, similar to other bonnet styles from that year. Interestingly, all bonnets I've found with this brim shape are in English fashion plates, not French or German.
And this research culminated in: My own bonnet!!!
Created by the amazing Anna Worden Bauersmith, who does wonderful and well-researched millinery. I threw this challenge at her and she just went for it! I highly recommend her. She doesn't just make a set number of styles; she'll experiment and try new things. :)
It's adorable! I can't wait to trim it and wear it.
Yay for crazy historical fashions!
One of the things I've learned about so far is bonnet shapes. Typically, Regency outdoor bonnets/headwear falls into three categories:
1. Poke bonnets. This is the typical square crowned, flared brim shape, and tends to date from the 1810s.
2. "Jockey" bonnets - this is my name for them. These are earlier Regency bonnets, having a small, round crown close to the head, with straight brims that can be short, angled, or very long.
3. Toques. These tend to be brimless or nearly so, with all the emphasis on the crown.
There are plenty of variations of these three shapes over the decades of the period, but also plenty of fringe styles and examples that don't fit in neatly. One of them is a bonnet that has an unusual heart-shaped or even square-shaped type of brim. The brim itself can be long, short, wide, narrow - what have you; but the brim front shows this consistent shape. I searched my Flickr fashion plate albums and found a small but significant number of examples.
The earliest one I found is a square/heart-shaped blend, from 1809. (It reminds me somewhat of an Elizabethan coif!)
The majority are from 1813-1818. This 1813 example has no dip in the middle; the 1815 blue one is longer and wider.
Both of these show the center dip; the first is small, from 1817. The second, from 1818, is larger, similar to other bonnet styles from that year. Interestingly, all bonnets I've found with this brim shape are in English fashion plates, not French or German.
And this research culminated in: My own bonnet!!!
Created by the amazing Anna Worden Bauersmith, who does wonderful and well-researched millinery. I threw this challenge at her and she just went for it! I highly recommend her. She doesn't just make a set number of styles; she'll experiment and try new things. :)
It's adorable! I can't wait to trim it and wear it.
Yay for crazy historical fashions!