The latter “did not wait for the royal sanction to their flippancies, and their taste or want of taste ran riot during this reign to an extent that equalled the absurdities of any previous period, and which makes the history of fashion during that time more varied than that of any similar length of time.”
At the commencement of the reign, ladies’ dresses were generally simple enough; but about 1763 the fashion came over from France of dressing the hair by curling and crisping it, and raising it by adding pomatum, upon a foundation of “many a good pound of wool,” into such an erection “that my lady is dressed for three months at least, during which time it is not in her power to comb her head.” So enormous were these head-dresses, that a satirist said: “Our fine ladies remind me of an apple stuck on the point of a small skewer.” A sign of the times was the number of works written by hairdressers, which appeared with many illustrations, describing the various styles of these monstrosities of hairdressing, “for in those days hairdressers were great men.”
When the Maccaroni costume was adopted in 1772 by some of the dandies, many ladies followed suit with a costume on similar, extravagant lines, particularly copying the enormous toupée.
In 1775 another fashion came in, depicted in Fig. 1. The head-dress is called a half-moon toupée, combed up from the forehead, large curls being made at the sides, and a plume of feathers surmounting the structure. Round the neck is a simple ribbon. The gown is high behind at the neck, and low in front, with a large bunch of flowers stuck in the breast, and the body is tightly confined in stays strengthened with steel busks. The sleeves reach to the elbow; long gloves are worn, and the fan is constantly displayed.
The gown is open from the waist, and gathered in festoons at the sides, the edges being ornamented with silk ribbons in puffs, forming a diamond shaped pattern and edged with lace. The petticoat, which is displayed by the open gown, is similarly decorated, and small, high-heeled shoes with rosettes complete the dress.
The head-dress continued as monstrous as ever until, in 1782, it reached the enormous size shown in Fig. 6. One hairdresser, on completing his task, told the lady that “heads, when properly dressed, kept for three weeks”; that they would not “keep” longer may be seen from the many recipes given for the destruction of the insects which bred in the flour and pomatum so liberally bestowed upon the head-dresses. Needless to say, these structures gave unlimited materials to the many satirists and caricaturists of the period. About 1786 the heads began to lower, and the hair was allowed to stream down the back, a fashion attributed to the portrait painters, led by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Hats with enormous brims were worn of the style shown in Fig. 4, which represents a lady in a fashionable riding dress of 1786.
In 1789 the hair began to be worn “frizzled” in a close bush all over, with pendant curls on the back and shoulders (Fig. 5). The high bonnet of the French peasants was introduced and was worn trimmed with lace, so that it hung over the face like an extinguisher. The puffed out chest, the little frilled jacket and tight sleeves, were also very characteristic of this time.
A curious fashion came in during 1783, in the use of straw as an ornament of dress. It was used to decorate everything, from the cap to the shoe buckle, and naturally this was the era of straw bonnets. In 1794 extremely short waists became fashionable; that is to say, the waists of dresses were carried up to the armpits. In derision of this fashion, a song commencing,
“Shepherds, I have lost my love,
Have you seen my Anna?”