So, where am I now with the new layout? (Yes, a date has been set!)

Hey everyone!

I haven't posted in over a week! I thought it would be a good time to update all of you. I've been doing quite a bit of work behind the scenes for the new layout. For the most part, it's going pretty well. In fact I think I am ready to set the date for when I will put up the new layout.

Header Poll Results and Progress on New Look

So for starter's, the poll is now closed at the side bar. Thank you for voting and helping to decide about the header. But now, for the results. So between a multi-themed banner and a monthly banner, you all preferred...

One multi-themed banner that is changed once a year	6 (31%)
Monthly/Bi-monthly banners that have a specific theme	12 (63%)
No Preference	3 (15%)

a monthly banner! So that is what I will try to do from now on: changing up the banner either every month or every two months.

But now for the progress on the new look.

Of Posts and Labels

Due to a bit of a Blogger mix-up, some of the posts on Elegance of Fashion might be a tad mixed up with very old posts suddenly being pushed to the front. This is probably a product of my organizing the labels, so bear with me as I restore some order to the labels. Sorry if this makes looking for recent posts a little confusing.

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 God Bless,

Mrs. Hursts Blue Morning Gown

One of my least favorite gowns in Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Hurst seems to wear this gown a lot. I don't have a picture of the back of this dress, but you can assume that the back is basically a typical Regency dress back.

Front: The fabric of the dress is light blue with a silver fancy diamond pattern. There are six buttons in the front, but these buttons appear to be decorations. This dress is also accessorized with a lace collar, lace shawl/fichu, and mob cap.

Front/Partial Side View: There's a slight puff to the long sleeve. You can also see a full picture of the lace shawl/fichu.

Jane Bennet's Blue Spencers

There are two spencers featured here. I decided to put them into one post because they were so similar and there were only slight differences between them. Like Elizabeth's spencers, Jane's spencers are always paired with a white dress.

Spencer #1 Full View: There are two buttons at the bottom of the spencer that close the spencer.

Spencer #1 Front/Side View: There seem to be decorative buttons on the sleeve with triangular shapes going from the button to the sleeve.



Spencer #2 Front View: Slight differences: instead of only two buttons at the bottom for closure, there appear to be three buttons at the bottom and two more buttons above them.

Spencer #2 Side View: Here appears to be the same spencer as #1 sans buttons at the sides.

I didn't have any pictures of the back view, but I would assume that the back would be the standard Regency back.

Assorted Chemisettes and Kerchiefs/Fichus

Throughout Pride and Prejudice, some characters wear either chemisettes or kerchiefs (fichus). Chemisettes and fichus were worn both for modesty and warmth. They would be tucked into the bodice.

Mrs. Bennet's chemisette: Lots of frills

Kitty and Lydia's chemisettes: Kitty has the chemisette with lots of frills while Lydia has a collar chemisette. I remembered seeing a Simplicity pattern that had a chemisette similar to Lydia's, but I think it's unavailable now. You might have to look at E-bay or other pattern websites.

Mrs. Gardiner's chemisette: Not as many frills as Mrs. Bennet's.

Elizabeth's and Jane's Kerchiefs/Fichus: I wasn't sure what to call them exactly. They are in the shape of fichus, but fichus are usually tucked into the bodice. Pretty much it's a triangular piece of fabric that you can tie as shown. They look like their decorated with some white embroidery on white tulle or some sort of veil fabric.

Kitty Bennet's Purple Spencer

Kitty must only really have one spencer. This is the only spencer that I have seen her in. If you watched the 2007 version of Persuasion, this spencer may look familiar.

Front View: Really, there are only two fabric colors: a purpleish, greyish color (would it be called a light puce?) and a darker purple. The collar and cuffs done in this dark purple appear to be velvet or velour.

Close-up of Front View: There appear to be two darts on Kitty's spencer.

Partial Side View: Just a side view. You get a closer view of the black buttons.

Back View: To me, it looks like the back is one piece, not the typical Regency back with a couple of pieces.

Kitty and Lydia Bennet's Red Cape

Kitty and Lydia have the same exact red cape. In fact, there isn't a scene where one wears it and the other doesn't; they always wear them together. They also wear their usual spencers underneath (notice a little bit of Kitty's purple spencer and Lydia's patterned spencer).

Front View: Both capes are red and are secured with a two ribbons that are tied together in a bow. There is a hood on both...

Back View: And here's the hood! The hood is gathered at the edge. It appears that the hood is a rather large one, probably so the wearer could have their bonnet on and be fully covered by the hood.

Jane Bennet's Pink Summer Gown

This dress is seen on Jane when the weather is warm outside.

Full Front View: The bodice is V-necked and has a darker pink trim around the neck line and waist line. The trim along the neck line criss-crosses. The bottom of the dress is a darker pink then the rest of the dress.

Front View: You can see more detail in the trim on the bodice. There is also a decorate (but smaller than the neckline trim) trim along the bottom of the sleeve. There is also a puff to the sleeve.

Back View: Sorry the picture isn't the best. The pink trim along the waistline continues in the back of the dress.

Assorted Lace Caps

Lace caps were worn by married women or old maids. They came in a variety of styles. Pride and Prejudice features a lot of different lace cap styles. There appear to be three kinds of lace caps in Pride and Prejudice: the lace caps that you see commonly, the mobcap, and the draped cap.

Lace Caps



Mrs. Bennet's Lace Cap: Who could forget Mrs. Bennet's lace cap? It just suits her so well! It seems to be made out of some kind of sheer material. Something that appears to be a little pink flower sits right in the middle of the edge of the cap.

Charlotte's Lace Cap: Charlotte would wear a lace cap before she was married only when going outside in her bonnet (more on that later). But, since she married Mr. Collins, she always wears the lace cap except for some evenings at Rosings. It's a fairly plain lace cap: no ribbons or flowers. There is a little bit of lace with a design, but overall, it's a very plain cap.

Mrs. Philips's Lace Cap: Mrs. Philip's lace cap is decorated very similarly to Mrs. Bennet's. There is a little pink ribbon in the center of the edge. There does seem to be more veiling on her cap then Mrs. Bennet's.

Mobcaps

Mrs. Hurst's Mobcap: Mobcaps were kind of like the lace caps above, but lace caps were a little lighter. They weren't as popular in the Regency era as they had been earlier. Mrs. Hurst has her mobcap trimmed with pink ribbons and ruffles.

Draped Cap

Lady Catherine's Draped Cap: Lady Catherine has the draped cap, which I read at this link was kind of like a skirt placed on top of the head. There was a band of fabric that supported the draped fabric that ran down the sides and back. Lady Catherine's draped cap does have fancy veiling, but it's not as decorated as you would think, since she is rich and we would assume that she would want fancy decorations.

Caps under Bonnets: Of course, some women wore lace caps under their bonnets. You can see here that Mrs. Gardiner and Charlotte both wear lace caps under their bonnets. This picture of Charlotte was from when before she was married; perhaps because she was twenty seven, she thought that she wasn't going to get married?

I used this source to find out information about lace caps: here. If you want to read further, you can try there.

Charlotte Lucas's Evening Gown

Charlotte wears this dress during evening dinners or parties. I didn't get a full picture of the dress, but the pictures I did get would be enough to get a good idea what the dress is like.

Close-up Front View: There is a little split in the sleeves, like it had been pleated so that there is that split. You can also see there is a ribbon in the middle of the neckline. The print of the fabric is striped with dark blue (or navy) and light blue with gold dots that appear to run across the dress like there was ribbon there. The neck line also appears to have a little bit of lace and a darker under dress (there are two parts of this dress which is discussed below).

Partial Full View: A bit cut off, but still provides a lot of detail. The dress is made up of two parts: an overlay and an underdress. The overlay has the navy, light blue, and gold fabric, while the dress has a dark blue (though I'm not sure I would call it navy) with darker blue dots. You can also see the direction the fabric pattern is going for the overlay in this picture.

Side View: Around the slit in the sleeve, there is a gold pattern running down the sleeve. I would say it was a fabric ribbon decoration, since you can still see the pattern through the ribbon. There is also a gold tassel hanging down from the middle of the sleeve. It's hard to see in this picture, but it looks like there is a similar opening on the back of the skirt as there is on the front.

There doesn't appear to be a front or back opening to the overlay, but I would assume that the openings would be on the underdress and that this dress just fits on top of the underdress.

Yes, I'm Still Here! (New Poll! Please vote!)

Yes, everyone, I'm still here! I apologize for not posting in a couple of weeks (almost a month! Shocking!). With school work picking up a bit more than usual, I haven't had very much time to write much of anything on Elegance of Fashion (or watch period dramas and review them for that matter). But I didn't forget all my followers and I continue to moderate comments and answer questions that come up.

But now for a little announcement: I would like to revitalize my little blog here. You know, add some new life and new posts to it -- stuff like that. I have a few ideas, but I always welcome new ideas. (Remember, just leave me a comment!)

One of the ways I'm thinking of revitalizing Elegance of Fashion is the layout. For awhile now, I had been thinking of changing up my layout here. This layout has been up for quite some time and, from what I've noticed, has gotten a little messy. It takes quite a while to load, which is something I would definitely like to fix. Plus, I have used the same basic layout since I started Elegance of Fashion, so I guess I'm going for something that's newer and (maybe) a little simpler. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment. I can't promise that I'll use every suggestion, but I will read each one and consider it.

So for my new layout, I have put up a poll at the side bar. I would of course like to keep my header banner in the new layout, but what I want to know is how often should I change up my banner? I've seen blogs around that change up their banners every month or so with a different theme each month, while other blogs (like mine) tend to have one banner for a year and then change it up. I have been considering changing the banner monthly or bi-monthly, but having a specific theme for each banner instead of multiple themes in one banner (so, for instance, instead of having Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey, and Little Dorrit in one banner, one month (or two months) would be Pride and Prejudice, another month would be Downton Abbey, etc.). So, in the side bar, I have a poll which will be up for one week that asks you which do you prefer: a multi-themed banner that is changed once a year, themed banners that are changed monthly/bi-monthly, or no preference. You can pick more than one choice about the banner if you wish (maybe you like both ideas?).

But layouts aside, I've also been slowly trying to organize my labels, which have gotten a bit out of hand (i.e. there are WAY too many). Some I only used a couple of times and then never used them again. Others have quite a few posts in them, but are a bit repetitive. So, I will be slowly deleting some labels and keeping some. All the posts that were in those labels will still remain (or, in other words, I'm not deleting old posts), but the label itself will be gone.

So that's it for now. I intend to post more in the upcoming weeks than I have been, so keep an eye out for new posts from me. And, of course, comment! I welcome suggestions and comments, so feel free to leave a comment.

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 God Bless,