Evening Dress
(silk, taffeta with lisere ribbon and velvet)
Unknown
circa 1810
Image courtesy of the New Brunswick Museum
Saint John, New Brunswick
22096.
Women wore evening dresses to balls, regattas, and other formal occasions. Although an Englishwoman’s social calendar often had her attending dinner parties and balls throughout the year, the majority occurred in the spring and summer. In New Brunswick, however, the height of the social season occurred in winter when the St. John River froze solid, allowing sleighs to carry young women and men to Saint John in a timely manner. At these social events, young women competed for the attentions and affections of the most eligible and moneyed bachelors. The majority of women in Fredericton courted army men stationed in the Regimental Barracks.
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