Mrs. Gill
Mrs. Gill was one of the leading modistes of the Regency, and pioneered the design of white wedding dresses at a time when few women of fashion wore them. She was also deeply involved in charity work for the Asylum of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor, along with her husband David. Mrs. Eliza Gill 1781-1856 1807-1820: 1 Cork St., Burlington Gardens. Unlike many of her counterparts, Mrs. Gill did not take out newspaper advertisements notifying "The Nobility and Gentry" of her latest gowns. She built her name as a modiste largely through [...]
Miss Macdonald
Fashion has always been a copy-cat industry. One of the best known Regency modistes, Miss Macdonald (later Mrs. Smith) was ahead of the curve, creating designs and trim techniques that "inspired" many of her competitors, and promoting the white wedding dress as a style in its own lane. Miss Euphemia Macdonald (1793-1857) 1810-18: 84 Wells St. 1818-20: 50 South Molton St. Hanover Square 1820-21: 29 Great Russell St., Bedford Square /15 Old Burlington St. Miss Macdonald was a prominent Regency milliner/dressmaker who left a lasting legacy in her approach to bridal fashion. At a time [...]
Mrs. Bell
Fond of declaring herself the inventress of this or that fashion, Mrs. Mary Ann Bell was not above purloining designs from other magazines and calling them her own. She was the great survivor of the Regency modistes. No slouch in self-promotion, she saw the rise of a wealthy middle class as an opportunity, and was never so exclusive in her clientele that she went broke waiting for impoverished aristocrats to pay their bills. Mrs. Mary Ann Bell nee Millard (1786-1835) 1813-14: 22 Upper King St. 1814-18: 26 Charlotte St. Bedford Square 1817-30: 52 St. James [...]
Other Interesting Posts
Outsiders Within – Romani in the Regency
By the time 'Gypsies' appeared on the pages of Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott and Maria Edgeworth, Romani people had been in England for centuries. Sidebar: Believing the copper-skinned migrants to hail from Egypt, the Europeans had coined the term "Gypsies" for these migrants. Some consider [...]
