Vintage Clothing Chronology: The Regency (1795-1837)
Figure 1.-- The Jane Austen Centre in Bath provides these examples of 19th century Regency children's fashion. They are probably better known in the popular mind as Kate Greenaway fashions. We have both a boy's and a girl's outfit. This of course is how children from financially comfortable families dressed. As a result of the Industrial Revolution abnd Capitalism, however, more and mpore people were in this categiry than ever before. There was a huge expansion of the middle class which is why in yhe Victiriun Era that the condition of the working class began to be seen as a social evil that required reform. It had never before much bothered the rulling aristocrcy since the advent of civilization 10 millennia earlier.
The 19th century can be divided into two periods. The early 19th century is the Regency Era. The mid and later 18th century is the Victorian Era. The Rgency Era includes the latter part of George III's reign and the reigns of his sons George IV and William IV (1795-1837). The actual Regency ended with the death of George III (1820), but the longer periood until the the advent of Queen Victoria is more generally seen as part of the Regency era, if not the actual legal Regency. It was marked by by distinctive trends in British architecture, literature, fashions, politics, and culture. This includes Kate Greenaway or Oliver Twist fashions. The end of the Regeny Era almost precisely marks the advent of photography (1839). The Regency Era is much of the Early Republic/Ante-bellum Era in America and powerfully influenced American fashion. Thus vintage clothing from the Regency is particularly valuable as photography which escalated our knowledge of fashion still did not exist. The Jane Austen Centre in Bath put these examples on display as exammples og Regency children's clotheses (figure 1). We believe that they are replicas, probabky of itens in their collection. They do not mention that the sleleton suit was the first destinctive child's outfit. It took lomger for girls' to have destinctive styles. They provide this explanation of the outfits. "The Regency Boy and Girl: The boy's costume here is a 'Sleleton Suit' which would have been wirn up to age 8 or 9. Boys were put in tyo a skeleton suit at about 3 or 4 years old. Before that they wore a frock which would sometimes make it difficult to destinguish them from thedir sisters in npotaits. The gurl's gown is made from white cotton muslin, the perenial favourite of this period. The model here is wearing a pair of cotton lawn pantaloons [HBC uses the term pantaleettes because panbaloons can have various meanings], frilled with voile at the legs attchd to a small boidice. They are buttoned down the back and open between the legs. Very practical!" The boy's skeleton suit here is shown with an open collar blouse. In fact this varied over time. Unforutunlly there id no chronogical dating of the outfits. The skelton suit fashion is most notable becuse ot was the first fashionable appearance of long pants and it wa fir boys. It was well intoi the Regencvy tht men begab wering long pants as well. And it was only fter the Regency in the early Victiorin era that boys begn wearing shortned-length pbts.
