Regency Dresses and how to make them look better/not like paper crepe...

Hello,

Regency style dress is one of my personal favorites and I see many extant garments in museums and in movies like Emma (2020) that are just gorgeous. Plain dresses without layers on many reenactors look beautiful to me too, but then I will look at patterns or sometimes dresses for sale and they will look frumpy, stiff, wrinkled etc. I am just wondering if anyone who has had experience making these dresses can help me identify the pit falls in how they can be so beautiful and so ugly but the dress cuts look the same. My best guess is fabric choice making a huge difference but maybe some patterns are better than others too and thats changing it? I have sewn some projects before but I have yet to try my hand at the regency and have worn things I have bought from places I could try them on at, but now I want to make one in the near future.

I don't want to post photos of the good vs bad ones because I don't want to call anyone out with my own personal opinions.

TLDR/Summary: How do I ensure my regency dresses come out cute and soft and nice and not stiff and weird and looking like paper crepe. What fabrics should I make sure to use or avoid and does anyone have any pattern suggestions? Any additional fabrics I should be layering on top I see a lot that have multiple shear fabric layers. Book recommendations and resources will be great too!