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Monthly Archives: January 2006

What’s Haute, What’s Not

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One of the reasons so many of us love the Regency is the elegance of the clothing: the simplicity, the reliance on truly beautiful lines and well-chosen details rather than fussiness and tight corseting. But among the many beautiful creations of the time there were also some fashion horrors, especially near the end of the period with the advent of Victorian excess.

So here’s my take on the Best and Worst of Regency fashion.

Best #1: from a painting by Constance Mayer (left), 1801, possibly a self-portrait. This is everything I love about Regency style: simple, elegant with just a touch of decoration around the sleeves and a ribbon threaded through the hair. Forever chic.

Best #2: a dress for dancing, circa 1809 (right). With the same elegant lines plus simple gold embellishments, it’s the perfect thing to wear to Almack’s and attract the attention of an eligible lord. (No wonder the Republic of Pemberley chose to incorporate this image into its coat of arms.)

Best #3: Portrait of a lady by Henri François Mulard, ca. 1810 (left). She just looks so pretty, with her simple white dress, nice touches of blue in the sash and fichu, contrasting color in the coral jewelry and the shawl. And her hair is so pretty, too!

Best #4: Walking dress, La Belle Assemblée, 1813 (right). Pretty and white, again with nicely coordinated touches of blue and the gold of the straw bonnet. What a cute little sash at the back, and such dainty footwear. One never knows whom one might meet when out for a stroll, after all!

Best #5: Ingres, Mlle de Senonnes, 1815 (left). Those French women just know how to do it. Velvet in a passionate red, that naughty look-but-don’t touch gauzy neckline, and the froth of lace. The perfect ensemble in which to seduce your rakish romance hero. Tres sexy!

And now for the worst…

Worst #1: A walking dress from around 1810 (right). Look at all those silly tassels, the overly vertical lines, the silly lacing over the breasts. No wonder the dog is barking at her. Hope he snaps off some of those extra tassels.

Worst #2: Bathing Place Evening Dress, 1810 (left). I don’t even know where to begin on this one. What a hideous shape, and that short skirt length, and all those silly ruffles! Makes me think of those frilly things they used to put on lamb chops. Ugh! And this is supposed to be evening wear?

Worst #3: Evening dress, from Ackermann’s Repository, 1816 (right). Now we see a new fussiness in the rosettes, the patterns, the flounces. If you are at all short or plump, you will look like a wedding-cake in this!

Worst #4: Evening dress, 1818 (left). They put everything but the kitchen sink onto this dress: strands of pearls, the sleeves with spiral-wound ruffles of lace, all that padded satin down the front. And that turban! All proof there are always some people who are into conspicuous consumption.

Worst #5: Court dress, modeled by Queen Caroline. How hideous is this???!!! Whoever thought that an empire waist should be combined with a hoop skirt is guilty of the most heinous Fashion Crime of the Millennium.

Whew!

So what does everyone else think?

Which ensemble would you like to wear? Which one deserves the honor of Best Regency Style?

Which do you think is the least becoming? The overall Worst Fashion Faux Pas of the Regency?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged , | 11 Replies

The Fly in the Ointment

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A week ago, I asked everyone what they would most enjoy if they were magically transported back to the Regency, and had tons of money and clout to ease the way.

This week, I’d like to ask the opposite question: What would you least enjoy about your new Regency life? What one thing would be most likely to stop you from going back and living a luxurious Regency life?


Would it be the antiquated medical care?

The non-existent rights that women (and many others) had?

Would you miss “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Harry Potter,” or “Lord of the Rings” too much?


Would you not be able to live without pizza, Thai food, or Godiva chocolate?

Would it be the lack of music by the Beatles, Tchaikovsky, Nirvana, George Gershwin, or Scott Joplin?

Would it be the poor heating? Or the poor plumbing?

The lack of free public libraries?

What would be the fly in the ointment of your Regency fantasy?

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — out now from Signet Regency!!!

Posted in Regency | 17 Replies

And the winners are…

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Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is I, Bertram St. James, here to thank you all for attending our party and dazzling us all with your wit and beauty! The patronesses and I can only hope you enjoyed yourselves at least half as much as we did.

And now it is my honour to announce the winners of the Treasure Hunt and daily prizes.

(The exquisite arrangement of my cravat deserves an award of its own, don’t you think? But as one of the hosts I am, sadly, ineligible for a prize. Sometimes beauty must be its own reward.)

Monday’s winner, to receive a copy of DEDICATION, by Janet Mullany:
Amanda (not McCabe!)

Tuesday’s winner, to receive a copy of MY LADY GAMESTER, by Cara King:
Moonlight Maiden


Wednesday’s winner, to receive a copy of LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, by Elena Greene:
Alyssa

Thursday’s winner, to receive a copy of THE STAR OF INDIA, by Amanda McCabe:
Amanda (not McCabe!)


Friday’s winner, to receive a copy of A SINGULAR LADY, by Megan Frampton:
Pam P (aka Lady Pamela)

Saturday’s winner, to receive a copy of LORD RYBURN’S APPRENTICE, by Laurie Bishop:
Carolyn

And the winner of the Grand Prize (autographed copies of books by all the Risky Regencies and more):

Sanjay

In addition, I myself would like to give a Surprise Award (don’t you love surprises?) which will consist of one of the patronesses’ backlist titles. So with no further ado, I hereby announce that the “Most Exceedingly Congenial Guest Award” goes to:

 

Kim W (aka Lady Kimberly)

Winners, please do us the kindness of sending an email to elailah@yahoo.com. Please provide your name and mailing address so the patronesses can send you your prizes.

We thank you all for coming, and hope you will visit us often!

Bertie and the Risky Regencies

Janet Mullany
www.janetmullany.com

Cara King
www.caraking.com

Elena Greene
www.elenagreene.com

Amanda McCabe
ammandamccabe.tripod.net


Megan Frampton
www.meganframpton.com

Laurie Bishop
www.lauriebishop.com

Posted in Giveaways | Tagged , | 10 Replies

Awards and Oscars and Observations, Oh My!

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Today my brain is scattered — and almost as chaotic and busy as the ballroom pictured here, which so crowds poor Mr. Darcy — so my post here will be scattered and chaotic as well.

AWARDS

Don’t forget to vote in All About Romance‘s 2005 Reader Poll! Just go to:

www.allaboutromance.com/ballot2005.html

Ignore the list of books near the top — those are THEIR favorites, not yours — and vote your opinions!


OSCARS

This morning it was announced that the recent film of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE was nominated for four Oscars! Of course, the serious films got the nods for best picture, but P&P got nominations for costume design, art direction, original score, plus a best actress nomination for Keira Knightley! (Well deserved, in my opinion!)


OBSERVATIONS

My first novel (MY LADY GAMESTER) was released on November 1. Looking back, it’s been an interesting and educational three months for me.

So . . .

First, my thank-yous.

1) Thank you to the many members of my family, and my husband’s family, who bought my book.

2) A particular thank-you to my mother, my uncle’s mother-in-law, and Todd’s parents and their spouses, for making the supreme sacrifice of actually reading it.

3) An extra-special thank-you to my mother-in-law, her husband, and my father-in-law’s wife, for sharing their thoughts on my book, and what they liked about it.

4) Thank you to my friends who took the time to buy and read my book.

5) An extra special thank you to the two members of my local RWA chapter who went the extra mile, and reviewed my book on Amazon. I am eternally grateful.

6) Thank you to pretty much everyone I’ve mentioned my book to, for not calling romances trash, or making snide or patronizing remarks about the genre, or my book.

Now, what I have learned…

1) Most of my relatives, and some of my friends, will never read my book. They may read other books, or they may not, but they won’t read mine. They would probably be more interested in hearing about my attempts at cooking, my cat’s bad habits, the last movie I saw, or the details of my mortgage, than hearing about the book that took me years (and blood, toil, tears, and sweat) to write. That’s life.

2) The most common question I will get on my book is “How is it selling?” (I guess this is a question my relatives can ask without having read my book.)

3) Some of my friends who read my book will decide the most useful thing they can do is to list for me any errors they believe they have found in it. I confess I do not know why they think this is a good idea.

4) Even if the theme of my satiric holiday letter is the fact that almost no one has reviewed my book on Amazon, no one I send the letter to will be persuaded by it to review my book on Amazon. I hereby resolve to learn to be happy with my two good reviews, and stop nagging my relatives (who haven’t read my book anyway.)

So . . . does anyone else have any similar observations to share?? All opinions (and venting of your own) very welcome! (You can also comment on the AAR poll or the Oscar nominations!)

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — out now from Signet Regency!!!!

Posted in TV and Film | Tagged , | 17 Replies

Melancholia

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“But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud”
–Keats

Every year, around this time, I get the winter blahs. I can’t stand the cold and gray skies, and it’s hard to concentrate on reading/writing/doing chores (not really much different from any other time when it comes to those chores, I guess!). I just like to crawl under the electric blanket and watch movies. Preferably costume epics and adaptations, like the ones Megan wrote about a few days ago. But this general mopiness made me curious about people in the Regency. Did they ever get tired of the gray skies, the drizzle? Ever think the sun will never come out again?

So, I came across a couple of articles online dealing with “melancholy” in the eighteenth century. It seems there were two types of melancholy–“natural” and “unnatural” (no mention of SAD!). “Natural” was considered to be brought on primarily by a black bile that could be dried up over time. This could be the result of certain foods, such as strong wines (and here I thought wine was the remedy!), and were accompanied by lifestyles that could nourish the condition, such as frequent intoxication and over-indulgence. One treatment, which sounds pretty nice and kind of spa-like to me, was a routine to bring balance between sleep, play, exercise, company, sex, and intellectual pursuits, as well as an attendant to keep the patient from being sad. It was then thought that the black bile could then dissipate, and the patient would return to normal.

The “unnatural” kind, though, was tougher. Maybe even the result of corruption from demons and spirits! (Though this is probably earlier than Regency–I read a great deal about it in Samule Johnson’s work). In this case, the sadness could descend toward manic episodes, fits of rage, and “eventual absolute madness.” So–demons, or maybe living somewhere like Alaska.

Johnson defined hypochndria as a condition that produces melancholy, or an intense fear that led to symptoms of melancholy. One case he documented was a women who thought she had a snake living in her intestines. The doctors showed her a snake they claimed came from said intestines, and she was cured. This sounds more like general craziness than melancholy, though!

All this made me try to remember a romance where characters suffered from depression, or melancholy, or any kind of persistent sadness, and I came up mostly blank. Most romance characters are a pretty perky lot, in general. Has anyone here read a book like that? Any thoughts on what such a story could be like?

And now that I’ve brought everyone down, I’ll sign off! I’m sure I have some movies waiting to be viewed….

p.s. Another very interesting book on this subject is Duncan Salkeld’s “Madness and Drama in the Age of Shakespeare”

Posted in Research | Tagged , , , , | 9 Replies
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