V316: Riding Habit Trim Inspirations

While I scramble around making the my version of the Snowshill riding habit somewhat wearable, here are some trimming inspirations…

1750-59 VandA – gorgeous, but not the kind of trim I have.  It’s a “someday suit”

Antoine Pesne, Prinzessin Amalia von Preussen, before 1757 – what an explosion of trim and…embroidery? Fringe on the waistcoat at that, what madness!

“A Lady in a Riding Habit”, Enoch Seeman, ca. 1725 – I like the pocket flaps in this position, and the heavy trims down the front and cuffs, but I would probably omit the trim on the shoulder and sleeve seam

Joseph Kreutzinger, Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, 16 years old, 1771 – I love this outfit, and that the trims are there yet understated.  This is 1771, but the lines of the habit haven’t changed that much.

Sophie Marie Gradin Voss, 1746, by Antoine Pesne – I suspect this low-cut habit bodice was more for the portrait than actual sporting, but I do like the silver trim and short sleeves

Portrait of Lady Henrietta Cavendish, Lady Huntingtower, in riding habit, by Kneller, 1715, at Ham. ©National Trust – this one is much earlier, but again the lines remain pretty much the same.

Mrs. Epes Sargent II (Catherine Osborne) John Singleton Copley – this one has the pockets tilted up like the Snowshill habit.

I’m finding that the jackets stayed relatively similar through at least the first half of the 18th c., with changes to skirt widths, trim placements, and accessories.  The Snowshill habit in Janet Arnold has dates 1730-50, and I can see why.

So for today, I guess I best go set those sleeves!