Colours
"Fashionable colours for the month are, peach-blossom, wild-rose colour, grass-green, straw-colour, blue, and lilac."
[General Observation on Fashion and Dress, Ackermann's Repository of Arts, pub. August 1817]
Among high society, what was considered a fashionable colour could change from month to month, and for those attempting to keep up with the latest fashions, it must have been very frustrating and expensive.
In 1817, for example, at least one or two new fashionable colours were reported in ten editions of Ackermann's Repository, with only two months confirming that there was no change in colours for that month.
That might have been why white was so popular. White always remained fashionable among the higher classes and could be kept up-to-date by accessories in the latest colour. Wearing white suggested that you had servants to keep your clothes clean, while the poorer sections of society stuck to more serviceable greys, browns and other dark colours that would hide the dirt and didn't need to be washed as often.
For younger women, white symbolised innocence and virginity, which was important to imply when looking for a husband. They could also wear pastel shades. Deeper, vibrant colours like ruby and emerald were more common for women who were or had been married.
Even in the early 19th century, women were advised to choose colours for their clothes based on their skin-tones:
"Let us then admonish the female whose beauty is of the fair, pale, and interesting cast, not to render her appearance insipid by the overpowering hues of robes, mantles, pelisses, &c. of amber, orange, grass-green, crimson, or rose-colour. This soft style of beauty makes its appeal to our most delicate perceptions: all grossness of colour displeases them; and therefore should not be admitted in the articles of her dress. "Grass-green, though a colour exceedingly pleasing and refreshing in itself, jaundices the complexion of the pale woman to such a degree as to excite little other sensations in the beholder than compassion for the poor invalid. Such females should in general choose their robes of an intire colour; and when they wear white garments they should animate them with draperies, mantles, scarfs, ribbons, &c. of pale-pink, blossom-colour, celestial blue, lilac, dove-colour, and primrose; leaving full green, deep blue, and purple to the florid; and amber, scarlet, orange, flame-colour, and deep rose, to the brunette."
[The mirror of the graces; or, The English lady's costume, by a Lady of Distinction, pub. 1811]
The following list only includes the names where the colour isn't obvious from the name. It won't include colours like Chestnut or Lilac, which are also used today and are recognisable to the modern reader. The dates are the earliest dates I have found mention of them in fashion plates I have descriptions for, but they could have been in use earlier.
Amaranth - A reddish rose colour. Named after the amaranth flower. 1804
Carmelite - In 1794, it was represented on fashion plates as quite a bright red, leaning towards dark orange, but later the colour became a more subtle red-brown. pre-1800
Coquelicot - A bright poppy red, named after an old French word for poppy. pre-1800
Buff - A beige-like colour leaning towards a pale orange-yellow. Buff-coloured leather was commonly used to make men's leather breeches, gloves for men and women and women's shoes. pre-1800
Courbeau - A very dark green, often used for menswear and ladies riding dresses. pre-1800
Geranium - although modern geraniums come in many colours, at this time it described a darker shade of pink. 1804
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Reading the Regency
Non-FictionA guide to Regency England for readers of classic literature or historical fiction set in the early 19th century. England, as it was in the early 1800's, can sometimes be as confusing to a modern reader as travelling to a foreign country. Their clot...
