Dress in Eighteenth Century England
by Anne Buck
We’ve ended up writing quite a bit about this book – although we only hope it makes you read it! So, rather than having one tremendously long page, we’ve broken it down into the chapter form found in the book. Please click on the chapters to read their reviews and some of what we found specifically interesting on their pages.
Chapter Breakdown:
1) Crown and Court
2) People of Fashion.
3) The Gentry.
4) Servants.
5) The common people.
6) Buying and Making Clothes.
7) Fabric and Wearers.
8) Dress and Society.
This book helped us at HandBound costumes to certainly understand more of the culture and the background of the 18th century. It’s easy to imagine this period of history in that kind of classic, idilic historical novel syndrome, where the rich are rich and snobby, and the poor are either hardworking or scoundrels! We read this just prior to The Beautiful Mrs Graham and both books built up our picture of this part of Society. For example, it was completely fresh for us to read how these ‘Court-attending’ Nobles considered their ancestral homes back in the countryside and the love they held for them. Why is this important? Because it also changed their views on clothes. The Riding Habit became fuller in character through this book, the polite society’s rules on wearing these country/riding clothes beautifully explained. Perhaps with the topic of the ‘Royal Family’ we are a bit more accustomed, but for the surrounding court full of people this book certainly broadens the image of these ladies and gentlemen.
