The Georgian era in Britain started in the early eighteenth
century. Fashion was influenced by the styles of the French court which became
more and more ornate as the century progressed. This was particularly so for
women’s attire.
Skirts were still required dress for ladies. But what could
be done to change the style of that expanse of cloth that covered the wearer
from somewhere around the waist all the way down to the ground? The abundance
of cloth tended to hang. Petticoats added some structure and fullness so more
structure was added to the petticoat in the form of hoops, creating bell shaped
skirts. These dresses look pretty when women are standing but must have been a
challenge when women wanted to sit. Worse was yet to come.
The bell shape became passé. Fullness was added to the hips,
gradually at first, but the sideways expansion continued until it reached
beyond the woman’s extended fingertips. Getting through doorways was a
challenge but there was plenty of scope for decoration with all that expanse of
skirt, leading to some of those confections seen in paintings of women of the
period. Liza Picard paints an amusing word picture of the challenge of wearing
this fashion. “Although the static pose of portraits implies that these huge
skirts were anchored to the ground, their behaviour in a high wind or a rapid
walk was far from static. They swayed from side to side, or from front to back,
in an alarming – or, if the wearer so intended, an enticing – way, disclosing
more of the wearer than seems likely from the painted picture. (Knickers had
not yet arrived.)”*
While women’s fashion was changing the female form, men’s
fashion retained its look of breeches and stockings with long jackets ended
just above the breeches. The changes in men’s fashion centered mainly on the
head. Men and boys were wigs which were powdered on formal occasions. Women
also augmented their hair as styles became more and more elaborate, in keeping
with their skirts. The late 1700s saw those fantastic towering hairdos which
women wore with formal dress. Much effort went into the creation of those
up-dos so they were preserved for weeks on end, no doubt making sleep difficult
and cleanliness even more so.
These were the extremes of fashion followed by ladies at
court. The more middling sort of person could not be impaired by their clothes
or hair and still get anything done. The outline of fashion was followed by
rich and poor both in the old country and the New World.
This was true of children as well which can be seen in
paintings of court life with young children wearing miniature versions of the
fashions of their elders. In fact, until this era children had been treated as
mini-adults. However, it was in this century that a developing sense of the
specialness and innocence of childhood began to be developed.
At the other end of the age spectrum, the elderly were a
part of family and social networks both in England and in America. While still
able, they helped the younger generation with familial tasks and were part of
an inter-dependent network which, hopefully, would lend them support when they
became frail. As to fashion for the elderly, in court circles there was
disapproval of those women who followed the latest fashions despite their
years. They were expected to “act their age.” No doubt the less well off elderly
who were dependent upon family networks knew better than to let their dress
threaten their place in the family.
Sources:
Botelho, Lynn and Thane, Pat, Women and Ageing in British Society since
1500. Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, Essex, 2001.
Lofts, Norah. Domestic Life in England. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1976
Picard, Liza. Doctor Johnson’s London. Phoenix Press, London, 2000. P217*
Thane, Pat. A History of Old Age. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 2005
