Dressing the Georgians: exhibition explores ‘pivotal second’ in style | Vogue

The large, hooped robes worn by ladies within the 18th-century courtroom of Queen Charlotte weren’t simply the model of the time, however a regal requirement.

However within the pleasure gardens and low homes, a style revolution was underneath manner. Men and women had been rejecting the formal grand costumes of the Georgian aristocracy in favour of latest textiles and extra snug garments.

“It was a pivotal second,” mentioned Anna Reynolds, the curator of Model & Society: Dressing the Georgians, an exhibition that opens this spring on the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.

“Throughout this era, we begin to see courtroom costume lagging behind road model, with individuals from throughout a much wider social spectrum than ever earlier than setting style developments.”

The exhibition contains greater than 200 works from the Royal Assortment, together with work, drawings and uncommon surviving examples of garments and equipment, offering an image of what the Georgians at courtroom wore together with altering developments on the streets.

A not often displayed full-length portrait of Queen Charlotte by Thomas Gainsborough, which often hangs at Windsor Fortress, depicts her in an impressive hooped robe lined with gold spangles and tassels.

In distinction, St James’s Park and the Mall, attributed to the British College, supplies a scene from 18th-century London’s most trendy assembly place, taking in Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his lavishly dressed companions alongside troopers, sailors and working-class serving ladies.

“The portray is de facto the poster picture for the exhibition. You’ve acquired individuals from all walks of life. There’s the Prince of Wales and his associates, and girls promoting cups of milk from a cow, a lady from the decrease courses nursing her toddler, a fireman – an actual mixing of society,” mentioned Reynolds.

In addition to the parks and pleasure gardens, individuals dressed to be seen within the new espresso homes and on the theatre. “That is the place you get new fashions spreading.”

Aprons, worn as protecting gadgets by working ladies, turned a method merchandise. “They turned elegant, maybe produced from lace. Even Queen Charlotte wore an apron. You begin to see developments transferring up, slightly than trickling down,” mentioned Reynolds.

“On the road, males begin to put on a sort of coat often called the frock coat, characterised by having slightly turn-down collar, and really derived from labourers’ clothes. Whereas at courtroom you’d have to hold on sporting a coat with a stand-up collar.”

By the tip of the 18th century, ladies’s clothes was a lot much less structured. A brand new cloth, cotton, started to be broadly used. “You’ve acquired a kind of costume often called a chemise costume, which was initially criticised as a result of it appeared like ladies’s undergarments. They had been in a way more snug, washable cloth, worn by everybody from maidservants to princesses.”

The exhibition additionally explores advances in haircare, cosmetics, eyewear and dentistry, the beginning of a specialised style press, and the event of purchasing as a leisure exercise.

Model & Society: Dressing the Georgians is on the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, from 21 April till 8 October.