Georgette Heyer's Regency World Page 20

  During the Regency, every article of a gentleman’s wardrobe, except for his stockings, was made by hand, usually in the home by his mother, sister, wife or daughter, or other female relative. Gentlemen of means, however, whose clothing needs or aspirations were beyond the skill of their womenfolk, usually paid for a tailor to measure, cut and fit individual garments. London tailors were considered the best in Europe, having gained an unshakeable ascendancy over the French after the Revolution and there were many who would have agreed with Lady Steeple in Venetia when she declared, ‘No Frenchman can make a riding habit.’ London tailors set the standard, and the best and most exclusive of them were master cutters with a precise eye for line and a passion for detail and a perfect fit. The best-known were Beau Brummell’s tailors Schweitzer and Davidson at 12 Cork Street and John Weston at 27 Old Bond Street, both of whom also made clothes for the Prince Regent, and Stultz and Scott who were favoured by military gentlemen. So superbly cut was the Earl of St Erth’s evening dress in The Quiet Gentleman that his cousin Martin found himself wishing that he too had had his made by Weston. A perfectly fitting coat was a great tailor’s trademark and his reputation could be made by his ability to enhance or highlight nature’s art. Men who were less well-endowed by nature in terms of well-shaped legs or broad shoulders could be helped by the tailor’s skill—along with a little sawdust stuffing or buckram padding.

  A small tailor did all his own measuring, pattern making, cutting and sewing, but a larger business, with a good clientele and a reputation to maintain, employed a staff of tailors overseen by a foreman. It was the foreman’s job to measure customers and cut out the pieces which were then handed to the working tailors for sewing. The master tailor would personally measure and cut only for his most important customers as they were the best advertisement for his business. When visiting Weston’s in Regency Buck, Peregrine Taverner found himself attended by the tailor and advised by him to follow either the Prince Regent’s or Mr Brummell’s taste in coats. To gain the favour of royalty or one of the leading dandies of the day was a guarantee for increased custom from other members of the ton.

  A Regency female’s wardrobe consisted almost entirely of items made by hand—either by herself or by someone skilled in the art. Although industrialisation was making rapid inroads into machine-made fabrics, during the Regency only stockings were made entirely by machine (aside from hand-knitted stockings, of course) and ready-made clothes were still some years away. In the years following the French Revolution in 1789, many French émigrés fled to England—some of whom were dressmakers, milliners, lace makers and embroideresses. A number of these women set up establishments in fashionable streets, such as Bruton or Conduit Streets in London or Milsom Street or South Parade in Bath, and advertised themselves as modistes with elegant French names designed to attract the cream of society ladies to their salons (although in Black Sheep, Madame Lisette was actually Eliza Mudford, formerly in service to the Princess Elizabeth). On visiting a modiste, ladies would be shown delicious examples of the dressmaker’s art from which they could order to suit their needs. In some cases, as when Abigail Wendover returned from a visit to London in Black Sheep, pre-purchased fabrics could be taken to a dressmaker and made into an agreed style of dress or other garment. The modiste, or mantua maker as they were also known, would discuss in detail with a customer the best choice of fabric, style and trimming for a dress before measuring her and taking a pattern. Patterns were generally made of paper or cloth, with cloth patterns sometimes used as the final lining of the dress. An exclusive dressmaker such as Madame Fanchon in Cotillion was expected to have exceptional taste, an eye for colour and line and a talent for designing and creating a garment ideally suited to the shape and complexion of her client. Dressmaking was a demanding occupation with long hours and close, careful work often done in poor light. During the Season when the aristocracy was at its busiest and many gowns were needed for a single debutante or society belle, or when a member of the royal family died and mourning dress became de rigueur, a dressmaker’s life—or that of her workers—could become one of unending toil. For a modiste with a well-established shop and a good name, however, dressmaking could be extremely profitable.

  HOBY’S FOR BOOTS

  The most fashionable bootmaker of the period was George Hoby, whose shop on the corner of Piccadilly and St James’s Street was patronised by all the best-dressed men of the ton. Renowned for a superb fit and the finest leather, Hoby made boots for royalty, officers in the military—including the Duke of Wellington—and for the most notable bucks and dandies of the beau monde. A boot by Hoby was instantly recognisable, as the valet Crimplesham explained to Hugo in The Unknown Ajax. Gentlemen could buy every kind of boot from Hoby’s, including Hussar boots, Wellington boots, military long boots and halfboots. The most popular were the highly polished hessians with their high V-shaped fronts and tassels, or the top-boots used for everyday wear or for hunting. For Court wear, evening wear, formal occasions or for dancing a man could also buy low-cut shoes or pumps. Hoby employed up to 300 workers and the success of his business made him extremely wealthy as well as rather arrogant (despite being a Methodist preacher as well a bootmaker). From his youth, the Duke of Wellington always had his boots made by him and after Wellington’s victory at Vittoria, Hoby was reputed to have attributed the General’s success to the combination of Hoby’s boots and prayers. Neither his arrogance nor his insolence to even his wealthiest customers appears to have affected sales of his magnificent footwear. It was to Hoby’s that Sir Nugent Fotherby in Sylvester went to have his hessian boots with their specially designed tassels made and it was to Hoby’s that the boots went back five times before Sir Nugent was satisfied.

  The best top-boots were made by Hoby.

  A pair of highly polished hessians was the mark of a gentleman.

  Ladies often had their evening shoes and slippers made to match a particular dress.

  As with most Regency trades, the shoemaker was also the shoe seller. In the towns and villages shoemakers often worked from home without a shopfront or display of wares, but in London many shoemakers had shops with goods exhibited in the window. Larger shops catered to both women and men, offering a range of made-to-measure shoes, boots and accessories such as leather gaiters or the cloth leggings known as spatterdashes which were worn to protect one’s stockings from mud splashes. Footwear was rarely bought ready-made by the upper classes, although in The Toll-Gate Captain Staple was forced to find himself a pair of brogues in a warehouse in Tideswell, Derbyshire. For most shoes, however, the shoemaker had to measure his customers’ feet and cut out the leather or fabric for their shoes himself. In a large and successful business the master shoemaker employed a foreman for this task while he waited on customers and oversaw the dressing, cutting and sewing of the leather or other material by his staff. It took a great deal of skill to make an elegant, well-formed shoe, and a shoemaker, or his journeyman, was usually adept at making either women’s or men’s shoes but not both. The material for ladies’ shoes was generally finer than that needed for men’s footwear and so neater seams were essential in order for the finished product to look its best. In the shops catering particularly to the upper class, the shoemaker would often make and keep labelled ‘shoe lasts’ for individual customers. These were wooden moulds, with a left and right last carefully made to match the customer’s feet, from which the shoemaker could construct a pair of shoes to order.

  Half-boots were especially popular for outdoor wear and could be made in a range of colours and fabrics.

  FRIBOURG & TREYER’S FOR SNUFF

  Fribourg & Treyer’s famous shop in Piccadilly.

  One of the most famous tobacconists in Britain was Fribourg & Treyer’s in Piccadilly. Many Regency men—and women—indulged in the fashionable habit of taking powdered tobacco or snuff in small pinches breathed up the nostrils, and over the years it became so popular that the famous Piccadilly tobacconists, Fribourg & Treyer, reported that in
the hundred years to 1820 ninety per cent of their retail custom was in snuff. There were many different types with variations in texture, colour and smell. The best known was Havana snuff which was the base (Brazil snuff excepted) of all other types. Snuffs such as Spanish Bran, Brazil, Lisbon and Macouba could be carefully mixed to produce new varieties known as ‘sorts’ and connoisseurs such as Lord Petersham made up their own trademark mixtures which became well known among tobacconists. Judith Taverner in Regency Buck had her own jar labelled as ‘Miss Taverner’s sort’ at Fribourg & Treyer’s. In addition to its own fragrance, snuff was frequently scented with additives such as the Prince Regent’s favourite, Otto or Attar of Roses. Snuff taking reached the height of its popularity in England between 1760 and the end of the Regency in 1820, becoming less common as the century progressed and tobacco smoking became increasingly preferred.

  LINEN DRAPERS

  Linen drapers sold all kinds of fabrics, threads, trimmings and a wide range of accessories, and the predominance of linen drapers in the larger cities reflected the importance of fabric choice for all classes of customers whose personal wardrobe and household linen—including sheets, table linen, curtains and bath cloths—were all hand-made. For country customers without the means to visit London or order from drapers in the larger towns and cities, itinerant haberdashers, travelling lace men and travelling linen drapers (also known as talleymen or Scotchmen) supplied most householders’ needs. In London many linen drapers established large shops both before and during the Regency. Wholesale drapers were mainly located in the City of London but the increasing popularity of shopping as a recreational activity and the establishment of shopping streets in the fashionable areas west of the City saw many businesses open premises in Piccadilly, Oxford, Regent and New Bond Streets. In 1817 there were thirty-three linen drapers in Oxford Street alone, with five additional drapers specialising in woollen fabric, twelve haberdashers, four furriers, a ribbon warehouse and two drapers-and-tailors. Kate Malvern shopped at Bedford House in Cousin Kate where she was able to purchase a variety of goods including ribbon trimmings, a shawl and a handkerchief. Linen drapers also attracted other businesses to retail districts and shoemakers, glovers, hat and bonnet makers, perfumers, button, fringe and trimming sellers, plumassiers or feather workers, silk mercers and hosiers would often set up businesses in the same street in hope of attracting follow-on custom to their shops.

  Many women enjoyed shopping for fabrics and trimming at the linen draper’s shop.

  Layton and Shear’s at Bedford House, Newton’s in Leicester Square, and Grafton House at 164 New Bond Street, were all well-known London linen drapers and so popular with ladies of the ton that it was considered advisable to visit before 11.00 a.m. to avoid the crowds. Kitty and Meg visited Grafton House in Cotillion and were delighted by the range and variety of wares in that popular emporium. Customers were always served by men, as female shop assistants (other than in the exclusive precincts of the milliner’s or modiste’s shop) did not become a force in the retail industry until well after the Regency. Fabrics were often hung in the window or placed outside the front door where they could be shown to their best advantage and would entice customers into the shop.

  JEWELLERS

  Although the Regency period witnessed a marked trend towards wearing simple or minimal jewellery during the day, the demands for truly elegant evening wear enabled many London jewellers and goldsmiths to create magnificent necklaces, brooches, jewelled tiaras, hair ornaments, aigrettes, rings and bracelets to set off the finest dresses and most fashionable hairstyles. Among the best-known Regency jewellers were Rundell and Bridge at 32 Ludgate Hill (est. 1788), Phillip’s on Bond Street, Gray’s in Sackville Street and Jeffrey’s—jeweller to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent (and to whom at one point the Prince owed £89,000 in unpaid bills). Diamonds and pearls were especially popular during the period, although many kinds of precious and semi-precious stones such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topazes, garnets and amethysts were also favoured. Lady Denville in False Colours had a topaz necklace set in filigree made for her by her jeweller as well as a necklace of clear amber beads—although this she unfortunately discovered did not at all become her and would have to be given away.

  Jewellers were often commissioned to create specially designed snuff-boxes, cameo brooches, lockets and picture rings into which could be incorporated a tiny miniature of the customer’s spouse, lover or mistress. In The Quiet Gentleman, Gervase, Earl of St Erth, chose to wear a signet ring with a very fine emerald (cut to his order) instead of the ring left to him by his father. As well as jewellery, most jewellers also dealt in silver and gold objets d’art, ornamental pieces such as candelabra, epergnes (table centrepieces), bowls and vases, and household items such as wine goblets, ice buckets and plate. Entire dinner services in gold or silver were sometimes bespoken by a member of the aristocracy or wealthy middle class and could be engraved or designed with a family crest or other symbols meaningful to the family. Jonathan Chawleigh in A Civil Contract offered to lend his vast collection of silver plate to his son-in-law for the Lyntons’ first rout party—an offer which Adam was resolute in refusing. A few years before his Regency, the Prince of Wales commissioned Rundell and Bridge to create a full dinner service in silver plate for grand State occasions. The silver-gilt service was so magnificent that in 1807 it was exhibited (by invitation only) in the jeweller’s showroom for several weeks to the delight of many among the upper class.

  Appointed as the royal jewellers from 1789, Rundell and Bridge enjoyed the benefits of considerable royal patronage throughout the Regency. In 1816 the Regent’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, in company with her grandmother the Queen, visited Rundell and Bridge prior to the Princess’s wedding to Prince Leopold. There the Queen helped Princess Charlotte to select several superb items of jewellery to wear during the marriage ceremony—including a stunning wreath of diamond roses, a diamond cestus (belt or girdle) and a magnificent set of pearls. Most jewellers both bought and sold jewellery and other items of gold and silver and during the Regency it was not uncommon for those with large gambling debts to try to offset them by selling personal or family heirlooms. Mrs Byron’s jewels were sold after her death in 1811 to Rundell and Bridge for £1,130 and among the aristocracy there were many who availed themselves of the services of Philip Rundell’s partner, John Bridge, who was well known for his discretion and pleasant demeanour and who would give valued clients a reasonable price for their treasures. In The Grand Sophy, it was Mr Bridge who handled the sale of Sophy’s diamond earrings with such tactful insight and who kindly kept her in his private office until the shop was clear of customers.

  COSMETICS

  Throughout the eighteenth century upper-class men and women had delighted in painting their faces with (often poisonous) white paint or enamel, applying patches and wearing elaborate powdered wigs. By the time of the Regency, however, most of these beauty aids had vanished—although some among the older generation still clung to the traditions of their youth. The less complicated dress fashions of the Regency period encouraged a simpler look, with an emphasis for women on ‘innocence’, and a less obvious use of cosmetics. Although coloured lip salves, eyebrow stains and pencils, eyelash tints, paints and powders continued to be used, much of the beauty advice in magazines and books discouraged the use of cosmetics and nominated rouge as the only acceptable enhancement to beauty—and then only if absolutely necessary. Arabella, on being persuaded to add just a touch of rouge to her cheeks when dressing for Lady Bridlington’s ball in Arabella, was so appalled by the result that she instantly washed it off. The best rouge was powdered carmine made from cochineal; a vibrant red, it needed subtle application and was sometimes mixed with hair powder to lighten the colour.

  Ladies bought their rouge from a perfumer and, although there was less demand for actual cosmetics, there were many other beauty products to tempt the Regency debutante, society belle or fashionable lady. Beautifying creams, anti-w
rinkle lotions, balsams, ointments, oils, salves, scented waters, perfumes, pastes, powders and pomades (perfumed hair oils) were all available in shops throughout London, and by 1817 there were five perfumers on Oxford Street alone. The beautiful Lady Denville in False Colours used Olympian Dew to protect her complexion during the day which was advertised, along with other aids to beauty such as Denmark Lotion and Bloom of Ninon, in the ladies’ magazines and society journals so popular during the period. Men also used beauty products, including perfume, face cream, hair oil, soap, shaving lotion, mouthwash and, for some among the dandy set, rouge.

  Many sellers of cosmetics claimed to have royal patents, or to be suppliers to the Prince Regent or other members of the royal family, and a handful displayed the British coat of arms as a means of reassuring potential customers of the authenticity of their products, for which they frequently made extravagant claims. Price and Gosnell (Perfumers and Soap Makers to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent) advertised their ‘invaluable preparation for washing, softening and beautifying the skin: Johnstone’s Royal Patent Windsor Soap’ and their ‘elegant treble distilled lavender water’, while warning readers to beware of counterfeits. Ladies attending number 12 Three-King Court in London’s Lombard Street could also improve and preserve their complexions by purchasing a bottle of Price and Gosnell’s Patent Naples Cream and Milk of Almonds for only 5s. a bottle, while Gowland’s Lotion promised to be ‘the most pleasant and effective remedy for all complaints to which the Face and Skin are liable’.