Boat Necklines

The straight sheath dress, harking back to the 1950s, is a hot autumn evening party dress choice. Necklines are primarily boat shaped, but sometimes can be square cut with wide or narrow straps or strapless bandeaus. These three evening party dresses have more tulip volume from the waistline and taper to a narrow hemline.

The plainer silhouette is used to show lush fabrics including satins, lace overlays, flocked fabrics and brocades to advantage. These evening party dresses and shown in the thumbnails above, are from left to right, the Christmas ranges of House of Fraser, Wallis, and Marks and Spencer. Images of these ladies party dresses are courtesy of the respective companies are available later in autumn.


http://www.fashion-era.com/trends_2007a/2007_fall_fashion_trends_ladies_party_dress_2006.htm#Dress_Selection

The Party Dress Necklines/ Silhouettes for Fall 2006

The black and white dress left and the deep purple dress above are both created by the much loved high street retailer Monsoon. Each is the perfect red-carpet short party dress for a woman who can carry off the pretty baby doll elements of the empire line designs.

Each ladies party dress is romantic, feminine, striking, yet tasteful.

Each is the sort of dress that should it suit your figure type and personality. This party dress will carry you through several seasons, because full skirts can only get fuller as we take on 'volume' fashion looks.

V necks are popular and are taking on more of a wide-set V shape rather than being the pure narrow plunge necklines of other years. Plunge necklines are still around, yet because of the more refined elements of the rest of a dress, seem to have left that old fashioned raunchy look behind.

Note how skirts in all four styles have become fuller and each skim the knee line. Soft chiffons and luxury silks are ultra feminine and ladylike. These two evening party dresses below are from high street retailers Laura Ashley and French Connection.

The Laura Ashley's pale silver grey dress is subtly understated, yet very glamorous with its cinched in waist.

The yellow lemon party dress from French Connection is Grecian in line and has that same soft feminine charge. The French Connection evening party dress also comes in dark charcoal grey shown in the centre, giving an almost classic little black dress version.

Lots of women hate showing their arms, especially if they have poor tone. A sleeveless dress can often be matched in the store with a cover up garment such as a shrug or other bolero jacket. Make friends with the assistant and ask what variety of cover-up items they have that match the dress you have selected.


http://www.fashion-era.com/trends_2007a/2007_fall_fashion_trends_ladies_party_dress_2006.htm#Dress_Selection

Diesel Chunky Knit Dress

Super chunky knits are filling the highstreet rails faster than ever and all the celebs are wearing them too. For a big statement look, its better to go for a bright colour or bold pattern. That’s why I’ve chosen this one from ASOS. The contrasting blue and red aztec stitching is an instant eye catcher.

It is made by Diesel and has a discreet metal branded disc on one of the cuffs. Knits are strictly for daywear only, so don’t try and pull one off for the evening. Now make sure you balance the oversized top with either skinny jeans or tights on the bottom, and for curvier girls, you should belt up with a waist clincher to create an instant shape. This chunky knit dress will set you back £120.


http://www.fashionchicks.co.uk/category/dresses/

Taffeta Cocktail Dress

A friend of mine wore this gorgeous dress to the National TV Awards yesterday evening and it looks so much better on than it does in this picture. The colour is stunning and the material silky, it has to be the ultimate dress of the season. The colour is more purple than how it appears in the image, much more vibrant and flattering.

The top of the dress is tight like a corset to hold you in firmly and the skirt puffs out slightly from the hips giving the illusion of a tiny waist. That’s what we all like to hear!

Try pairing with some black peep toes, a stylish black cardi and a clutch for that super sexy style. The dress is from Oasis and can be bought on line or in stores for £65 – not bad for such a beauty! Oasis has a fantastic range of purple designs this Autumn/Winter in the form of dresses, jumpers, tights, tops and jackets.



http://www.fashionchicks.co.uk/category/dresses/

Evening Dress

Obviously, none of the above mentioned clothing would be any good for a grand soiree or rout. For an important haut ton event, something truly special was required.

Unlike afternoon dress, for evening it was quite proper to show one's bosom. Indeed, some bodices were so low they were in danger of showing even more. Wide scoop necklines were popular for evening wear, as were low squared necklines and low bodices cut straight across. In some paintings of bodices of this type, it's hard to imagine how the sleeves even attached.

evening gown For evening wear, light fabrics were still favored, but they were richer. Very fine muslin, silk satin, duchesse silk and light taffetas were all popular. Braver, older or married women sometimes wore silk velvet. There was an unspoken dress code for debutantes, which applied as much to evening wear as afternoon dress. Young ladies were expected to wear pastels and white. The more sophisticated, darker colors were off-limits to unmarried misses just out of the schoolroom.

Of course, it's important to remember that dark colors would not show well by candlelight; if one wore black, one would likely disappear! To this end, many dresses utilized metallic trim and glass or crystal beading to catch the light. Short sleeves were often seen in evening dress, but long gloves were a necessity. Above-the-elbow was the preferred length. We often think of gloves as either white or black, but many different colors of kid leather were used, including yellow and blue.

Outerwear for the evening included cloaks, capes and shawls. To my knowledge, spencers and pelisses were never worn with evening dress.


http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=387&Title=Introduction-To-Regency-Dress

Afternoon Dress

The term “afternoon dress” can apply to many different types of gowns. In general, any afternoon dress is the opposite of a morning dress: it's meant to be seen. Other than that, the type of situation it was meant to be seen in would dictate its style. During the Regency, light muslins were very popular for afternoon dress. In the first few years of the 19th century, so many young women died after catching a chill or pneumonia due to wearing these light gowns in the winter that it was called “the muslin disease”!

During the day, one's bosom was entirely covered (well, unless one were beyond the pale). Even dresses with low scoop necklines were filled in with a chemisette (a dickey made of thin material) or fichu (a thin scarf tucked into a low neckline). Unlike today, cleaveage was NOT a daytime accessory.

A walking gown or promenade gown was meant for – you guessed it! – walking. It would be made in the most fashionable style, with beautiful trimmings, and worn while shopping or walking through the park. A walking dress could also be worn to pay calls on other families. The name is somewhat misleading, because nothing about it made it better for walking than any other dress. When trains were popular for daywear, walking dresses had them, and I can't imagine that would have been easy!

Another type of afternoon dress was a carriage dress or traveling dress. These were made out of slightly heavier fabrics, ones that would resist wrinkles more than a cotton muslin. Also, they tended not to have as many trimmings, which could become crushed during a long carriage ride.

Riding habits were also worn sometimes for traveling, but more often they were worn for (no, wait, don't tell me) riding. Made out of a sturdy material (like wool), a riding habit consisted of a dress with a very simple bodice and a jacket that was meant to cover it at all times. Imagine it as wearing a sportsbra under a blazer instead of a regular shirt. Sure, it's there, but you're not going to take off your blazer and let everyone see it.

The skirts of a riding habit were also longer and fuller than the skirts for a walking dress or carriage dress. They had to be in order to be draped over the ladies legs and protect her modesty while she rode sidesaddle. Riding habits took many details from men's clothing, the jackets being rather mannish in cut, and even the hats worn while riding were distinctly masculine. Riding habits also took many details from military uniforms, often being decorated with military-style piping or embroidery and epaulettes.

walking dress Outerwear was an important part of afternoon dress, especially if one didn't want to catch the muslin disease! Long hooded cloaks were always popular, as were many different styles of shawls. Some were decorated with classical Greek motifs, others with a paisley pattern (yes, paisley was around even then). The weights of shawls could vary from soft, heavy cashmere to light silk or even muslin in the spring and summer.

Another type of outerwear was the spencer. It was supposedly created by Earl Spencer (a great-great-great… ancestor of Princess Diana) when the bottom of his coat burned off after he'd had his back to the fire. Whether this is true or not, spencers were high-waisted jackets which could be worn over afternoon dresses of any type for warmth.

A close relative of the spencer was the pelisse. pelisse Most pelisses were basically spencers with an attached skirt. They provided more warmth than a spencer, because it would also keep one's ankles toasty. Some pelisses looked a bit more like shorter robes, ending at the knee or so, but to me these seem to defeat the purpose. One's ankles would freeze! Both spencers and pelisses took many details from men's clothing, and often had a military theme. Because of the War with Napoleon, military details were extremely popular for most of the Regency.

Other must-have afternoon dress accessories were gloves, muffs, bonnets, caps or hats, and of course appropriate footwear. But that is a story for another day



http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=387&Title=Introduction-To-Regency-Dress

Morning Dress

The modern equivalent of a Regency morning dress would be the ratty sweats and old college T-shirt you wear while dying your hair. Fine for around the house, but you'd NEVER wear them in front of anyone. A morning gown worked on the same principle. It was a plain, generally unadorned gown that was never worn out of the house.

Because it was never worn outside, morning dresses were usually made of thin material and had no trimmings. Sometimes, they were made from older fabric, the kind with large flower prints that had been so popular in the last few decades of the 18th century. Most families would have had fabric like this lying around, either in remnants or old dresses. It made sense to reuse this fabric for dresses that would never be seen by anyone outside of family. Why, with all the money they saved in this way, they could buy more fashionable dresses for public viewing!

Other than that, they were pretty much indistinguishable from any other type of dress. They were made in the same style, certainly, with a high waist and long or short sleeves. But again, because it was never worn out of the house, a morning dress wouldn't necessarily be in the first stare of fashion. Morning dresses didn't always have long trains, for instance, even when they were popular. It wasn't unusual for a Regency miss to salvage the trim from a gone-out-of-style dress, use the trim on a new dress, and keep the old one as a morning dress. The modern equivalent of a Regency morning dress would be the ratty sweats and old college T-shirt you wear while dying your hair. Fine for around the house, but you'd NEVER wear them in front of anyone. A morning gown worked on the same principle. It was a plain, generally unadorned gown that was never worn out of the house.

Because it was never worn outside, morning dresses were usually made of thin material and had no trimmings. Sometimes, they were made from older fabric, the kind with large flower prints that had been so popular in the last few decades of the 18th century. Most families would have had fabric like this lying around, either in remnants or old dresses. It made sense to reuse this fabric for dresses that would never be seen by anyone outside of family. Why, with all the money they saved in this way, they could buy more fashionable dresses for public viewing!

Other than that, they were pretty much indistinguishable from any other type of dress. They were made in the same style, certainly, with a high waist and long or short sleeves. But again, because it was never worn out of the house, a morning dress wouldn't necessarily be in the first stare of fashion. Morning dresses didn't always have long trains, for instance, even when they were popular. It wasn't unusual for a Regency miss to salvage the trim from a gone-out-of-style dress, use the trim on a new dress, and keep the old one as a morning dress.


http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=387&Title=Introduction-To-Regency-Dress