CHAPTER XXXII.
Ladies’ dress—French costume—Madame Recamier—The classical style—“Progress of the toilet”—False hair—Hair-dresser’s advertisement—The Royal Family and dress—Curiosities of costume.
IN LADIES’ dress more allowance must be made for the caprices of fashion; it always has been their prescriptive right to exercise their ingenuity, and fancy, in adorning their persons; and, save that the head-dress is somewhat caricatured, the next illustration gives a very good idea of the style of dress adopted by ladies at the commencement of 1800, some phases of which we are familiar with, owing to their recent reproduction—such as the décolletée dress, and clinging, and diaphonous skirt, as well as the long gloves.
PARIS FASHIONS FOR WINTER DRESS—1800.
However, the eccentricities of English costume, at this period, were as nothing compared with their French sisters. The Countess of Brownlow,[48] speaking, as an eye-witness, says: “The Peace of 1802 brought, I suppose, many French to England; but I only remember one, the celebrated Madame Recamier, who created a sensation, partly by her beauty, but still more by her dress, which was vastly unlike the unsophisticated style, and poke bonnets, of the English women. She appeared in Kensington Gardens, à l’antique, a muslin dress clinging to her form like the folds of the drapery on a statue; her hair in a plait at the back, and falling in small ringlets round her face, and greasy with huile antique; a large veil thrown over the head, completed her attire, that not unnaturally caused her to be followed and stared at.”
FASHIONS, EARLY 1800.
The French Revolution and early Consulate were eminently classical, as regards ladies’ dress; and, as a matter of course, the mode was followed in England, but never to the extent that it was in France. No one can doubt the beauty of this style of dress; but it was one totally unfitted for out-door use, and even for evening dress. It was very slight, and then only fitted for the young and graceful, certainly not for the middle-aged and rotund.
FASHIONABLE FURBELOES; OR, THE BACK FRONT OF A LADY OF FASHION, IN THE YEAR 1801.
LIGHT HEAD-DRESSES AND LONG PETTICOATS FOR THE YEAR 1802.
PREPARING FOR A BALL—1803.
There was a ladies’ magazine, which began in 1806, called La belle Assemblée; and a very good magazine it is. In it, of course, are numerous fashion plates; but I take it that they were then, much as now, intended to be looked at as indications of the fashion, more than the fashion itself. Certainly, in the contemporaneous prints, I have never met with any costume like them, and I much prefer for accuracy of detail, to go to the pictorial satirist, who, if he did somewhat exaggerate, did so on a given basis, an actual costume; and, moreover, threw some life and expression into his groups, which render them better worth looking at, than the meaningless lay-figures, which serve as pegs, on which to hang the clothes of the fashion-monger.
The next three illustrations, which, although designed by an amateur, are etched by Gillray, give us a glimpse of the mysteries of the toilet such as might be sought for in vain elsewhere; they are particularly valuable, as they are in no way exaggerated, and supply details otherwise unprocurable.
PROGRESS OF THE TOILET. NO. 1.
PROGRESS OF THE TOILET. NO. 3.
After these revelations, no one will be surprised to find that ladies wore false hair. It has been done in all ages: when done, it is no secret, even from casual observers. It was thoroughly understood that it was worn, for was there not always standing witness in the windows of Ross in Bishopsgate Street, and especially in the two bow windows of Cryer, 68, Cornhill—one of which had twenty blocks of gentleman’s, and the other twenty-one of lady’s perukes. One West-end coiffeur thus advertises—Morning Post, March 18, 1800:
“Correct Imitations of Nature.
“To Ladies of Rank and Fashion.
“T. Bowman’s House and Shop being now repaired, is re-opened with every conveniency and accommodation. His new Stock consists of:
PROGRESS OF THE TOILET. NO. 2.
“I. Full Dress Head-dresses, made of long hair, judiciously matched, and made to correspond with Nature in every part; the colours genuine; they will dress in any style the best head of hair is capable of; and, in beauty, are far superior. Price 4, 5, 6½, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 guineas.
“II. Real Natural Curl Head-dresses. These cannot be described; they must be seen. Price 5 guineas.
“III. Forced Natural Curl Head-dresses are made of such of the Natural Curled Hairs, as have not a sufficient curl; therefore it is assisted by Art: with fine points, of a soft and silky texture, very beautiful. Price 4 guineas.
“IV. Plain Curled Head-dresses are made of Hair, originally straight, but curled by baking, boiled, &c. Price 3 guineas.
“V. The Tresse à la Grecque, when put over the short head-dress, is a complete full dress. Price half-a-guinea, 1, 1½, 2, 3, 4, and 5 guineas.
“In order to account for the apparent high prices of the above, it is necessary to observe, that there are as many qualities of Hair as of Silk, Fur, or Wool (the guinea, and the guinea and a half Wigs, as they are called, can only be made of the refuse, or of Hair procured in this Country); all that Bowman uses is collected at Fairs, from the French Peasants, on the Continent, which (from the present[49] convulsed state) is now very dear; as, notwithstanding the artful and false insinuations of interested persons, the importation of last year is not more than one-fifth of former years, and no part of it Men’s Hair.
“☞One thing T. B. intreats Ladies to observe, that he does not expose, or dress his best articles on Heads, Poupées, or Dolls, for Show, the common trick at the Cheap Shops, to hide Defects, as many Ladies know to their cost. His Head-dresses are, until they are sold, the same as a Head of Hair that wants cutting; they are then cut and trimmed to suit the Countenance, or fancy, of the wearer. No article is sold that is not in every respect perfect in fitting; and the most disinterested advice given as to what is fashionable, proper, and becoming. Ladies’ Hair dressed at 3s. 6d., 5s., and 7s. 6d.—No. 102, New Bond Street.”
A few days later on, the same paper (March 21, 1800) relates a fearful story. “Yesterday a bald-pated lady lost her wig on Westminster Bridge; and, to complete her mortification, a near-sighted gentleman, who was passing at the time, addressed the back of her head, in mistake for her face, with a speech of condolence.”
In June of the same year, the same paper takes the ladies to task for their décolletée dresses. “The ladies continue to uncover their necks behind, and well they may; for, since they are covering them before, they cannot be so much afraid of back-biting.”
The Queen and the Princesses set practical lessons in social economy to the ladies of England. The latter were not ashamed to embroider their own dresses for a drawing-room, and the Queen, in order to encourage home manufactures, used Spitalfields silk, or stuffs made in this country; and “stuff balls,” like our “calico” ditto, were not uncommon.
At the end of the first decade of the century costumes became even more bizarre; although, of course, Les Invisibles is an exaggeration. The ordinary out-door dress of ladies of this year is shown in the two following illustrations.
GRACE, FASHION, AND MANNERS. FROM THE LIFE—1810.
WALKING DRESS—1810.
“LES INVISIBLES,” 1810.
