Riding Habits throughout History
Miss Crawford's enjoyment of riding was such that she did not know how to leave off.--Mansfield ParkLadies' clothing specifically for riding was not introduced until the second half of the sixteenth century, when protective overskirts or 'safeguards' were worn, together with cloaks, hats, boots, and masks to guard the complexion. Before that, women wore their everyday dresses on horseback. In the 1640s Queen Henrietta Maria was painted wearing a hunting dress and by the early eighteenth century the riding costume was established.


1770 Colonial habit
This eighteenth-century reproduction habit was made in red wool from the 1770 Colonial habit dressmaking pattern available from Side Saddle Lady (P8). Instead of the closure shown in the pattern, Side Saddle Lady cut 1 inch or so off the front, faced it, and folded it back from neck to waistline (top and bottom seams of the foldback were angled to match the line of the jacket), and added gold rope trimming and buttons, in a style similar to an original habit in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Hemlines at this time ranged from floor length to a few inches off the ground. This habit is displayed with a hoop petticoat. The dressmaking pattern also includes a false waistcoat and a neck frill (see pictures below - colour of red habit differs, as the pictures were taken at different times, in different light!). Our waistcoat was made in a gold/buff material with a damask pattern; the frill was in white cotton.


Regency riding habit
This reproduction Regency riding habit c. 1818 was made from various pieces of the Regency Wardrobe dressmaking pattern, available from Side Saddle Lady (P10). Although made in this instance in honey-coloured velvet, the style would originally more likely have been made in a fine wool material, or cotton nankeen for summer use. The jacket lends itself to military-style trimming. Changes from the pattern in the Side Saddle Lady example were a shortening of the back peplem on the jacket and narrowing of the sleeves towards to the cuffs. The hat (see picture below) was adapted from the one given in the Regency Wardrobe pattern, made smaller, and with a peak and tassels added. The pattern for the cream cotton chemisette with frilled collar is also given in the Regency Wardrobe dressmaking pattern (the cuffs were made separately and attached to the sleeves on the inside).


Later riding fashions
The tall and slender elegance of equestriennes such as Empress Elizabeth of Austria, who was sewn into her riding costume every morning she hunted, saw fashions changing again to the slimline darker-coloured habits of the 1880s with their high-buttoned bodices and jacket tails and trousers rather than petticoats, and thence to the 1890s with longer jackets and 'leg of mutton' sleeves.
1 comment
Enjoyed. Thank you
Janis Baron
January 29, 2021