For the seaside there are also worn many mantelets, which remind us of the winter by their shape; but the materials are somewhat lighter, chiefly of thin summer cloth, or felt of gray shades.
The Promenade Dress, on the preceding page, is of a rich plain chocolate-colored silk, made perfectly simple. Pardessus of a damson-colored brocaded silk, the lower part of which, as well as the large sleeves, being decorated with a magnificent double fringe, the under and deepest being of black, and the upper composed of long silk tassels, put at equal distances. Leghorn bonnet, trimmed with pink silk, cut the width of a broad ribbon, and pinked at the edge; the interior having a fulling of the pink silk encircling the face, with brides to match.
Coarse straw chapeaux, though principally intended for the country, are employed, though not much, for morning neglige, in town, and will be very much in request for the watering-places; they are of the capote form, in open-work, and lined with taffeta, of one of the colors of the ribbon that trims them. The ribbon is always plaided, and the most fashionable has a great variety of colors; the knots are large, and formed of several coques, divided in the middle by a torsade of ribbons; some are decorated with ribbons only, but small flowers and foliage may be employed to trim the interior of the brim. Fancy chapeaux are composed of bands of paille dentelle, alternating with rose-colored taffeta biais, &c. Rice straw is also employed a good deal for fancy chapeaux that are formed of more than one material.
The following figures are copied from Parisian fashion plates for 1811. The shortness of the frocks should certainly satisfy the most extreme innovators of the present time.
LADIES' FASHIONS IN PARIS FORTY YEARS AGO.