A regency lady gets dressed

Progress of the Toilet, a series of engravings created in 1810 by James Gillray, a renowned and prolific British caricaturist, show three illustrations that depict a young lady being dressed by her maid. The details in these prints from an extensive print collection at the Yale University Library are striking and informative.

In the first plate, The Stays, Gillray depicts a young lady in her undergarments and wearing a cap, stockings, and slippers. On the floor sit a bowl and pitcher with water. Toiletries, pins, and jewelry are scattered on top of her dressing table. She inserts a busk between her breasts as her maid tightens her stays. Find a more detailed explanation about regency undergarments and regency fashions by clicking on the bolded words.


Elaborate powdered wigs of the previous century gave way to simpler hair styles, some cut quite short. In the illustration entitled The Wig, the maid prepares to place a short curly wig on her mistress' head. Note that the mirror is now full length and that the side table looks different. Our young lady sits in a simple muslin day gown, with neck and arms covered, reading a book as her maid prepares her. A bonnet and an open robe or pelise (on chair) will complete her toilette. Find more regency hairstyles on this site.

In the third engraving, Dress Completed, we observe our young lady dressed for the evening and putting on evening gloves, which, typical of the day, are loose at the top. Her maid holds a shawl and fan, and her reticule hangs on a hook on the wall. The side table is no longer visible; her fashion plate book/magazine lies discarded on the floor. Our young lady's slippers probably looked like this pair below. For a comprehensive view of footwear during this era, click here.

In The Mirror of Graces, 1811, a Lady of Distinction write, "Perhaps it is necessary to remind my readers that custom regulates the veiling or unveling the figure, according to different periods in the day. In the morning the arms and bosom must be completely covered to the throat and wrists. From the dinner-hour to the termination of the day, the arms, to a graceful height above the elbow, may be bare; and the neck and shoulders unveiled as far as delicacy will allow."

Find regency clothing for sale on this site and a regency timeline in fashion here.

On Dancing the Cotillion

In The Mirror of Graces (1811), A Lady of Distinction writes

"The utmost in dancing to which a gentlewoman ought to aspire, is an agile and graceful movement of her feet, an harmonious motion with her arms, and a corresponding easy carriage of her whole body. But, when she has gained this proficiency, should she find herself so unusually mistress of the art as to be able, in any way, to rival her professors by whom she has been taught, she must ever hold in mind, that the same style of dancing is not equally proper for all kinds of dances.

For instance, the English country-dance and the French cotillion require totally different movements."

The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the cotillion as:

"late 18th-century and 19th-century French court dance, popular also in England. A precursor of the quadrille, the cotillion was danced by four couples standing in a square set. The first and third, then the second and fourth, couples executed various series of geometric figures."

In The Gentleman & Lady's Companion, Printed by J. Trumbull, 1798, the author describes the cotillion as thus:

"Balance all eight, then half round, the same back again, 1st and 2d couple (opposite) take your partners with both hands, chasse with her to your side with five steps, back again to your places, balance with the opposite couples, then cross hands half round, back again with four hands round, a gentleman with a lady opposite balance in the middle, and set, the other gentleman with the opposite lady do the same, right and left quite round until to your places. The 3d and 4th couples do the same figures."

Click here to read this original source from the Library of Congress.

Also in this blog: Shall We Dance? Regency Style

Shall We Dance? Regency Style

"In 1814 the famous Lady Jersey was at the head of the Council, and the balls at Almack's were the ne plus ultra of fashionable entertainments. In those days a voucher for Almack's, only obtained from one of the six lady patronesses, was the aim and object of all who wished to shine in the mystic circle of the ultra-fashionable clique of London society; and an introduction to one of these great ladies was a matter of most anxious importance. The very stringent code of rules which guarded these gatherings from the intrusion of anyone outside the privileged circle was drawn up by Lady Jersey and her co-patronesses, and an admission was fraught with great difficulties. Each lady could only give a certain number of vouchers, and only the quintessence of aristocracy were present, while it was said three-fourths of the nobility knocked in vain at the portals of Almack's." - Mrs. Armytage

• Find a description of regency dances on Wikipedia.
• Social Dances of the 19th Century
• Regency Dance at the Regency Reader site