J is for Jabot

Welcome to Day 10 of my April A to Z Blog Challenge!

 

I thought about doing F for Fashion but decided against it since I’m about to sneak it in to this post. What is a jabot? And is it particularly Scottish? Is it Victorian Scottish? Is it a fashion item that my character Margaret is seeing when she’s out and about in Edinburgh? Would she ever be wearing a jabot?

 

I’ve been finding answers to plenty of questions as I write my current manuscript. Margaret, my main character, finds a job in Edinburgh in 1851. The city, in fact any city, is completely new to her since she comes from the small Fife town of Milnathort. Everything about the city of Edinburgh is fascinating to the young country bumpkin!

Although her mother has managed to provide a new dress, a new shawl and re-furbished bonnet for her employment, Margaret finds the dress she’s wearing isn’t quite in the first stare of Edinburgh fashion! In Milnathort, she was delighted with the serviceable mid-blue, delicately-patterned cotton cloth that was used for her dress, material that came from her father’s draper shop. Now in Edinburgh, she finds it’s dowdy in comparison to the colourful materials – some cottons but many silks even for day-dresses – that she sees women wearing on the central Edinburgh pavements. Though wider than she’d ever worn, her dress is not nearly as domed-shaped as those she passes by. Hidden by her woollen shawl, she allows no one to see the intricate cream lace edging on the sloping shoulders and low pointed waist of her dress, lace that took her and her mother many hours to produce. Her type of lace adornment doesn’t seem to be fashionable on Princes Street.

 

Tucking her shawl tight to her neck, she doesn’t allow anyone to admire the tiny cream buttons that she spent ages choosing from the stock in the shop, to adorn the front opening of her dress that runs from the V point just below her stomach, all the way up to the high neckline. She knows that her mother’s insistence on the buttons being accessible on the front is practical, because unlike the ladies around her now, she will not have a maid to do up her buttons on the back – but she so hates to be different!

Another thing that definitely rules out any attempt for her to look ‘Edinburgh’ fashionable is the lack of a pretty parasol. All the ladies are carrying one, patterned in colours to match their afternoon gowns. Margaret looks up at the sky. It isn’t sunny and it isn’t raining – yet the fancy-edged parasols are everywhere!

The streets around her Edinburgh employer’s residence are ones frequented by the well-to-do, going to and from appointments. The ladies she passes by are likely going to make afternoon calls since she’s learned it’s the fashionable hour for taking tea with friends. Though the ladies also wear shawls to cover their fashionable dresses, the tear-drop Paisley motifs on the feather-light wools make them very decorative compared to her sensible one of thicker wool.

She’s somewhat stunned by the necklines on some of the dresses worn by the ladies. The dresses have the V-shape to below the stomach like her own, but these dresses have a scandalously low V neckline, some so deep the tops of the breasts of the ladies are covered by a delicate lace chemisette to preserve some modesty. Envy creeps in even more. What must it be like to wear something like that? Though not yet thirteen, Margaret is already quite happy with her developing bosom but to have the tops on show must take courage. Courage she’ll have to acquire. Though perhaps not right away!

One of the few things Margaret is heartily glad about on her arrival to Edinburgh is that her dress is now full length. Her mother deemed it a bit early for her hems to be dropped all the way down to the ground but, since she needs to look mature and sensible enough to be employed as a tutor, her mother relented. A few extra heavy petticoats, hand-me-downs from her mother, give Margaret’s skirts a nice shape even though they’re not as billowy as some others around her. At least, the longer length is good for hiding her serviceable leather boots that are already well-worn, but will have to do her for a long time to come.

 

She’s quite taken by many of the beautiful bonnets, in truth quite envious. She’d felt very important the morning she left Milnathort, some of her dress material used for the insides of the trim though the snug part around her head was still of its original blue velvet. The new blue ribbon under her chin is still new, and not out of place, but she can see that many of the most fashionable bonnets have shorter trims, allowing for more of the faces of the ladies to be seen.

Her deep auburn hair, with its central parting, is probably plaited and curled around her ears in much the same way as the ladies on George Street but the bonnets hide much of the typical style that follows Queen Victoria’s current hairstyle.

Looking around her, Margaret can’t see much difference in the clothing worn by the men, although what is worn seems to be of Sunday-best quality rather than the every-other-day of the week serviceable clothes. At home in Milnathort, not too many men are seen wearing light-coloured trousers with their fashionable velvet frock coats and embroidered waistcoats, unless going to a special event. From first impressions, it looks as if there are many more well-to-do men around Edinburgh, though she’s savvy enough to know that the streets near her employer’s home, close to the city centre, are not populated by tradesmen, or working-class labourers. She’ll have to venture a bit further out to find those fashions.

Her first foray to the High Street in the Old Town is fascinating. (In 2023, it’s termed by tourists as The Royal Mile) As on George Street, there are plenty of well-to-do men sauntering down the High Street dressed in frock coats with cinched-in waists like Prince Albert wears. worn over embroidered waistcoats, their high starched collars with pleated bows adding even more colour to their ensembles. Their top hats are more of an indication of wealth and leisure than to keep out the inconvenience of inclement weather from wetting their moustaches and sideburns, which are very popular.

 

However, she also sees a good deal of relatively, soberly dressed men in grey or black suits, their coat styles much more practical and knee length. There are so many of them she can tell they are not all ‘men of the cloth’ though some may be ministers in the many churches around Edinburgh City Centre. These soberly dressed men do not sport the floppy neck ties that the ‘dandies’ wear. What she sees are men of law, their typical falls/ bands (simpler neckties) reflecting different levels of the judiciary.

Some of the men hurrying past her, their black gowns flapping around in their haste, she thinks will be those at the lowest levels of training. Their garments are of serviceable cloth but many are almost threadbare. She sympathises with some of these short-wigged young men as it would appear that many years of training may have to pass before they can wear the court dress of her employer. She knows that Mr. Duncan is a barrister who sometimes leaves the house with a formally starched white fall holding his collar tight to the neck and a full wig, but she has also seen her friend Jessie using a special iron to flatten a much more ornate jabot into frilly pleats.

The jabot that was popularly worn decades before Margaret was born now seems to only be worn for the highest ceremonial purposes by the law profession, though she has yet to find out when, or why! 

Eventually the J for JABOT appears in this post!

Being the curious young lady that she is, Margaret is desperate to lean all she can of those who are her ‘betters’ in Edinburgh. And one day perhaps she herself will be wearing the first stare of fashion!

Till my next April A to Z post…

Slàinte!

 

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