The broader Regency period 1795 to 1820, stands alone as an incredible moment in fashion history, unlike anything that went before it. For the first time England became a fashion influence, especially for menswear, and became the toast of Paris, as court dress became secondary to the season-by-season flux of fashion as we know it today. Sarah Jane Downing explores the fashion revolution and the innovation that inspired a flood of fashions taking influence from far afield. It was an era of contradiction immortalised by Jane Austen, who adeptly used the new-found diversity of fashion to enliven her characters: Wickham's military splendour; Mr Darcy's understated elegance; and Miss Tilney's romantic fixation with white muslin.

This beautifully illustrated book explores the rich complexity of Regency clothing through the lens of the collected writings of Jane Austen.

Jane Austen loved clothes, and followed fashion with enthusiasm. She was also an expert needlewoman. Her novels use the clothes people wore and their attitudes to dress to convey their characters. Her lively letters, extensively quoted, are full of shopping trips and visits to dressmakers. Penelope Byrde, an expert in the costume of the time, explains all, from corsets to topcoats: how clothes were made and bought, what they cost, and what was worn when and by whom.

"A tribute to a time when style -- and maybe even life -- felt more straightforward, and however arbitrary, there were definitive answers." -- Sadie Stein, Paris Review As a glance down any street in America quickly reveals, American women have forgotten how to dress. We lack the fashion know-how we need to dress professionally and beautifully. In The Lost Art of Dress, historian and dressmaker Linda Przybyszewski reveals that this wasn't always true. In the first half of the twentieth century, a remarkable group of women -- the so-called Dress Doctors -- taught American women that knowledge, not money, was key to a beautiful wardrobe. They empowered women to design, make, and choose clothing for both the workplace and the home. Armed with the Dress Doctors' simple design principles -- harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis -- modern American women from all classes learned to dress for all occasions in ways that made them confident, engaged members of society. A captivating and beautifully illustrated look at the world of the Dress Doctors, The Lost Art of Dress introduces a new audience to their timeless rules of fashion and beauty -- rules which, with a little help, we can certainly learn again.

'Regency Fashion: taking a turn through time' is perfect for anyone with a Regency fashion obsession! You can take yourself on a trip back in time and surround yourself with Regency clothes and accessories. Every piece in the Sylvestra Regency Fashion Collection 1795-1830 is photographed from a number of angles, along with detailed close-ups, and a fashion print to accompany it. There is a detailed description of each piece, as well as key measurements. You will really get to know each piece all-around and inside-out!Full colour 21 x 26cm/ 8'' x 10'' softcover book printed on matte paper.Three volumes are available separately to give you choice.Volume 1: Gowns - 27 gowns, including an open robe, round gown, day gowns, evening gowns, undergowns, mourning gown, skirt and walking gown.Volume 2: Ladies' outerwear, gentlemen's and children's clothing - 26 pieces, including spencers, pelisse, ladies' riding habit, pelerine, breeches, waistcoats, shirt, jacket, gentlemen's shoes, children's gowns, trousers and boots.Volume 3: Ladies' accessories - 30 pieces including shoes, boots, bonnets, gloves, shawls, reticules, ruff, handkerchief, chemisette and stays.Also available is 'Regency Fashion Pocketbook' if you are looking for a quick trip into the world of Regency fashion. One photo per piece in the collection with a brief description. Full colour 13 x 20cm/ 8'' x 5 '' softcover book on matte paper.Available worldwide eg blurb.co.uk, au.blurb.com, blurb.de, blurb.fr, blurb.com

The distinctive style of the Regency period is a source of endless fascination for fashion academics and historians, living historians, re-enactors and costume designers for stage and screen. Author and fashion historian Cassidy Percoco has delved into little-known museum hoards to create a stunning collection of 26 garments, many with clear provenance tied to a specific location, which have never before been published and never – or very rarely – displayed. Most of the garments have an aspect in their construction that has not been previously documented, from a style of skirt trim to the method of gown closure. This practical guide begins with a general history of the early 19th-century women's dress. This is followed by 26 patterns of gowns, spencers, chemises, and corsets, each with an illustration of the finished piece and description of its construction. This must-have guide is an essential reference for anyone interested in the fashions or the history of the period, or for anyone wishing to recreate their own beautiful Regency clothing.

What gown would you have worn to be the belle of the ball in April 1811? Choose any month in any year between 1809 and 1820 and find the most fashionable attire in England. Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen is a comprehensive pictorial guide of ladies' fashions collected from one of the most influential periodicals of Austen's lifetime - Ackermann's Repository of Arts. Ackermann's Repository was published in London over two hundred years ago and it provided ladies with monthly etchings of exquisite hand-painted plates featuring the latest fashions. Discover splendid illustrations of morning, evening, riding, and walking dresses with their coordinated accessories: hats, shoes, scarves, jewelry, parasols and more. The book contains more than 275 exquisite illustrations which are accompanied by the original descriptions, as published more than two hundred years ago. Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen covers twelve years of fashion in the Georgian and Regency periods (1809-1820). Costume designers, researchers, authors, and fashion lovers will all treasure these authentic examples of fashionable dress in the era of Jane Austen. * This book is best viewed in the paperback version and includes a full color illustration on nearly every page. The physical book price is set by CreateSpace, a company of Amazon.com approx. pages: 325 word count: 52,217