Dancing Dress – 1809

Regency Era Dancing Dress from Ackermann’s Repository of Arts 1809

This authentic 1809 hand-colored fashion plate, published in London for Rudolph Ackermann’s famous periodical The Repository of Arts, provides an exceptional representation of early Regency ballgown design and eveningwear. The single-figure illustration captures a lady frozen in a graceful, fluid dance movement with her arms raised elegantly overhead. She models a classical empire-line dancing dress crafted from a diaphanous white gauze overlaying a fine silk slip gown, showcasing a distinct front-slit overskirt that allowed for unhindered fluid movements during traditional period waltzes and quadrilles.

Antique Georgian Ball Gown and Neoclassical Gold Ornamentation

The historical garment is beautifully accentuated with metallic gold cord trimming along the low square neckline, short puffed sleeves, and the lower hem boundaries. A matching golden cord tightly circles her high waist, tied in a neat front knot with elongated tassels extending past her knees. The lady’s look is completed with white opera gloves bordered in gold, flat leather slippers, and a majestic golden tiara or diadem crown nestled within her tight dark ringlet coiffure. Preserving the original lower copperplate inscription for Dancing Dress, this rare archival lithograph serves as a premier visual anchor for early 19th-century ballroom textile history.