2011
7th December
The Caged Lady by Lee Ault
It was for the second time that we welcomed Mrs Lee Ault to our ladies lunch.
In 2008 she entertained with a talk on Ladies Costumes in the nineteen twenties. Today her subject was the Caged Lady, a reference to the popularity of the crinoline in the mid nineteenth century.
Mrs Lee Ault is a costume historian, a member of the Costume Society and a curator of the Dickens's House Museum, Broadstairs, Kent. She is also a Joint Honorary General Secretary of the International Dickens's Fellowship, which has some 8,000 members.
Lee took us on an informative journey of the contents of a lady’s drawers and cupboards, bring enlightenment to what for many in the audience was a topic that is usually skirted around for fear of making a bloomer.
She opened with a carriage ride in 1860, taking care to make a clear distinction between what was expected of a lady, and what sartorial fate befell the unfortunates who barely scraped a living.
The lady of the house, supported entirely by either her husband, father or in some cases her brother, was expected to reflect the wealth and standing of those gentlemen through the costliness of her clothing and her awareness of the latest fashions. No pain or discomfort was too great for her in her pursuit of getting it right and being seen as a credit to her benefactor.
The day began with a bath; and as a lady she required help with this from her ladies maid - who no doubt could reach those parts a lady’s hand could not.
Then followed the drying and the dressing for the day out. The lady’s aim was to resemble a bell shape with gentle sloping shoulders and a large bottom.
And talking about bottoms it was from the bottom up that the lady was dressed, starting with her stockings. Made of silk they came to just above the knee and were held up, not with flimsy elastic but with sturdy ribbons. Reliable elastic had not been developed so no snapping behind the bike shed then.
The lady’s delicate, silk clad feet were then fed into soft leather boots of the latest fashion and it was interesting to note that left and right shoes did not exist; both shoes were straight and could fit either foot. Either very practical or dreadfully painful. Shame on any lady who revealed a well turned ankle in the sight of a gentleman.
Now we must mention the unmentionables, just as Mrs Ault did several times.
Up to 1810 ladies did not wear, ahem! drawers. After 1810 they started experimenting with interesting garments variously known as “chase me charlies” and “ever readies” although we had to use our imagination and fevered powers of deduction to get to the bottom of why this might be so.
Once the nether region defences were in place Mrs Ault demonstrated the gradual
building up and enveloping of the female form with shift and corset, including reference to a ready release model that on careful reflection might be better activated by a gentleman rather that the wearer for which it was designed, such was its complexity.
Around these battlements were wound petticoat after petticoat, often containing 20 yards of material, and wonderfully warm on a cold day.
The lady was now ready for the crinoline cage, a sprung steel contraption ranging from 5 – 12 feet in diameter. The largest devices were best worn by ladies with very long arms since the gentleman escort was at quite a distance away and dare not tread on the skirts.
All this was completed with jackets and coats and a variety of shawls and capes, often of the rarest and most expensive silks and cashmere. Woven or embroidered with the most intricate and beautiful patterns and scenes.
This was not the end of the story, Mrs Ault described and showed examples of all the accoutrements a lady needed to complete her wardrobe including, gloves, which could take a lady at least 20 minutes to put on, with the invaluable aid of her lady’s maid of course. Purses, bags, fans, hair extensions and mantillas, parasols, and believe it or not an ear trumpet, were all carefully selected and used to complete the picture. Fans were a bit like morse code, by positioning fingers and partially opening the fan and making various gestures a lady could access up to 250 signs, and a gentleman versed in this fan language would get the message –“ back of the bike shed 7pm”
Flowers represented another minefield and would only be given if the subtle messages were clearly understood, or there could be serious trouble.
The dresses were very cumbersome and a nightmare in bad weather. A competent lady would lift the hem of her dress with just one hand when walking in the wet and mud. Using both hands to lift the dress signalled an invitation to share rather more than her umbrella.
In 1825 Cashmere shawls were all the vogue for the well heeled lady.
Coming from the east from a small number of artisan families these 12 foot by 6 foot spectacular creations could cost as much as a Georgian town house and the very richest ladies had dozens, which they displayed as evidence of husband or father’s wealth.
Although these ladies were the style icons of their day they had no rights of their own. They were in fact classed as chattels and as such had neither independent income nor property. Their lot was to reflect their husbands standing and the extract that follows summarises the real situation for them. They were making the best of their situation
Women's clothing symbolised their constricted lives. Tight lacing into corsets and cumbersome multiple layers of skirts which dragged on the ground impeded women's freedom of movement. Between 1856 and 1878, among the wealthy, the cage crinoline was popular as it replaced the many layers of petticoats, but it was cumbersome and humiliating. Sitting down, the cage rode up embarrassingly at the front. The skirts were so wide that many women died engulfed in flames after the material caught fire from an open grate or candle.
Mrs Ault ended with a bedtime story, showing us the garments the well dressed lady and gentleman deemed suitable for sleep. A nightshirt for her and a nightshirt for him. A nightcap for her and a nightcap for him.
Very different from the daytime constrictions these garments were voluminous, even baggy and might be called “passion killers”. On second thoughts at a pinch there was probably room for two inside the average nightshirt.
Ken Taylor
Photographs of the Lunch are ....Here
Welcome to the home page of the Dickens House Museum. http://www.dickensfellowship.org/branches/broadstairs
Once the home of Miss Mary Pearson Strong, on whom Charles Dickens based much of the character of Miss Betsey Trotwood in his novel David Copperfield, this building has been adapted as a museum to commemorate the novelist's association with the town of Broadstairs. The parlour is refurbished as described by Dickens and illustrated by H. K. Browne (Phiz). Some of the author's own letters and memorabilia are on display. Around the house there are fascinating old prints of local and Dickensian interest as well as costumes and Victoriana.
Dickens House Museum, 2 Victoria Parade, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 1QS
Hon. Curator Lee Ault
Telephone +44 (0) 1843 861232
Fax +44 (0) 1843 863453
Dickens's House in BroadstairsCurrently a Museum
