Dressing up in an 1802 Empire Gown

Empire or Regency dresses can seem quite simple. But as you can see in the video, there were still some layers involved in achieving the empire or regency style outfits. After posting this video, I got some questions what all those layers were for, because to our modern standards this may seem like a lot clothing for a simple dress. But just before this was the rococo era, with huge dresses, which required a lot more undergarments. So comparatively, the ladies of this period dit not wear that many layers. But every layer they wore had a specific function, and here I will explain what those were.

The Layers

The first layer in almost every historic outfit in pretty much every time period was the chemise. Mine was a quite simple sleeveless one, because I didn’t want it to show through the sleeves of the outer dress. You can read more about chemises here. Next were the shoes. This may seem weird, because most of us put our shoes on last these days. But in the time of more rigid undergarments the general rule is: shoes before corset. Now in this period, the corsets aren’t boned and not that stiff. So you could easily put on your shoes last if you wised, But in most time periodes, it’s just easier to put on your shoes first. The shoes worn here are simple beige leather flats (heels were not so popular during this time) and close with ribbons

So after the shoes, the corset is next. I explained a lot about this garment in the dress details post about this corset. But the main point of wearing a corset in this period was to lift the bust. Like I talked about in this post researching the different types of corsets in this era, waist reduction is not a factor in corsets of this period, and the corsets were not boned. the point of this garment is to achieve that long column-like silhouet with a high bosom that was so fashionable in this era. And the wooden busk is inserted into a pochet in the front of the corset to aid in keeping a strait posture.

Over the corset went a petticoat. This again had two purposes. Firstly the petticoat provided a little bit of extra warmth But the main purpose of the petticoat was decency. Muslin fabrics gained enormous popularity during this period, and the muslin was not at all like the muslin fabrics we have today. These days muslin is a rigid fabric mostly used by fashion designers to make mock-ups. But in the regency era, muslin fabric was a very fine weave of cotton. It was so fine, it was quite translucent. More like the batist fabric of the present. And because of the translucency of the outer garment, most ladies preferred to wear a bodiced petticoat, which provided some coverage.

Then we finally arrive at the main garment, the dress. The style I chose is called a bib front dress. This means the bodice of the dress closes with ties, as seen here, which are later covered up with a rectangular piece of fabric.

Next the bib is closed to hide the ties. This could be done with hook and eye closures, or. like I’ve done here, with a button. To give the dress a little bit of extra dimension, I decorated the bib and the hem of the dress with white-work embroidery, but this is very hard to see in the pictures and video.

The waist of the skirt is held in place by a tie that wraps around the back. The back of the dress is gathered, which gives it a bit of fullness.

Lastly, the outfit is finished by every regency ladies favorite accessory: a ribbon. Ribbons can add a bit of color and variation to the outfits of Regency ladies, and they were worn as garters, around the waist and in their hair.

 The Result

The final outfit is a simple and understated one, but the details make it historically accurate and subtly intricate. And while I usually don’t have the figure to pull of an empire waist dress, I think this one actually looks quite good on me. And that is solely because of the undergarments. They give you the right siyhouet for the period, on which the dress is best displayed, so that the fashions of the day can look good on most body types.