"Portrait of a Woman" by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Portrait of a Woman (1819)
Copyright held by Paul Underwood Collection

This painting is probably not of a fancy dress costume, but an actual outfit worn by one of the more trend-setting fashionables of the day. Dress "a la Mary Queen of Scots" or "a la Vandyke" or "in the manner of the beauty's of Charles I's day" were promoted in women's fashion periodicals as early as the 1800s. The trend for clothing of the Renaissance led to a passion for ruffs, slashed sleeves, and "antique" style jewelry such as we see here.