Walking Dress (Spencer and Skirt)

Short little jackets, so-called Spencers, were very popular at the beginning of the 19th century. English Lord George John Spencer, 2nd Earl of Spencer (1758-1834), who is said to have cut off the damaged tails of his tailcoat, lent his name to this fashion. Ladies fashion adopted the practical garment as an ideal supplement to the low-cut chemise dresses. Rich sculptural decorations à la hussarde of mustard-yellow silk satin effectively animate the like coloured, but matte silk of the dress, which is patterned with small diamonds. A high skirt is worn beneath the almost waist-length little jacket and held at chest height by silk ribbon straps. It falls flat in front, straight and close to the body. Two wedges are laterally inserted and the breadth of the skirt falls to the back. Three rows of rigid, padded satin rollers are arranged in garlands on the skirt hemline; this trim lends the desired sculptural form to the softly falling silk fabric. Items borrowed from menswear, such as the fold-over collar and decorative military elements on the front of the jacket, emphasize the “going out” character of this dress.