English dress in the Eighteenth Century

[Rachael H]

Hi everyone,

I'm afraid I have been lurking for quite a while but wondered if anyone could help me with a period costume question please?

In a slight leap of faith and genre, I have recently moved from writing for children to starting my first adult historical which is set in Kent (UK) in the 1740's. What I really need help with is clothing. Does anyone know of a link that might be able to help with the following sort of questions?

1) Whether the hooped dress was still fashionable at this time or had the panniered skirt just come in?

& 2) Number of outfits that a male/female would have owned if they moved in the middle of polite society as it were.

I am taking a trip to the fashion museum in bath shortly but would be grateful for any tips.

Many thanks, and thanks too for having me around.
Rachael

[Miss Moppet]

Hi everyone,

I'm afraid I have been lurking for quite a while but wondered if anyone could help me with a period costume question please?

In a slight leap of faith and genre, I have recently moved from writing for children to starting my first adult historical which is set in Kent (UK) in the 1740's. What I really need help with is clothing. Does anyone know of a link that might be able to help with the following sort of questions?

1) Whether the hooped dress was still fashionable at this time or had the panniered skirt just come in?

& 2) Number of outfits that a male/female would have owned if they moved in the middle of polite society as it were.

I am taking a trip to the fashion museum in bath shortly but would be grateful for any tips.

Many thanks, and thanks too for having me around.
Rachael

Hi Rachael and welcome

Don't know any links but here are some books which should be useful:

For corsets and hoops the two best are:
Norah Waugh, Corsets and Crinolines, 1954, reprinted 2004
Valerie Steele, The Corset: A cultural history, 2001

Waugh puts the change from hoop to paniers at about 1750.

The two costume bibles for the early modern period are:
Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion. Englishwomen's dress and their construction c.1660-1860, 1972, but reprinted more recently
Norah Waugh, The Cut of Women's Clothes 1600-1930, 1968

Foremost authority on 18th century costume is Aileen Ribeiro who is the author of Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe 1715-1789. I can recommend it and also recommend Jane Ashelford, The Art of Dress: Clothes and Society 1500-1914.
And there's also Avril Hart and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: The 17th and 18th Centuries, V&A Publications - very helpful book with great photography.

The museum at Bath has a great bookshop so you may find some of these there - they are all 'keepers'.

Re size of wardrobes - this is an interesting question. The important thing to remember about C18 fashion is that the industrial revolution changed everything as fabric became much cheaper to produce. If you have a ball dress or wedding dress made now, you will pay much more to the dressmaker than you do for the material - in the C18 it was the other way round, material was expensive, getting it made up was relatively cheap. As a result people kept their clothes for years and updated them continuously as the fashion changed. There are examples of this in the Hart and North book.

Daniel Roche's The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Regime, Cambridge University Press, 1994, is about 18th century France but it might help you as he analyses inventories to find out how much of each type of garment 18th century people had. Look at chapter 6, 'The contents of wardrobes from the classical age to the Revolution.' Roche finds that in 1789 the average nobleman had 80 items in his wardrobe, the average noblewoman 55. But the wealthiest people could have well over a hundred garments.

The provinces would always be behind the capital in terms of fashion. If your characters have a house in London as well as the country they would take the opportunity to buy material and get it made up in London to the latest fashion; if they are in the country all year round they would be a bit behind the latest fashion. Even quite close to the capital country people were glad to get fashion tips from relatives who lived in London - remember in Pride and Prejudice Mrs Bennet (living in Hertfordshire) tells her London-dwelling sister-in-law that she is very glad to know 'what you tell us of long sleeves.'

I don't know if anyone has done a study on mid-eighteenth century fashion in Kent or somewhere nearby - probably not in book form but there may have been an article. It would be worth checking the index of the academic journal Costume, which is held by research libraries.

Samuel Richardson's 1740s novels Clarissa and Pamela have lots of snippets about costume, so it's worth looking at them if you haven't already.

[annis]

For a quick online overview you might like to check out English Costumes of the Eighteenth Century (http://www.americanrevolution.org/clothing/clothing.html) at the American Revolution website.

[Rachael H]

Wow, thank you Miss Moppet, you have given me a great start. I have now drawn up a list and can't wait to hit the virtual bookshops and research library as I'm assuming that I won't find these at my local haunt. Will have to be especially nice to family too in the run up to Christmas!

Thanks for the tips on Clarissa and Pamela too, managed to track down an online synopsis for the later yesterday and am hoping to get my hands on a copy shortly.

Annis - Thank you for the link, I will be heading over there very shortly.

Really appreciate your time but am now left wondering how anyone actually writes a historical novel as the research is so enjoyable (and time consuming)?
Rachael

[LoveHistory]

I have a book on English dress from ancient times through about 1840. I'll see what I can find out for you.

[Miss Moppet]

Wow, thank you Miss Moppet, you have given me a great start.
Really appreciate your time but am now left wondering how anyone actually writes a historical novel as the research is so enjoyable (and time consuming)?
Rachael

You're very welcome, Rachael. I warn you, research is addictive!

I've found some interesting articles on mid C18 fashion:

Carey McIntosh, 'Pamela's Clothes', ELH, vol 35, no. 1 (March 1968)

Kimberly Chrisman, 'Unhoop the Fair Sex: The Campaign against the Hoop Petticoat in Eighteenth-Century England', Eighteenth Century Studies, vol 30, no 1 (Fall 1996)

And a couple more dealing with 18th century clothing accounts. I have pdfs of all of these, so if you'd like copies PM me with your email.

[Rachael H]

Love History - that would be really kind if you have time.

Miss Moppet - really appreciate it and as soon as I can work out how to PM I will send my details over to you.

[LoveHistory]

The info in that book will need rephrasing (can you say dry writing? LOL) I'll work on distilling it into something useful for you. In the meantime I found a few sites that may be of some use.

The first is for Colonial Williamsburg. Not 100% English but they did follow most of the same customs as far as manners and dress so it's at least a potential starting point. http://www.history.org/history/clothing/intro/index.cfm

Next up is The Costumer's Manifesto. You can look up almost any period's clothing on this site. I think they even have a fashion timeline. Also lots of links to other sites. http://www.costumes.org/History/100pages/18thlinks.htm

Then there's the Georgian Index. I don't know if it will be much help, but I found it while researching a similar period. http://www.georgianindex.net/fd/index.html#TOP

Hope these help.

[Rachael H]

Thanks Love History, they are great. Is it really bad to be grateful that my family have colds and are in all bed so I can read this stuff?

[LoveHistory]

Of course not, Rachael. Reading while loved ones are ill is perfectly natural and right. And getting a break from caring for said loved ones is devoutly to be wished.

Anyone who would not be grateful for such a respite has too much time on their hands to begin with, and quite possibly a self-destructive nature. ;)

[Rachael H]

Ahh, but those who feel smug about it have to pay at a later day! Five year old been off school since but as his voice is now back, with a vengeance, I will be returning him tomorrow :-)

[Rachael H]

Love History, you are a STAR!!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look up and type out the pm for me, I really appreciate it.

I really love the phrasing 'an exquisite' - and how wonderful it must be to be described as one!

Had a wonderful time in Bath last weekend. I spent hours in the fashion museum taking notes on their four georgian dresses and wondering around the assembly halls before finding a great book called 'Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail.' Published by the V&A and written by Avril Hart and Susan North is has fantastically detailed drawings and pictures and it, together with your details, are bringing it all to life for me.

MISS MOPPET, glad the article was of use to you. I regularly receive that blog so if anymore come through I will pass them on. My children's stuff was written under the same name but apart from a few short stories and articles I haven't managed to progress any further - yet! Thanks also for your friend request :)

Thanks again to both of you, I just have to stop researching (procrastinating) and start writing now!

[LoveHistory]

You're very welcome, Rachael.

[Miss Moppet]

I just have to stop researching (procrastinating) and start writing now!

Where's the fun in that?? :D

[Rachael H]

Well, I need to do something otherwise I'm going to look like a complete idiot when I go on a residential writing course in a fortnights time. At present I have little more than the first ten pages and synopsis that were requested beforehand.

(Perhaps this will teach me not to switch novels at the last minute!)

[Miss Moppet]

Noticed this on Youtube and thought it might be of interest. It shows how C18 basket hoops and petticoats were put on. Didn't know petticoats tied like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e829nat4Kw4