What's the Point?

 

Ithink, at least in the case of this Evening Full Dress from July 1809’s LaBelle Assemblée, that the point is (or should I say are) quite apparent, despite the not-very-good quality ofmy print.

 

Here’sthe original description:

THEELVIRA DRESS. This dress is composed of yellow crape, with a train about half ayard in length; the front of the skirt forming a deep vandyke (to the point ofwhich is suspended a tassel), and is embroidered round the edge in two shadesof brown chenille; the sleeves are formed of several rows of plaits crossed onthe arm. To complete the whole of this elegant dress, there is worn with it ajacket of yellow satin, which is formed with three deep vandykes behind and twoin front; the bosom square, with three straps across the center, which arefastened with diamond brooches; the points of this jacket, front, back, andshoulder straps, are embroidered at the edges the same as the dress, which isworn over a slip of shite satin, likewise embroidered round the bottom, and thesleeves of which appear below the crape over it, and are finished at the bottomwith chenille embroidered in form of a vandyke, with the point turned upwards,the center filled up with a sprig.

Somany questions, the primary one being, who was Elvira? 😏  Also, the description aswritten doesn’t quite match the dress, as I see nothing of the straps fastenedwith diamond brooches on the bodice of the jacket mentioned in the text.

Andmissing from the text is a description of the accessories—fan, shoes, gloves, pearl jewelry,and headdress—as depicted…and surely that spectacular jeweled diadem andfeathers number deserves a few sentences! 

The description of the large triangular points as "vandykes", by the way, comes from the Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyke, who spent most of his career as the leading court painter of King Charles I. He painted a great many portraits of the royal family and nobility...and at the time, lace with deep, indented triangular tongues was highly fashionable, as can be seen in Van Dyke's portrait study of the king (via Wikimedia.)

Lookingat the fashion prints from around 1809-1810 in both La Belle Assemblée andAckermann’s Repository, it is clear that this was a marvelous time to be amodiste: there is such creativity and variability in styles, unlike, say, theearly 1820s which were really rather dull. What do you think?