WHAT WE WORE

For women, the open gown was the most common dress, worn over a stomacher that fastened over the stays, later known as a corset, with a petticoat worn at the front of the skirt. Hair was pulled up into a soft knot on the crown of the head. Fashionable men wore a three-piece suit comprising a coat with fronts curving away to the back, a hip-length waistcoat and knee-length breeches. Men’s hair had a solitary side curl and was tied at the back. Alison Toplis