Carriage and Dinner Dresses – Winter 1831

Romantic Era Carriage Dress and Dinner Dress from La Belle Assemblée 1831

This authentic 1831 hand-colored fashion engraving, published in London by Whittaker & Co. for the premium women’s periodical La Belle Assemblée, showcases the dramatic volume shifts of early 19th-century British attire. On the left, the standing figure models an elegant teal blue silk carriage dress or overcoat featuring exaggerated padded shoulders and immense balloon sleeves, partially revealing a white linen underskirt embellished with tone-on-tone embroidery. Her ensemble is crowned by an architectural wide-brimmed straw bonnet adorned with large structural silk bows and flowing lace ties.

Antique British Fashion Lithograph with Romantic Period Accessories

The seated companion on the right displays a luxurious mauve or dusty rose satin dinner dress with a wide pleated neckline, accessorized with a plush white fur boa or stola draped around her shoulders. Her hair is intricately coiffed into high, tightly pinned curls featuring a delicate jewel resting on her forehead, an accessory known historically as a ferronnière. A secondary green bonnet decorated with golden wheat ears rests on a nearby velvet stool, completing this rare archival print that provides a vital reference for late Georgian textiles and historical millinery design.