Compiled by Isabella Beaton The Book of Household Management is chock full of fashion advice for the 19th century housewife.
In Purchasing Articles of Wearing Apparel, whether it be a silk dress, a bonnet, shawl, or riband, it is well for the buyer to consider three things:
I. That it be not too expensive for her purse.
II. That its colour harmonize with her complexion, and its size and pattern with her figure.
III. That its tint allow of its being worn with the other garments she possesses.
The quaint Fuller observes, that the good wife is none of our dainty dames, who love to appear in a variety of suits every day new, as if a gown, like a stratagem in war, were to be used but once. But our good wife sets up a sail according to the keel of her husband’s estate; and, if of high parentage, she doth not so remember what she was by birth, that she forgets what she is by match.
To Brunettes, or those ladies having dark complexions, silks of a grave hue are adapted. For Blondes, or those having fair complexions, lighter colours are preferable, as the richer, deeper hues are too overpowering for the latter. The colours which go best together are green with violet; gold-colour with dark crimson or lilac; pale blue with scarlet; pink with black or white; and gray with scarlet or pink. A cold colour generally requires a warm tint to give life to it. Gray and pale blue, for instance, do not combine well, both being cold colours.
