Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

[csuniforms]

Doing research for the civilian conference in the spring. Saw where a secession woman was wearing a bonnet "a la gabrielle" in the colors of black and white with yellow ribbon ties. Am thinking about having one made up. Went on the internet and see gabrielle was a designer in europe in the 1860's, but a picture i cannot find as a template for recreation.

Tom arliskas
csuniforms

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

There may not be a single defining "a la gabrielle" style... fashion names are notoriously shifty, as writers try to spark new interest in slightly-adapted shapes and styles.

Was there a time of year attached to the reference?

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

There may not be a single defining "a la gabrielle" style... fashion names are notoriously shifty, as writers try to spark new interest in slightly-adapted shapes and styles.

Was there a time of year attached to the reference?

Here is the specific reference

November 24, 1860 Richmond Daily Dispatch:
New Fashion for Ladies.
We observed, while on a visit to a lady friend, a bonnet and dress of Georgia Lindsey and cotton, designed for the daughter of one of our leading secessionists. The dress is made in fashionable style, a la Gabrielle, and the bonnet is composed of white and black Georgia cotton, covered with a net-work of black cotton, the streamers ornamented with Palmetto trees and lone stars, embroidered in gold thread, while the feathers are formed of white and black worsted. The entire work is domestic, as well as the material, and exhibits considerable ingenuity. The idea illustrates the patriotism of the ladies, and their earnest sympathy with the great Southern movement, while its execution affords convincing proof of how independent we can be of our Northern aggressors, when we have the will to undertake and the energy to achieve.

Thank You Elizabeth++++

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

Here is the specific reference

November 24, 1860 Richmond Daily Dispatch:
New Fashion for Ladies.
We observed, while on a visit to a lady friend, a bonnet and dress of Georgia Lindsey and cotton, designed for the daughter of one of our leading secessionists. The dress is made in fashionable style, a la Gabrielle, and the bonnet is composed of white and black Georgia cotton, covered with a net-work of black cotton, the streamers ornamented with Palmetto trees and lone stars, embroidered in gold thread, while the feathers are formed of white and black worsted. The entire work is domestic, as well as the material, and exhibits considerable ingenuity. The idea illustrates the patriotism of the ladies, and their earnest sympathy with the great Southern movement, while its execution affords convincing proof of how independent we can be of our Northern aggressors, when we have the will to undertake and the energy to achieve.

Thank You Elizabeth++++

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

I answered my own question-- the dress is Gabrielle-- something to do with ruffles or collars-- the bonnet would be an 1860 style-- I wish someone kept one somewhere so we could look at it 150 years later.

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[Hank Trent]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

These black and white secession bonnets show up in newspaper reports and snippets passed from book to book, so one can pick up other little details as the story travels. How many bonnets there actually were, or how many were retellings of the same story, it's hard to say. There seems to be a recurring theme of the bonnets showing up at the time of the SC secession convention, and also a Georgia connection.

I'm curious why the choice of black and white. It seems like red-white-red wasn't considered the default secession color scheme yet, but what was the significance of black and white? Was it connected to the fact that black and white happened to be fashionable colors for bonnets at that time anyway, or was black and white specifically a sign of secession? Cotton isn't easy to dye black with home-grown dyes, so it seems an odd choice if it was meant to be a symbol of self-sufficiency.

MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [MEMPHIS, TN], December 8, 1860, p. 2, c. 3
Secession Bonnet.--The Charleston Mercury gives the following description of a bonnet worn by a South Carolina lady:
"The bonnet is composed of white and black cotton, and streamers ornamented with gold thread, while the feathers are formed of white and black worsted."
What would our Lincoln ladies think of a distinctive bonnet of Connecticut corn cobs, trimmed with pumpkin vines, and ornamented with wooden nutmegs?--Hartford paper. Source.

[Upon the announcement that South Carolina had seceded] the side-walks were crowded with ladies wearing secession bonnets made of black and white Georgia cotton, decorated with ornaments of Palmetto-trees and lone stars. Source

The streets of Charleston were filled with excited people huzzaing for a Southern Confederacy, and several women made a public display of their so-called patriotism, by appearing on the crowded side-walks with "secession bonnets," the invention of a Northern milliner in Charleston. Source.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL [ALEXANDRIA, LA], December 29, 1860, p. 3, c. 1
A Secession "White House" and a Secession Bonnet.—A correspondent writing from Macon, Ga.—where the cotton planters' fair is being held—to the Charleston Mercury, furnishes the annexed paragraphs:...
Miss L. L. Winemann, of Charleston, S. C., contributes a "secession bonnet," dedicated to the daughters of Georgia by a Carolina sister. The materials of the same art of Georgia wool, very tastefully combined; a ruche of black cloth, rolled and tipped with gilt, strings of black home-made woolen, edged with gold braid and a palmetto embroidered in gold on the tips of the strings. Source.

At an annual State exhibition in Georgia, a lady presented a "Secession bonnet," of home manufacture, with a resolution (adopted) to be independent of the North in the future. Source

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

[QUOTE=Hank Trent;191522]These black and white secession bonnets show up in newspaper reports and snippets passed from book to book, so one can pick up other little details as the story travels. How many bonnets there actually were, or how many were retellings of the same story, it's hard to say. There seems to be a recurring theme of the bonnets showing up at the time of the SC secession convention, and also a Georgia connection.

I'm curious why the choice of black and white. It seems like red-white-red wasn't considered the default secession color scheme yet, but what was the significance of black and white? Was it connected to the fact that black and white happened to be fashionable colors for bonnets at that time anyway, or was black and white specifically a sign of secession? Cotton isn't easy to dye black with home-grown dyes, so it seems an odd choice if it was meant to be a symbol of self-sufficiency.











Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com[/QUOTE

Hank your right! Red-white-red were the Secession colors. Actually right after SC secession December, 1860-red-white-blue were the colors used in some cockades and bonnets. Makes sense, the same colors as the first Confederate National flag. The wearing of cotton, GEORGIA cotton, in black and white, has to do with the homespun craze in the South where Southerners started to wear only homespun clothing in protest of Northern manufactured goods. You were right again when you said the color of the this bonnet or the same story line, was seen in many old books and articles-- I guess they believed plagarism was not a bad thing in the latter half of the 19th Century. I am having two bonnets made up right now, one Secession and one Pro-Union.

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[Hank Trent]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

The wearing of cotton, GEORGIA cotton, in black and white, has to do with the homespun craze in the South where Southerners started to wear only homespun clothing in protest of Northern manufactured goods.

Yes, I "get" the homespun cotton idea--this was obviously a symbol of self-sufficiency like the homespun dresses--but why black and white? What was the significance of the colors? I can figure out the cotton, the star, the palmetto, even maybe the feathers made of worsted rather than imported marabou (though why not use chicken feathers?).

But why black and white? Colors were/are usually important in patriotic objects, and the colors seem to be mentioned in each account as if the symbolism was self-evident.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[VMurphy]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

Hello! what an interesing post. thanks!
the dress may just be simply that of a basic bodice with Gabrielle sleeves(gathered puffs the full length of the sleeve) or perhaps sometimes both bodice and sleeves were gathered and puffed. Then this blouse/bodice could be worn with a swiss bodice of some sort.
The bonnet...made of Ga cotton, and covered with black net..the streamers were embroidered with ensigna of the Palmento State..and Feathers made of worsted(there are instructions in Godey's and Petersons how to make "feathers" from fabrics)...All a show of how the southerm movement could be independen of the North. Very interesting reading :)
You could easily make a gabrielle bodice of cotton organdy...the bonnet might be a bit more challenging but fun to try :)
Good Luck
Vivian Murphy

http://www.themantuamaker.net

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

Hello Vivian, After taking a poll we all agree you should make a Secession Bonnet... You have a better idea of what was involved than I. I know that the colors do mean something, but black and white and yellow. These Bonnets were said to have been up by a milliner from up North with a millinery shop in Charleston.--- The people say it was indeed something to see. It did make a statement..

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[Hank Trent]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

I know that the colors do mean something, but black and white and yellow.

We seem to be talking past each other... How do you know that they mean something? Do you have evidence or a more logical reason than I've presented? If so, I'd be curious about the evidence or the reasoning.

I'm only assuming they do, because colors usually do in patriotic things and the writers took the time to mention the colors, but I have no evidence. Since black and white was a fashionable combination at the time, it may have just "meant" that a person could make a perfectly fashionable bonnet using only homemade materials. Or it may have meant nothing at all, just as the fact that it had network or ruching didn't "mean" anything (in my opinion), other than those were just common attributes of bonnets.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

We seem to be talking past each other... How do you know that they mean something? Do you have evidence or a more logical reason than I've presented? If so, I'd be curious about the evidence or the reasoning.

I'm only assuming they do, because colors usually do in patriotic things and the writers took the time to mention the colors, but I have no evidence. Since black and white was a fashionable combination at the time, it may have just "meant" that a person could make a perfectly fashionable bonnet using only homemade materials. Or it may have meant nothing at all, just as the fact that it had network or ruching didn't "mean" anything (in my opinion), other than those were just common attributes of bonnets.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

Hank, I thought the same thing when the black and white came up. Was it a combination of colors refering to some kind of revolutionary standard or clothing at some time in the past or just something the maker has an inventory of in his shop, Black and white cockades were worn in the Revolutionarly War, but I have to do more research. I am like you---asking the question why did they pick black and white as opposed to red-white-red? for a bonnet that represents Secession. The books do not say why.
The addition of Palmetto trees on the laces or tie makes it a Secession theme. Will look into this.

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

History of Cockades: In the 18th century, it was pinned on the side of a man's tricorne or cocked hat, or on his lapel. Women could also wear it on their hat or in their hair. A cockade uses distinctive colors to show the allegiance of its wearer to some political faction, their rank, or as part of a servant's livery. During the American Revolution, the Continental Army initially wore cockades of various colors as an ad hoc form of rank insignia; before long they all reverted to wearing the black cockade they inherited from the British. Later, when France became an ally of the United States, the Continental Army pinned the white cockade of the French Ancien Régime onto their old black cockade; the French reciprocally pinned the black cockade onto their white cockade, as a mark of the French-American alliance. The black-and-white cockade thus bacame known as the "Union or Alliance Cockade".

Here is a possible answer. That during the American Revolution a black and white cockade was worn to show the Alliance of France and America against Great Britain. A real answer or conjecture? It could be the answer, but will have to have a historical reference from the Secessionists to confirm. A Revoulutionary idea or symbol?

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[csuniforms]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

The Union Cockade was used by Federalist supports, especially after the tricolor cockade became popular with the Democratic-Republicans (at the time simply called Republicans) following the French Revolution. It was a black and white colored cockade that had its origins during the American Revolutionary War, worn by American forces to symbolize the union of the Americans (using black, taken from the British military cockade) and the French (white, for the monarchy) forces against the British.

Here is a second reference to political beliefs. Black and White does seem to have a "Revolutionary" association to it. I have to look some more to see if this quote refers to the Americans or the French in the early 1800's.

Tom Arliskas
CSuniforms

[Hank Trent]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

Here is a possible answer. That during the American Revolution a black and white cockade was worn to show the Alliance of France and America against Great Britain. A real answer or conjecture? It could be the answer, but will have to have a historical reference from the Secessionists to confirm. A Revoulutionary idea or symbol?

That certainly makes sense! I didn't know that about black and white cockades in the revolution. It sounds like the most reasonable answer, unless something more definite comes along. Thanks!

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Drygoods]

Re: Question? What does a bonnet 'a la gabrielle' style look like?

Well, just to be a little noise from the corner of the room, I don't think that the colors mean much at all. Although many magazines of the time simply copied text from other magazines and articles, some were so totally different that you'd never think they were written in the same year. Sometimes being the different, and "saying" it was the latest fashion from flubdub land, you'd read something so unusual that people believed it to be the latest trend. After all, they were there to sell magazines, not really publish accurate news. Modern magazines do the same thng.

If you do wear something totally different, be sure to carry a copy of the original text in your hat, because plenty of folks will question your authenticity if it strays far from the norm.