![Period print. [Image courtesy: JHU.edu]](https://ritalovestowrite.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/c00333608871c6e5ca78a1b880064c0eeeb9e363.jpg)
Period print. [Image courtesy: JHU.edu]
I have my own Regency dress, long gloves, shawl and reticule, if ever there was a ball at which I was destined to dance… this is it. I will be attending with the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory. We’ll be adding period color by portraying real life Federal men and women from the Baltimore area.
I quickly fessed up to the fact that my dress, while authentic down to the material and the covered buttons, is more everyday dress and less ball gown. I will definitely be attending in my ” ‘Country’ fashions.” So I’ll be portraying a servant and helping the ladies (those who are spending $250 a ticket for this fundraiser) with their hair in the Fan Room.
This is super awesome [two words I will not be using at the ball] because I love Art of the Fan and doing “costume” hair.
jane austen fan 2008 (Photo credit: Owen Benson Visuals)
The language of the fan was often the most direct means of communication between a two people. It would be unthinkable for a young woman to come up to a gentleman she didn’t know and engage in conversation. But if she ran her fingers through the ribs of her fan in his direction, and he was perceptive enough to get the cue, he knew she had just said “I want to talk to you.” Other fan gestures indicated jealousy, love, desire, and attachment to another.
A hand painted, wooden replica Brise style regency fan. This fan, which is painted on both sides, can be found for sale on Etsy.com
1820-1830 Silk on Ivory fan from the Victoria and Albert Museum
An assortment of fans found on www.JaneAusten.co.uk
Related articles
- What a Regency Lady Wore by Ella Quinn (bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com)
- Regency Rites: The Well-Dressed Regency Lady (susanaellisauthor.wordpress.com)
- Part 2: Working for Bath and the Jane Austen Festival: A very unusual Photoshooting with my new Regency Dress (silvermedusa.wordpress.com)
- Just Like Jane (kateshrewsday.com)
- Fayetteville Museum Hosts Regency Ball, Announces Visitors Bureau (prweb.com)
- Among the Janeites – a review (sarahemsley.com)
- 1810s Layering (fashionthroughhistory.wordpress.com)
- You are invited… (ecblush.wordpress.com)
- western fashion history (arthurdid.wordpress.com)
ritaLOVEStoWRITE 
October 11th, 2013 at 3:16 pm
Reblogged this on bookworm2bookworm's Blog and commented:
Love Regency? Love the pomp and circumstance of its era? How about its style? Oh and the FAN! If you do, you’ll love this post! Read on to learn the Art of the Fan-talk 😉
October 11th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
I would so love to go back in time for a few days and attend a ball. It would be such fun prepping for the ball and actually attending it!
October 11th, 2013 at 3:40 pm
ritalovestowrite and I live near each other. Most balls around here are fundraisers. Enjoy the Ball!
October 11th, 2013 at 6:37 pm
I’ll let everybody know how the ball went. (Something tells me the words “wonderful” and “magical” will be bantered about.)
October 12th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
I love the language of the fan and what each movement means. Love this era 🙂
October 13th, 2013 at 11:00 pm
[…] I offered them a cravat and helped them tie it in period fashion. For the ladies I had fans. [Click here to read my blog on fans] I gave them a quick tutorial on how to open the fan and how to attract a gentleman (or repel a […]