First of all - I have no idea if "portrait shawls" are a real thing, historically. I'd even go so far as to say that I doubt they exist. However, this shaw is so unnecessarily, inconveniently, STUPIDLY long that it's just impractical to actually wear out and about, so I'll probably just use it for pictures to get that neo-classical drapery look.
Anyhow, If you spend any length of time looking at Regency fashion plates, you're bound to come across plates featuring women draped in VERY long shawls. Some rough estimation makes it clear that those shawls are longer than the women are tall. This poses a bit of a problem for the modern Regency fashion enthusiast, as most rectangular shawls commercially available today are only about 5 feet long or shorter (or the ones I've been able to find are). Are shawls today made shorter than they were then? Maybe. Were women shorter then, and taller now? Maybe. I don't know.
I decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought two (very soft, but also cheap) shawls in the same color. Then I sewed one of the short ends of each together, cut off the tassels on the seam end, and felled the seam. I did this all by hand, since I wasn't sure my sewing machine would play nice with the fabric. (I'd also like to take a moment to direct you to Bernadette Banner's hand sewing video, which is where I learned how to fell hems/seams, and also because she has lots of really wonderful videos!)
Now because I didn't stop to do the math, I ended up with a shawl approximately 10 feet long (whoops)! I'm only a bit over 5 foot. So like I said - stupid long.
I don't have any pictures of it to post, so instead I've put together a collection of Regency fashion plates featuring long shawls! All of these were taken from Pinterest - very few had sources, and those with sources just linked to blogs who also didn't have sources (sigh).
Stay warm, stay safe, stay dry.
Alexandra