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Hilary Davidson, "A Guide to Regency Dress: from Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins? (Yale UP 2025)
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Meet the.
- [00:28]
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Has the league ever seen anything like this?
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New Books Network Intro/Outro
Welcome to the New Books Network.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
Hello and welcome to another episode on the New Books Network. I'm one of your hosts, Dr. Miranda Melcher, and I'm very pleased today to be speaking with Dr. Hilary Davidson about her book titled A Guide to Regency Dress From Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins, published by Yale University Press in 2025. Now, obviously the Regency period in English fashion is really famous and there are many elements of it that we certainly see a lot in period dramas and perhaps because of that, actually know the names of at least some of the things that the men and women are wearing. But part of the whole Regency drama is quite often that the clothes are really complex and that they took a lot of people's time to figure out. And this book really helps us make sense of that. What are all the different pieces? How are they created? Obviously that's finished items like a particular coat or gown, but also the textiles and trimmings that make them up as well. So this is a book that has a whole bunch of detail and ideas all packed into something really quite sort of image heavy and readable, and I'm sure will lead to a fascinating discussion as well. So, Hilary, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Thank you so much for having me.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
Could you start us off by introducing yourself a little bit and tell us why you decided to write this book?
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
So, I am Dr. Hilary Davidson, and I'm a dress and textile historian and curator. And this book is the third book that I've written on Regency fashion. And my first book was Dress in the Age of Jane Austen, Regency Fashion, which was like a really broad kind of academic look at the world of clothing in its kind of all its complexities at the time of Jane Austen. And my second one was Jane Austen's Wardrobe that, rather than being broad, did a deep dive into what we can know Jane Austen wore. But I realized that these books aren't necessarily something you could just pick up and flick through if you do want to find out exactly what a police or a bonnet is or how breaches are cut at the time. And so I wanted to kind of take all of that knowledge that I'd gained from doing many years of research for the other two books and kind of put it into a form that lots of people could access, that you could, if you knew nothing about Regency dress, you can pick up this book and find something out, or even if you're an expert in, say, dress history, such as a curator or perhaps a costume designer, that it's a really straightforward, easy way to look at what was what. What do we call this thing? What might this fabric be used for? What actually is a pelisse and how do you wear it? So I just wanted to. I wanted to have something that was open to everybody and made all of this research that I've spent years accumulating. It's kind of useful. You know, what's the point of knowing all these things if I can't shake my head out and share it with other people? So that's really why I ended up writing this book.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
That's a lovely introduction. Thank you for giving us that foundation. And it makes a question that I kind of often ask when one is doing a book that takes so many. What could be small pieces and kind of puts them together, a sort of puzzle piece type exercise, even more relevant because, of course, when one is writing, for example, a linear history of a particular time, you don't really have to think that much about structure, right? You start at the beginning and you keep going until the end. But when you're Putting lots of pieces together, it is a much bigger question, and especially when you've got these multiple kinds of audiences in mind, as you've just described. So how is the book structured, and how did you kind of make those decisions in terms of thinking through these different ways that different kinds of readers might engage with it?
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Because it's called A Guide to Regency Dress, but early versions of it, I was calling it something like a dictionary of Regency Dress. And so that kind of structure of something that you can just look up, like a glossary or a dictionary, is really what was guiding me. And one of the best ways I've heard this described is a friend of mine who, when she sort of saw the size, which is sort of smaller and, you know, more easily kind of held and flicked through, she said, oh, it's like a field guide to the Regency drawing rooms. So I love that idea. This is how you can look up the lesser spotted muslin or the common or garden breeches. And so what I wanted to do was just have quite a straightforward structure. It's divided into five chapters. So it goes through women's dress, men's dress, and then jewelry, which is not something that I've looked at in really specific detail before, and then hair and beauty and textiles and trimmings. And so in each of these, there's an introduction to the whole book to kind of situate people in the time and place and understand what's happening. And then each of those chapters does have a kind of a textual introduction, just talking about how and why people wore these clothes and how they put them together. So, for example, if you're a Regency lady getting dressed, what's your order of dressing? What garments are you putting on? And then it goes into this kind of dictionary format, which is just. It's alphabetical, and it has the head word at the beginning with all of the variant spellings, and then a definition as closely as I can make it, based on the sources. So it gives a way for people to kind of. It's very clear what the thing that they're looking for, where it might be within these chapters, and then you can either kind of read through it, or you can be looking for specific information. So it's not just a kind of a dry dictionary list of words. It's got some guidance about how to interpret these things, but then also does have kind of quite straightforward factual information.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
That is very helpful as a structure for the book to give people a sense of the many things that it contains. And as well, of course, as all of that text and explanation. You also have images too. Now, obviously not one image for every single thing, because that would, you know, definitely make this not something you could hold in one hand and flick through.
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Yeah.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
So how did you go about approaching deciding kind of which things would have images and then figuring out which images those would be?
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
I love image research and I, as you can imagine, I've looked at thousands of images in the course of what I am shocked to find out is about 18 years of research into Regency dress. So I've kind of. I compile things, I keep things, I've got lots and lots of files of images. And what I was really keen to do for this book, especially because I've already got two previous books, each of which has got about 180 to 200 images in it, is to find new ones for this. And because I was doing something that was really explanatory, I wanted to find images that showed what the kind of almost the way that I was looking at Regency dress, but had unusual things in it, items that people might be less familiar with or had really good examples of a particular kind of textile. So tinseled tissue that it. That's a very specific thing and it's not necessarily something that people might be able to imagine. So I wanted to really have images that would explain, as it were, that, you know, this object looks like this, that it has these characteristics. And because I have published so much, I really did try and find new things so that all three of my books would work together in a way that, you know, someone's not just going, oh, gosh, she's used that image again. There's a couple of repetitions, but I really worked hard to find again, new ways in and find new things to offer the reader, even if they're very experienced in the period.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
Well, for those of us who are less experienced in the period, can we do some basics, please? You mentioned earlier that kind of one of the structural elements of the book is thinking about the individual items, but also kind of how they would be worn together. So if we're thinking about less so the really odd, unusual pieces and more, the kind of straightforward things that most men, most women would be wearing in this period. What are those basic items?
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Well, so if you are, let's say, Regency lady getting up in the morning, you would be taking off your nightgown of some sort and you would be putting on an equivalent garment, so something made generally of linen at this point, that is your, your first garment and that goes next to your body. And in Britain at this time, it's called a smock or a shift. The French word chemise is only becomes more popular by sort of the. After the Battle of Waterloo. So you're putting something on that is like a tunic and that's the thing that goes next to your skin and it's washable. And the idea of this smock is that it kind of protects the rest of the clothing from you. And on top of that, you would then put some kind of bust support, a pair of stays or a corset that is going to kind of. At the time, they often thought that these garments actually gave more warmth around the body, but is just going to sort of control and contain the bust for what you want to wear. And at this point, you're also going to be putting on your knee high stockings and tying them around your knee with some sort of garter. And then over this, you're probably putting at least one petticoat. And the fabric the petticoat is made of can depend on the season. You might want a nice cosy or wool flannel one if it's winter, but you're putting on at least one that goes over your stays and chemise. And on top of that you are then putting your gown and what the gown, what it's made of, and its fashionable details will depend on the time of day. But if we're talking about our Regency lady in the morning, she's probably putting on something of a lightweight wool or perhaps a printed cotton or even just a plain white cotton as a morning dress. And this will probably have long sleeves and the characteristic high waistline that makes this period such a distinctive fashion era. And on top, so that's the sort of the main garment that she's wearing. And then on top of this, she might put on a tucker or some sort of handkerchief to fill in a neckline, if it doesn't have a high neck. And shoes, sort of plain leather heelless shoes, a little bit like ballet slippers, really, for being in the house during the day. And if, if she's just going down to breakfast, some sort of cap. And then if our lady, once she's dressed for the day, if she's going out to make calls, she might put on something of a nicer quality, a walking dress, a carriage dress and some sort of coat, perhaps a pelisse and a bonnet, which could have a brim, but it didn't necessarily have a brim. Some gloves, perhaps a parasol or an umbrella and maybe some stouter boots if she was going to walk a little bit further. So those are the kind of the main elements of Regency women's dress. You've got the underwear against the skin, a petticoat and gown over the top, and then various accessories which finish off your outfit, depending on where you're going, time of day and time of year. So that's our lady and her Regency gentleman companion or equivalent. He's doing very similar things. So he is putting linen garments against his body first of all. And for men, the basic garment here is a shirt, which is kind of longer than we might think of shirts. Now they tended to reach mid thigh and a lot more voluminous. And he can either tuck that, the sort of the end of the shirt between his legs to make a kind of underwear, or he might put on a pair of linen or flannel drawers that go on underneath his, his britches. So kind of knee length underwear. On top of that he puts on his britches, which could be made out of wool or leather perhaps if he's going riding, but if he's just popping down to breakfast, then they're probably going to be of wool if it's far enough in time. In the Regency period, he might be putting on trousers which are newly fashionable, although I think I'll talk about them a little bit later. And the difference between trousers and britches is that they, that britches reach the knee and trousers reach the ankle. But over his upper body he'll then put on some sort of waistcoat. And again, the fabric depends on season and time of day, so it could be wool or it could be a kind of a plain cotton. He's got a bit of room for fanciness here if he so chooses. And then over the top of that, a coat of some kind. And again, the cut depends where he is and what he's doing. Around the neck of his shirt he'll tie a neckcloth or handkerchief to keep his collar up and put on a pair of again, low heeled, sort of plain, probably black laced up shoes. And that's fine for him going down to breakfast too, if he chooses to leave the house, he will then add some sort of great coat, which is any kind of coat that goes over your everyday coat. Some gloves perhaps, some boots if he's going riding, and a hat of some of sort kind. So that's our kind of, that's what our Regency figures are wearing. And pretty much everything else that is involved is variations of those kind of principal garments.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
Okay, that's really helpful because now we can talk about those variations, knowing kind of what the standard is. So amongst those things you've just described to us, sort of, which of those articles would see the most variation? I mean, you mentioned obviously time of year would change the fabric. What about changes based on class or changing over the Regency period?
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Well, the, the cut of women's gowns is kind of the place where we sort of, we trace fashionable change the most. And this is really kind of located in where the waistline sits. The waistline of women's gowns went from kind of somewhere near the natural waist or kind of at the ribs to underneath the bust over about a three year period from sort of 1794 to 1797, and it stayed up under the bust until about 1820 when it started to drop again. And this is kind of the key element. If you have nothing else that signifies Regency, this is it with where the waistline is. But all sorts of other elements of women's gowns kind of contributed to subtle changes in fashion as well. So the skirts, which become sort of very straight and columnar by comparison with 18th century skirts, they're much fuller in the 1790s, they get slimmer in the 1800s, and then by the 1810s, the skirt bottoms are starting to bell out a bit, so they're kind of creating a triangular shape and then all sorts of details of sleeves, how puffy they are, which increases over this period, how long they are, how they're cut, how you trim things. For women, this is where kind of fashion sits. And often class is signified by how much you can participate in this fashionable change, but also what fabrics you're using to do it, whether you've got a linen tape or a silk ribbon. And it's certainly for women too, headwear is a huge spot of fashionable change. And the variations in kind of bonnets and hats and caps, it's much easier and quicker to kind of update a bonnet than it is to update date a gown. So we see a lot of kind of rapid fashion change there as well. And for men, the, the change is kind of in the cuts of coats and how the kind of 18th century frock coat essentially became a 19th century tail coat. They also have variations in how puffy their sleeves are, but it's, it's a much subtler and slower change. For men, one of the, the biggest things is this change from sort of breeches to trousers. That's kind of a huge fundamental shift in thinking about what men's clothing is. And it's, it, I mean, it's still with us today, the trousers there. So for men it's, it's in, it's fashionable changes in smaller details of dress. Whereas for women it's kind of a lot more kind of structural and decorative in how this works, how this works out. But I mean the time of year I think also we're so used to seeing period dramas that are set or filmed in summer when it's not raining that I think people have got this kind of idea that somehow in the Regency, everyone's tripping around in lightweight muslin dresses all the time. And I'm always really interested in how both men and women are using woolen garments, outer garments, woolen underwear to kind of keep themselves, themselves warm in Britain's rather damp, often cold climate. So those kind of variations as well, I, I'm, I'm always interested in, as a historian of how do real people dress themselves for the environment in which they live?
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
Yeah, I think that's definitely a very good point because the sunny days of many TV dramas is not what most of us notice in the uk.
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Exactly.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
And yeah, all that silk kind of wouldn't work all year round, so that's helpful. What you were saying though, about class difference in terms of, not necessarily upper classes would have different fashions than lower classes, but that they'd all have the same fashion, but the material used to create the fashion would be sort of the difference here. And a thing that comes up, for example in the period dramas is like, oh, her bonnet is the right size, but oh, look at that tiny little detail. And some drama comes out of making a comment on her class position. You've actually done proper research on this, right? So like, how much was it a thing that these small visual markers of the trimmings or kind of things that might otherwise look like an identical coat to us, you know, who don't notice those small details, how much were those visible class markers?
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
They absolutely were. This is a period where everybody is reading all of the details of dress all the time and it's not just in the cut, it's in the quality of the fabric, how it's worn, how it's trimmed, how it's accessorized. And for me, as a historian, trying to get back into the way people saw each other in this period is something that deeply interests me and something that I've kind of worked hard to attempt to reconstruct. And, and the, the best way I can sort of explain it perhaps in modern terms is people instantly knowing the difference between, say, a real Louis Vuitton handbag and a fake Louis Vuitton handbag. And if you're not interested in that, it might sort of pass you by. But if you know, you know, so because in this period people had a less clothing, they had fewer pieces of clothing to put together, even if you're very wealthy, and wealth is often marked out by, like, how, how much clothing you have access to, so you, you've got less clothing. And also, people had to make more decisions about how it went together to get to buy a dress. You couldn't just go to the store and, and buy it. At this point, you have to kind of get the fabric and then go to a dressmaker and work with her to decide the fashion, the cut, how you want it to be, to what the final product is. So, as it were, like, if you're looking at some people in a ballroom, you're not just looking at what they've chosen to wear off the shelf because that doesn't exist. You're looking at things that they've made decisions about the whole time from buying the fabric. So you can assess their fabric quality, how much they might have spent on this, how old their gown is, whether or not the sort of, the tiny details of the trimming or how full the skirt is or how full the sleeves are or what the color is, or what sort of small corset they've worn over the top, like, how much does that fit in with what is currently in fashion? Is this an old gown that you've seen ten times before that they've just had redyed and refurbished? Because also, it's a smaller society, so people are seeing each other more often and kind of like, wait, I know that. Isn't that your old, you know, white muslin, spotted muslin that you've just had dyed blue? And then as well, you have the fibers that are being used. Is something cotton? Is it silk? Is it linen? How, how fancy is your, is your gown? Is that something that is, you're supposed to have that level of fanciness or not that level of fanciness? For example, in Mansfield Park, Jane Austen has the horrible Mrs. Norris commenting that the, that when she's speaking to a housekeeper that they agree that this, the, the servants shouldn't wear white because it's, you know, it's, it's, it's too nice for servants dress. So all of these things people kind of understood. You know, if a man had maybe two new coats a year, it's a big deal when he gets a new coat and all of his friends would kind of would notice it. So this kind of, it's, it's not, it's not a language of fashion because that's too, that's too sort of simple an analogy. But it's a highly observant, what Jane Austen calls a network of Voluntary spies, just noticing everything about how people expressed themselves, their social situation, their financial situation, their personal tastes in clothing. And because it's all bespoke as well, that. How does this fit you? How you know, have you made a terrible choice on the sleeves? Is it. Does this really kind of suit you? Does this suit your figure? And this is what I find absolutely fascinating about Regency dress is looking at the ways people talk about other people in this, what it is that they notice these kind of, you know, micro critiques of or like, instant, like, understanding of people's class based on this, this clothing. There's a wonderful, there's a wonderful example of the governess, Ellen Wheaton, who was quite a miserable person, but left incredibly detailed diaries that are a great source for kind of Regency life. And she talks about being in a carriage once and speaking to a man who had a very good coat on. And because of the quality of his coat, she thought he was of a higher social situation than he was. And when they got out and in and she realized that he was just a SC servant, she was very embarrassed because she had misread him through his clothes. So this idea as well of that your clothing should accurately represent you was a huge concern for people for centuries. So that because of the class concerns, if you're a housemaid, you should look like a housemaid. You shouldn't try and ape the lady of the house because then people might not know that you're a housemaid. And if you were, you know, a lady of quality, even though your dress might be very plain and simple, it should still bespeak a kind of a, you know, a natural taste and a modesty and a respectability that everybody knows what your position is. So this kind of intersection of fashion, dress, class, textiles, it, it, it's something I've that trying to analyze it is been a strong driver of a lot of my work in this period.
- [27:49]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Yeah, this is really interesting to understand. And so much of what kinds of books I choose to interview on the podcast is often sort of myth busting type books. You know, you've done the actual research. What does or does not hold up and just as interesting as the times that historians come on and go, yeah, yeah, no, that's a complete myth. Here's the real fact. It's just as interesting to have a historian like you come and be like, no, really, that judgment of the really small details was actually a thing. So thank you for explaining that level of attention to detail to us. And I'd love to kind of pick up Then as well, on some of the newest aspects that people were looking at in this period. So you mentioned trousers earlier as being new in this moment. Do you want to tell us more about that and maybe some other items that kind of are specifically coming about in this moment?
- [28:39]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
I am very happy to talk about trousers. And again, this is one of the reasons that I find the Regency period interesting is because it's a period of rapid innovation and change in dress, that it really bridges that kind of 18th century, the end of the early modern period, as historians call it, into the modern period. And this kind of turn of the 19th century is such a great period, period of rapid developments. I think of it as kind of where the tide of the 18th century sort of meets the tide of the 19th century and then these two tides meet and there's lots of sort of ripples and energy in the water. But trousers have been around for a long time at this point. So again, that difference between breeches that reach the knee and then these kind of looser ankle lengths garments. But the point is they're working dress, so sailors wear them, people who work on the land might wear them. And what's new about this period is that trousers start to become acceptable in middle class and elite dress. And they become not. It's almost like a trickle up. They move from being working dress to being acceptable. And part of this has to do with the ongoing Napoleonic wars, the conflicts across Europe there, because we're also getting pantaloons, which are like breeches, which are tight to the leg and then they're tight down to the ankle. So trousers are loose to the ankle, pantaloons are tight to the ankle. And these come about from a lot of army wear, because pantaloons fit into boots that you wear for riding on horseback, especially if you're part of the cavalry. So trousers and pantaloons, these kind of ankle length men's lower garments, start to rise in popularity. And they also get popularized by these kind of heroic men going to war, both in the army and particularly for Britain in the navy. And since so many sailors wore trousers, they start, trousers start to kind of partake of that sort of martial heroism through men's dress that is such a kind of a hallmark of this rise of the navy and the popularity of the navy as they're doing so much work kind of blockading Napoleon. So by, even by sort of about 1810, it's still trousers weren't acceptable in evening wear, but by 1820, trousers are acceptable everywhere and they completely take over from breeches. Except in the most formal situations for court dress, as the default men's leg wear, which is absolutely fascinating. You know, we completely take trousers for granted now, but they have a very specific introduction into elite fashion. And then there's other garments as well that kind of come about from the changes in silhouette and style. So, for example, the polisky as a woman's garment, meaning a kind of a coat dress that goes over your undergown, because the skirts become more columnar, it's possible to have a coat over your gown in a completely different way. So although the Pelisse was a men's garment originally, it becomes a standard part of women's wardrobes as well. The Spencer is one of the kind of iconic garments of Regency dress, which we associate being a short woman's jacket with a kind of a waistline that is also under the bust. But again, it came from men's clothing first and was a kind of a short, great coat that went over your tail coat. The shawl in European fashion is something that's also new at this time. So shawls come traditionally from the Kashmir region and were, first of all imported as luxuries. So they're sort of exotic luxuries from about the 1760s in Britain, although they don't really hit France till more like the 1790s. But once the shawl comes into fashion, it absolutely takes off and you have all of these British and French manufacturers competing with the luxurious imported Indian originals and trying to capture that market. So this is where we get a huge amount of shawl production and it enters the lexicon of European fashion as a normal garment. So, I mean, this is. That's at least, you know, four or five things that are permanently with us still in the kind of the clothing landscape that became a part of that landscape during the early 19th century.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
I mean, that's fabulously fascinating. Right. Like, we love seeing so much change happen in one moment. So, you know, the origin story of trousers. Thank you for sharing that with us here. And, of course, that kind of covers, I suppose, two of the three things I often love to investigate.
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
Right.
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Dr. Miranda Melcher
You've confirmed that something that could be seen as a myth is actually true. You've excavated an origin story that we weren't already aware of. If we go for the third, what myths would you really like to bust?
- [33:57]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Oh, I. Oh, I've got cherished myths that I would love people to stop spreading the. I mean, I think also the Regency period is one that has a lot of myths that are attached to it. So I'm going to. I'm going to give you my top three myths in reverse order of their pervasiveness. So I think the. The sort of number three myth is that women stopped wearing petticoats, that underneath all of these delicate, fine, transparent muslin gowns, they're wearing very little at all or nothing. And the thing is that some, as it were, extreme French fashionistas might have worn these dresses with just a silk body stocking underneath or one very light petticoat. But most British women were not doing that, one because it's cold, and two, too, because it was shocking and it was extreme. And it's like with all of these things, when, whenever people say, oh, you know, women stopped wearing petticoats, I always. I like to say kind of that's like looking back at early 21st century fashion and saying that everybody dressed like Kim Kardashian. You know, she's a. She's a. She's an extreme kind of fashion leader. But that's not necessarily necessarily what everybody was. Was doing. So the number two myth, then, is also that women stopped wearing corsets. And I find this one absolutely fascinating because, to put it quite bluntly, one of the enduring issues about women's clothing is what do you do with breasts? Because they're there, they're all different sizes, and you have to do something with them. Cut around them, support them, suppress them, push them up, push them down. All sorts of options throughout history. So when people just say, oh, yes, women got rid of their corsets, I think it's interesting that they don't follow on with sort of what I think is the next logical question, which is, well, what then did they do with their breasts? And a lot of this myth comes down to the difference between stays and corsets. So I'm about to get a bit technical here. So bear with me, everybody. I'm going to explain this as clearly as I can. In the 18th century and for centuries beforehand, women have worn stays which are often quite heavily boned, stiffened torso shaping and supporting garments that create a kind of a mono bosom. So the idea is more to kind of support, but also create a kind of inverted triangle shape on women's upper bodies and stays. They could be made out of leather, they could be sort of less boned, more boned, but they had this very kind of geometric, slightly unnatural shape. And what happens with the rise of the waistline in the 1790s is that for all sorts of reasons, there is a new emphasis on this idea of the natural body. So we're taking ideas from antiquity, sort of Greek, Roman sculpture, of a less structured, formal, unnatural, geometric body. And so one of the things that comes about with sort of the rise of the gown waistline is the reappearance of two breasts rather than this kind of mono bosom. And so garments start. The undergarments start being cut with essentially two gussets or two breast cups, like a modern brassiere that has two separate cups there. And these garments were often made out of fabric and didn't have as much boning in them, and they were called corsets. So we have stays and corsets existing at the same time. But the difference for the wearers was in kind of how heavily they were boned and how they shaped the bosom. And these. These two kind of concepts. They. There's a lot of period of experimentation of playing around with this. And in Britain, even this kind of lighter cotton garments, they're sometimes called stays, they're sometimes called corsets. But the point was, they gave the illusion of not wearing a corset because everybody was so used to kind of stays being so stiff and obvious. And now they're being created to make it look like you just naturally had a high bust line. And so a lot of the. The fashion commentary at the time is kind of outraged and saying, oh, you know, goodness, it looks like women are not wearing anything. And people have taken this to mean that women weren't wearing anything. And another problem is that in paintings, you often see quite clear outlines of the breast. You can see nipples through fabric, but often there's still a corset underneath that's kind of supporting like a balcony bra. And so they're still wearing something, but they have the illusion of not wearing something. So this idea, which I've heard so many times from, even from people who've studied dress history. Oh, but women weren't wearing corsets at the time. It's, again, only applies to a very few extreme fashionistas. But most British women are wearing something under their gowns to support their bosom. And it's just the shape of it and the lightness of it has changed a lot. So that's probably more than anybody ever needed to know about Regency breasts. But I'm fascinated by this myth, and it's not even my number one top myth. Well, let's say, are you ready for the big one?
- [39:48]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Yes.
- [39:49]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
The number one myth that I hear about the Regency period, that I have read in respectable books on jewelry, that I get asked probably at nearly Every talk I give on Regency dress is, did Regency women really dampen their muslin gowns? Oh, really?
- [40:10]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
People still ask, okay, okay.
- [40:13]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
More than anything else. So the answer is, you're not going to be surprised to hear by now, no, they did not. But I am absolutely fascinated by the pervasiveness of this one. And again, this comes from misreading period sources where they say their gowns are so clinging, they look as if they have dampened them. And this has kind of become one of those games of, of, you know, rumor where people have said they've dampened their muslin gowns. And if there's, you know, if no other myth survives, it's this one. So I actually, I thought about a lot about this and thought about the other side of it, which is. All right, if you did have to dampen a muslin gown, how would you do it? How would you.
- [41:04]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
He's so impractical.
- [41:05]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
It's so impractical.
- [41:07]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
What are you, like, wandering around a ball with, like, a sponge?
- [41:10]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Exactly, Exactly. And so I'm delighted. I actually collaborated with Bernadette Banner, who's a very popular historical costume YouTuber. And in November this year, we did a video busting this myth where we actually dampened muslin gowns. And we worked out how you could, could do it and what it did. And Bernadette very gamely walked around in a clammy, horrible, cold muslin gown. And what was really interesting that we discovered is actually when you dampen muslin, it becomes less clinging. And a lot of the clinging effect is kind of static electricity from a slight nap on the, on the fabric. So we, we really got into that one. It's about a 20 minute video where we kind of looked at why this is completely impractical and you wouldn't do it. So I, I'm so frustrated by this myth, I've actually gone and made a video about why it couldn't happen. I don't know that it's going to shift the story at all, but I've done that work. I've put it out there. Yeah. And if that one could go away, I will be a happy, happy dress historian.
- [42:22]
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- [43:08]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
This is a real good story about Bronx and his dad, Ryan. Real United Airlines customers.
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- [43:19]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
I got to sit in the driver's seat. I grew up in an aviation family.
- [43:22]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
And seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age. That's Andrew, a real United pilot. These small interactions can shape a kid's future.
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- [43:36]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
That's how good leads the way.
- [43:38]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Well, you know, every little bit counts, so hopefully you sharing it here, we'll also do something to, you know, try and kill that particular myth. And I think what I find so amazing about some of these myths and their persistence is that, as you said, they do often seem to be kind of maybe even willfully misreading sources and not thinking about the practicality. I mean, we still have to deal with breasts today, right? Like, that's not gone away. But also one of the things I find fascinating about the persistence of the myths is, like, some of the things that are actually true about the fashion in this period to at least 20, 25 sort of brains are so outlandish that, like, why make stuff up? There is weird stuff going on. So could you tell us maybe a few ridiculous things that were true that you sort of wish people would focus on more? I mean, I've definitely got some of my favorites, but what would be some of yours that you'd love to share?
- [44:37]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Well, one of my favorite dress details that I came across kind of accidentally was advice to travelers and kind of how. How to keep warm. And this, this. This book that said, we do not recommend the practice of pouring brandy into your boots to keep your feet warm, because although when you drink brandy, it warms you up. And actually the, you know, it's just going to evaporate and it's going to make your feet colder. And the idea of these, that somewhere someone has done this. Someone's gone. Yeah, alcohol makes me warm inside. So if I pour brandy into my boots, it's going to keep my feet warm. That just cracks me up. And it's also, it's. It's so human, you know, it's. It's it's quite, I find it quite endearing and I'm also very, I love the amount of false hair that is happening in the Regency period because again, it's seen as a kind of a break from the 18th century, which has very clearly false hair, all that kind of powdered, towering hairstyles and men's wigs made out of gray horse hair. You know, it looks like you're wearing a wig. And the thing is, people in the Regency period wore probably the same number of wigs and false hair. It's just that they were trying to make it look real. So instead of wearing a gray horsehair wig, like a, you know, think of a barrister's wig, they'd wear a kind of a flaxen crop that made you look like you had like lovely golden hair. But maybe you, you didn't. Or you have records of women cutting off their own hair or sometimes their daughter's hair to make false fringes so that you could just put like a hat on top and then have a fringe of lovely glossy, ungray hair coming out the front and these kind of, again, I think I find it very endearing and very human of the kind of ways to fake naturalness and that people are kind of playing with these intersections between fashion and their actual body. I just love that. But I'd love to hear what you found interesting sort of reading through the book, what some of your favorite oddities are.
- [46:56]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
So I did have to stop myself after writing down three because I realized that that could continue way too long. But I wonder if we, you know, on the subject of fake things, men's false calves.
- [47:09]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Absolutely, yes. That's a great one. There's a lot of emphasis on men's legs in this period. So breeches which reach the knee are obviously going to show off your calf. But then if you are wearing a lovely pair of skin tight pantaloons and you're wearing evening ones which could be in silk jersey, every muscle in your leg is going to be outlined. And sometimes if gentlemen felt that perhaps the muscles in their legs were a little deficient, they could wear false calves made out of cork or a wonderful fabric called fleecy hosiery. And that's actually the name of the fabric and it's kind of, it's like fluffy on one side and you could just wear, you could wear sort of stuff, stockings underneath that made your calves look, look bigger and then hide them with your pair of silk stockings or underneath the pantaloons and just, yes, give nature a bit of a Helping hand in the calf department.
- [48:05]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
So just to make sure we don't think it's just women who might be doing things like that. Lovely example there. Thank you. But of course, we don't wear things like that now. We do still wear some of these things. I mean, trousers, obvious example. Were there any other things you came across that are very much still worn? I mean, even thinking, for example, about jewelry that may not be things we realize are from this period.
- [48:30]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
The jewelry. Yeah, the jewellery kind of. I think most of the forms that we. That already existed came through the Regency. Sort of the real innovation there was paste jewelry and sort of, I suppose his work, costume jewelry, faking your diamonds. But things like, I mean, trousers, I think, for me is the big one, but even things like handbags. So something that came through in the 1790s is the ridicule, which was later called a reticule. And again, there's lots of nonsense out there about like, oh, women stopped wearing pockets, which previously were kind of bags that were suspended underneath the petticoat, and you kind of accessed through the outer gown. And women didn't stop wearing pockets. But a lot of women kind of externalized their pockets and had these small bags that hung from their hand or from their wrists that they could put things in. And these reticules or ridicules were also a great space for invention and fashion and decoration. And so I think, sort of think that idea of like a small handbag, it's still with us in the form of like an evening clutch. That's really something that becomes popularised in this period and kind of never goes away after that.
- [49:53]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Yeah, that's a great example. Both of those, I think, are things that people have lots of experience with today but may not realize go back to that moment. And so there's all sorts of fun surprises like that in the book. I've obviously shared a few that kind of I came across. But I am curious, given, as you've mentioned, like, you already know all of this. You've already written two books on this. You made a point to make sure you weren't duplicating images across the books. Was there anything you came across for this book that was surprising even to you?
- [50:22]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Well, I. I went in going, yep, that's fine. I've got all my research, I just need to organize it a different way. I just need to maybe check a few references. And in hindsight, that was. That was naive, perhaps, because I felt quite an obligation of accuracy to research the meanings of these words, which could be quite difficult to do as. As best I could for the period. So I found myself kind of really checking up, well, what does this mean and what does that mean, and what actually is this fabric? And I found lots of things that I'd never. I kind of identified lots of things that I'd never really thought about at that depth before. But for me, I think a lot of it was the fabrics and the sort of. The sheer range of fabrics. I got really into tinsel, which we kind of. You know, if you say tinsel now, people are going to think Christmas decorations and the. The spiky stuff you put around trees. But tinsel actually has a much, much longer history as a silver or gold imitation metallic. And it was you. It was woven into fabric, fabrics, it was used as lace decoration. And I found a really great image of what was called a tissue woven with proper silver, proper gold thread, and then what was called white tinsel and gold tinsel, and all in the same piece of fabric. So you can see, again, that subtle difference of the glittering real silver and gold and just the slightly it's shiny, but not as kind of pure in its tone, tinsel. So that little details of fabric like that really drew me in, because it's. Although it's textiles, it's these kind of details that people would have been reading in their dress, like I. Like I talked about before. But I think for me, one of the biggest surprises and something that I'm still thinking about how to research, is to do with a garment that we now call a chemisette. So this is a word that is very commonly used in dress history. And what we mean is a kind of a tabard, usually of cotton or linen, that fills in the neck of women's gowns, almost like a. Like a dickie. And we use this term everywhere. And anything that's sort of that tabard shape in the 18th century, in the 19th century, we just call it a chemisette. And you can hear the connection between that French word for the shift, the chemise. It's like a little chemise, a chemisette. But I started realizing that I wasn't actually finding it as a word for this kind of garment in the Regency period. What I was finding to sort of talk about this linen thing that goes in your neckgown, was words like, I knew about tucker, a collared shirt, handkerchief, a habit shirt, I knew about that one. A collared neck handkerchief, all sorts of variations. But the one word that I wasn't finding was shamiset. And so I started looking into what do they actually call the chemisette in this period? And it's all sorts of other things that don't relate to this garment. And I think by the time we reach about sort of 18, 40 or 50, Shemiset is the usual word for this thing, but we've kind of projected it backwards. And I think I didn't quite catch this in time to sort of explore this fully in the book. But for me, this is sort of. As a. As a dress historian, this has changed, like a fundamental way of defining a certain kind of garment. We all just use this word, but it looks like it doesn't exist. And so those kind of things about language was something that I really got to explore in this book. And another thing that surprised me, or rather I hadn't pulled into focus in exactly the same way, is just how much the language of fashion becomes Frenchified after the Napoleon, after the Battle of Waterloo. So once Europe opens up again, suddenly we get this flood of French words into English fashion. And again, when we talk about this period, we tend to just use those French words, things like manchuron for a small type of sleeve, or the chemise for shift. We kind of just use this language for the whole of the early 19th century. But they didn't. It's not until they stop being at war with France that this language changes in Britain. And I really like that because it, it shows how, I mean, fashion and textiles and dress are such an inherent part of human culture anyway. But this, this change that is time connected, that is time bound, I hadn't really seen before. And it just shows the ongoing effects at every level of kind of, you know, nearly two decades of conflict in a way that I find fascinating. So it's little things like that that, that really excite me, excited me about the, the book and getting to kind of make new definitions and put things together in different ways. I found it really fun to do.
- [55:47]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Well, that's such wonderful surprises to come across and I think speak to how you as a dress historian, in many ways, that first point is something that I think any historian can identify. The love of, of going, wait a second, where does this come from? Right. And investigating kind of things we thought we all were agreed on and going, hang on a second, right, that's beyond dress history. I think any historian can relate to that.
- [56:10]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Oh, it's the thrill of the chase, you know, what do you find in the archives?
- [56:14]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Yeah, well, so I have to therefore ask, you know, what are you chasing in the archives now? Is the trilogy complete? Are you Moving on to new things. Where are we at?
- [56:23]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
I'm quite surprised that I've written the trilogy. This was never the intention, but they work very well together. I've got a sort of very big academic book. I've got a book that focuses on one person and then I've got a book that allows anybody to enjoy the Regency period. So I think I've sort of. I've said everything I can about that period for the time being. And I do actually have another book project in mind. This was something that I meant to work on next, but this third book kind of accidentally just came about and it was the right year for it as well, with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth this year. So I'm changing direction completely. I'm going back to another of my long standing research interests. I, I don't want to talk about it too much here because it's still sort of forming, but I know exactly what it is that I'm doing. I know what the book is going to be. And I will say that it's. It's going to be about shoes. I. I studied shoemaking. I've got a lot of experience in shoes. And so I'm going to be going back to that subject, which is something that I really love. Taking a bit of a break from the Regency, but who knows? I might come back to it in the future. But right now my next project is. Yeah, going in a different direction.
- [57:36]
Dr. Miranda Melcher
Well, that sounds very intriguing. And for anyone who wants to know so much more about the Regency, of course they can jump into the book we've been discussing titled A Guide to Regency Dress From Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins, published by Yale University Press in 2025. Hilary, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. Podcast.
- [57:55]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me. And Doug.
- [58:12]
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- [58:26]
Dr. Hilary Davidson
Uh, limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
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Cut the camera. They see us.
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Dr. Hilary Davidson
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