A CHARMING BACK VIEW, 1820.
When we approach the "twenties" we are fain to perceive more gravity in the fashions of the day. Indeed, nothing could well be more grave—we might even say more awkward—than the back view of the (doubtless) charming lady of the above illustration. It certainly does not suggest the lightness and lissom grace of the earlier designs. What a great change the fashions have undergone since 1809 may be seen by the plate for 1829.
A VIEW IN HYDE PARK, 1829.
CHILDREN À LA MODE, 1829.
Here we doubtless confront just such a pair of fashionable ladies as are described in the pages of Dickens, Bulwer, and Disraeli, with their Liliputian ruffs—which fortunately did not become a permanent fashion—their leg-of-mutton sleeves, and quintuple rows of lace "insertion." We are fain to speculate upon the countenance of one of these pre-Victorian young ladies, for it is wholly obscured by a magnificently-plumed "blush-concealer," as the coal-scuttle bonnets were facetiously called.
In order that our fair readers may have a peep at the dress of the juvenile portion of the community in that same year, we give a spirited drawing from a French fashion journal. The costume may perhaps hardly commend itself to the children of 1904, but it doubtless appeared quite appropriate to the mammas of the time, as well as to the artist. As to the artists of these fashion-plates, it must be remembered that they were usually struggling young painters and draughtsmen, who were glad to get work of this kind, and many of them afterwards became famous. Both Doré and Meisonier drew fashions for the magazines and Cabinets des Modes of their day. Moreover, our own Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz") was responsible for many such, the accompanying plate for 1837 being attributed to him; while there is no doubt of John Leech's authorship of the fashion-plate for 1851, which we also reproduce.
