Sunday, October 11, 2009

Yay or Nay? Caroline of Brunswick

Have you no pity for those who do God's work?? Last week the heathens overhwhemingly voted Nay for Maria Maximiliana's creative spin on a habit. Oh well, perhaps it is something more casual you seek? Especially if they are of a sinful nature...


Thomas Lawrence paints Caroline of Brunswick (1798) in a casual muslin gown that looks very similar to our collared shirts of today. The princess adds a straw bonnet with flowers and a pale pink shall for a bit of colour. Yay or Nay?

[Victoria and Albert Museum]

26 comments:

  1. It's a Yay, but I wish the shall was a more vibrant color to better match the vibrant flowers in her hat.

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  2. Naaay. She looks bland, frumpy way too casual.

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  3. yay!
    i like the simplicity and uncomplicated sensuality of her attire...a lovely picture.

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  4. I love the dress because the cut and fit just seem perfect to me. It shows off her womanly form, but not in a contrived, strumpetty way. Plus a think the collar ads a touch of smartness. However, that Daisy the Cow chapeau is disgraceful! I'd rather she had a soft pink rose tucked into her hair, no hat.

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  5. Poor Caroline. She had little (maybe even no)couth, but I always feel she got a raw deal. Especially from the person who sold her this ensemble. I think I'd like the dress on someone with poise, but that hat! Where to begin? Nay.

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  6. Yay...Very pretty. At the same time looks like a thrown togehter look, like she didn't try too hard...I like that.

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  7. Yay! I like how comfortable it looks, even if the hat IS a bit 'frumpy'

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  8. Yay, I'm wearing a shirt like that right now ;-)
    But I had a yellow shawl today...
    Yay, because I like the style - it reminds me on my Manchester visit this spring.
    Nay to the woman wearing it... But that's personal, I believe...

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  9. to Paul: you're absolutely right about the hat...

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  10. Not hideous but kind of slovenly and decidedly dull. Neither yay nor nay.
    Meh.

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  11. I'd like to say yay to the dress, but the whole ensemble needs more color, and the hat's aesthetic does not match the rest of it. Perhaps by itself I would like the dress better. As it is I give it a Nay.

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  12. Nay. It looks really boring and I don't like the cut. It also looks a bit cheap...

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  13. Caroline was not known for her sartorial splendor and now I can see why. Nay.

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  14. yes I say Yay - utterly charming - hmm udderly charming? she looks like a milkmaid- still a yay

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  15. Nay! It looks too plain and doesn't look like it fits her well.

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  16. What is happening at the front of her dress below the waist? Is the fabric gapping? Why are there tassels, or something falling out of her dress? Or is this a sash of some sort? Nay.

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  17. An overall 'nay' - there's not enough colour and the hat is simply AWFUL - but I quite like the dress on its own.

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  18. Nay. She looks like a common.

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  19. Nay for the poor lass. She is plump and pink and needs a bit of color and a more flattering dress. Too much pales and pinks going on.

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  20. How did I miss your post of this?!! Blame it on Thanksgiving weekend, the turkey and too many glasses of Les Pouches..

    Hi Heather:)A definte Nay for me..she looks like she's in her nightie. And the pale colour is too bland for poor Caroline...let alone the fact that she probably would have had too hard of a time to keep it spotless & clean lol!
    Thanks for posting this one, Heather- she definitely needed to be included in this fashion (or in her case, faux-pas) series;)

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  21. I like the dress, but it's not really regal...
    You'd think the royalty would have learned from la grande révolution that their "gloire" should be taken good care of, and dressing up as servants is not exactly the right way to do so (it got Marie Antoinette in some trouble, didn't it...)
    The hat is just bad. I'll give the total toilette a quite weak yay though.

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  23. Yay. I think she looks charming. Not elegant, but charming.

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  24. Yay! The dress is ethereal and the flowers add just enough color. Love the collar!

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