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- Hello and welcome to "Fashion Through History,"
brought to you by English Heritage.
I am fashion historian Dr. Serena Dyer,
and today, I'm here at Kenwood
near Hampstead Heath in London.
During the Georgian period,
Kenwood was home to a number of individuals,
including William Murray the 1st Earl of Mansfield,
and Dido Elizabeth Belle,
who you might know from the film "Belle."
We'll be looking at some of the fashions
that Dido Belle might have worn
during her time at Kenwood
as well as those of her famous fashion contemporary,
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.
We'll be joined by Louise Cooling, English Heritage curator,
who'll be telling us a little bit more
about life in Georgian society
and Dido Belle and Georgiana Cavendish's places within it.
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So, how did Dido Belle come here to Kenwood?
- So, Dido was born probably in around 1761,
probably in the Caribbean.
She was the daughter of a young enslaved African girl
named Maria Belle
and a Royal Naval officer, Captain Sir John Lindsay.
We don't know a huge amount about Dido's early life,
but we do know that when she was around five years old,
her father brought Dido and her mother to England
and he placed five year old Dido into the care
of his aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Mansfield,
here at Kenwood to be raised alongside her cousin,
Lady Elizabeth Murray, who was already here.
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- Shanice is wearing our first look
which is based upon the famous portrait
of Dido Belle and Elizabeth.
So this gown is known as a sultana in the 18th century.
It's based upon the exotic styles that were imported
from places like Istanbul and Turkey,
and women like Mary Wortley Montagu
made them really popular.
We see a lot of women wearing these styles of gowns
in portraits from the 1740s onwards,
but it's quite interesting that Elizabeth and Dido
are presented in such a contrasting way in this painting,
perhaps indicating the differences
in their status and backgrounds.
So can you tell us a little bit more
about Dido Belle's relationship with her family?
- Yeah, absolutely.
So
Dido was raised as a lady.
She was very much part of the family,
but perhaps a much loved if poor relation.
So she was taught to read and write, play music.
She also superintended the dairy here at Kenwood
which was a very fashionable pastime
for aristocratic ladies in the 18th century.
- So, Shanice, shall we get you dressed
into something a little more formal?
- Yes. (chuckles)
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- So let's start by taking off your sultana.
Underneath your sultana
you're wearing
a set of stays.
Now these were a really important part
of every 18th century woman's wardrobe.
They are boned with something called baleen,
which is whale bone,
but it actually comes from the mouth of a whale
and is a very flexible material,
so they're not quite as uncomfortable as they might look.
But they give this fabulous conical silhouette
which is really epitomizing that 18th century style.
So the next garment we're gonna put on you
are these panniers.
So, you'll see that you're already wearing pockets.
So this is where the "Lucy Locket lost her pocket"
nursery rhyme comes from
'cause they're these tie on pockets.
And then over the top of those
you have even more storage space in your panniers.
So these are made from linen
and they are reinforced with cane strips
that hold out this shape.
So the next garment is your petticoat.
So this just pops on over your head, you dive into it.
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And then it ties
at the front
and then at the back.
So you can see these slits on the side
mean that you still have access to your pockets
and your panniers underneath.
So the next garment is your stomacher.
So this pins
onto the front
of the stays.
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And you could interchange the stomachers
that you wore with different outfits.
So you could have a matching stomacher like this one,
or you could have a nice embroidered, contrasting stomacher.
And we even sometimes see dresses
that have multiple matching stomachers
made out of the same fabric but with different trims on,
so there's some variety
without having lots of different dresses.
And then finally,
the gown.
So the gown just slips on over the top.
It has a fitted lining
that fits to the body,
but then
has the beautiful flowing pleats at the back.
And again, this just pins on.
So that's the finished outfit.
Is this something that you would normally wear, Shanice?
- Not normally, but I do actually quite like it.
I love the color, it's beautiful.
So yeah, maybe I'll start wearing it on a Saturday night.
(all chuckling)
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- So, now that you've had a chance
to wear the dress, Shanice,
can you tell us a little bit about how it feels?
- Yeah, it feels pretty comfortable to wear.
I can imagine if you're wearing the stay every day,
that can be a bit uncomfortable,
but just for a few hours or for the day, it's not too bad.
- And this was the quintessential dress of fashion
when Dido Belle first came to Kenwood in the 1760s.
This is known as a sack-back and it's made from silk,
which was a really popular choice in this period.
So Louise, maybe you can tell us a little bit
about how the industrial revolution
influenced fashion in this period.
- The 18th century was a really dramatic time
in British history.
It saw Britain transformed
into the first industrial superpower.
This was the age of the industrial revolution
where steam technology was changing,
manufacturing was changing,
and transport links were improving,
all of which made Britain
the first truly industrialized nation.
- So, the dress that we have here
is made up of three main parts.
So we've got the gown which opens at the front,
and which is worn over a petticoat.
So unlike today, where we think of a petticoat
as being an undergarment, in the 18th century,
it was something that was on show.
And then the front at the center front of the bodice
is filled in with a stomacher.
So this is just a triangular piece of fabric
that's often covered with these elaborate decorations.
We also have some excellent trim on this dress
which is really fluffy
and gives that kind of 18th century aesthetic.
And trim was another way that women stayed fashionable
in the 18th century,
'cause you could have this dress
and change up the trim to different things.
And here, we can see the pinked trim on the dress.
So pinking is this raw edge
that's done in a decorative pattern
and it was achieved by using a metal stamp
that was hammered along the fabric.
You might see as well that this dress
has a lot of fabric in it.
The pleats at the back are massive.
There's about 10 meters of fabric in this dress,
but that means that it can be really easily reused
and recycled into something else.
And we actually see that Georgian fashion
is surprisingly sustainable
as garments are constantly reused
because it's the fabric that's worth the money
rather than the labor of making the dress.
And shopping in this period was really driven
by fashion leaders as well
like our next figure, Georgiana Cavendish.
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Our final look is modeled by Alice
who is wearing a gown very similar to those worn
by Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire,
who was a fashion leader of the 18th century.
Alice, how does the fabric of this gown feel?
- It's very light.
It feels very, yeah, quite soft.
The stays are a little bit more constricting,
but other than that, quite free.
- Can you tell us a little bit more about Georgiana, Louise?
- Yeah, so Georgiana was one of the most charismatic figures
of 18th century society.
She was famous for her style, for her fabulous parties,
and for being a bit of a media darling.
- And throughout Georgiana's life,
there really was a huge amount of focus on how she looked,
and the emphasis has really moved from the hips,
which we saw with the last look, around to the bum.
And the supportive undergarment is actually called a bum.
We also see that the stomacher has disappeared
and now we have a center front opening.
And the hair has changed as well.
Instead of just being about height, it's also about width,
and basically creating as large a headpiece
as you can possibly get.
The skirt on this dress can also allow for different options
for how it can be worn,
so again, we're seeing that versatility in fashion.
You can unloop these chords at the back
and have the skirt go full length.
So can you tell us a little bit more, Louise,
about Georgiana's life and times
in London in the 18th century?
- Yeah, Georgiana was a woman
of many interests and many talents.
She was one of the first women
to be actively involved in politics,
so despite the fact that women
wouldn't have the vote for more than a century,
her husband's status meant that she could play
an active party in politics,
and she was a keen advocate of the Whig Party.
She, in fact, took to the streets
campaigning during one general election.
She was also interested in science,
she was interested in mineralogy and geology,
and she had her own laboratory
where she carried out chemical experiments.
She wrote poetry, which some of which she had published,
and a novel which was semi-autobiographical
and was published anonymously in her own lifetime.
- Thank you so much Louise and Alice.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
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What we find inside the wardrobes of historical figures
can tell us so much about the time in which they lived,
and that's very much the case for Dido Belle
and Georgiana Cavendish.
If you would like to find out more about Dido Belle,
Georgiana Cavendish, or Kenwood,
then please go to the English Heritage website.
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