Fashion In The Time Of Jane Austen (13 page)

Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1816 looking elegant in striped gown with luxurious luxurious Paisley shawl.

Men had chosen to make the Great Renunciation, giving up fine fabrics, decoration and even colour to create the convention of the business suit, but in exchange they gained a new world of business and industry crowned with a top hat. For women the renunciation was enforced by a strict moral opprobrium that stripped away the idealism that had been so carefully represented through dress, replacing it with a facile submissive prettiness. The waist was gradually restored to its natural position and laced tighter than ever, whilst further encumbrance was added as sleeves grew wider, hems gained width and heavy decoration, and bonnets became blinkers to the world.

‘Evening Dress for Mourning’ (
Ackermann’s Repository
, December 1817). The nation was plunged into mourning when Princess Charlotte died in childbirth on 6 November 1817. Mourning was observed for royalty as well as even the most distant family members, but the expense of buying special mourning clothes would sometimes mar the sentiment.

Deep blue dress with ruff and shawl, 1819. The days of girlish freedom were over as women would soon have to cope with the enforced concealment of poke bonnets and an ever-narrowing waistline demanded by corsets even more cruel than their eighteenth-century predecessors.

Published in Great Britain in 2011 by Shire Publications Ltd, Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford OX2 0PH, United Kingdom.

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© 2010 Sarah Jane Downing. First published 2010; reprinted 2010 and 2011.

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Shire Library no. 583

Print
ISBN
-13: 978 0 74780 767 4

PDF
e-book
ISBN
: 978 0 74780 942 5

ePub e-book
ISBN
: 978 0 74781 161 9

Sarah Jane Downing has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this book.

Designed by Tony Truscott

Printed in China through World print Ltd.

11 12 13 14 15  12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

COVER IMAGE

Two Strings to her Bow
, by John Pettie (1887).

TITLE PAGE IMAGE

Afternoon dress, 1812.

CONTENTS PAGE IMAGE

Jerry in Training for a Swell
(
Life in London
by Pierce Egan, 1822). Cut and fit were everything even if a corset like the one discarded on the floor was necessary. ‘
Clothes maketh the man
’ and already London tailors were renowned for their incredible skill in creating a gentleman.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Illustrations are acknowledged as follows: Alison J. Carter, Senior Keeper of Art & Design, Hampshire County Council Museums and Archives Service, page 48 (upper); Cora Ginsburg LLC, page 45; Victor Hassall, Bonhams, page 57 (lower); Michelle Hyde, page 14 (upper right) and 39 (lower); The Jane Austen Memorial Trust, pages 53, and 58 (lower); Eleanor Keene of Bonhams, page 24 and 40 (lower); and Simon Wheeler (Wheeler Estate), page 62 (upper).

The Fashion Museum at Bath has been wonderful in its kind support for this book, as has The Jane Austen Memorial Trust, which loaned the photographs of Jane’s white muslin scarf, page 53 and the topaz crosses that belonged to Jane and Cassandra, page 58 (bottom).

Finally, my heartfelt thanks to my sister Emma, my parents, especially my mother for her French translations, Sacha and David, and to those fabulous people at Shire Publications, especially Nick Wright and Russell Butcher.

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