Mrs. Bean
A humble milliner in 1806, Mrs. Bean rose to giddy heights in just a decade, building a clientele of blue-bloods. In 1816, working with another leading modiste, Mrs. Triaud, she created twenty-six dresses and pelisses for Princess Charlotte's wedding trousseau, some of which still survive today in museums. Mrs. Charlotte Bean nee Kennedy (ca.1785-1868) approx. 1806-08: Bean's Millinary Rooms 42 Oxford St. approx. 1809-18: Mrs Bean's Magazin des Modes 32 Albemarle St. Born Charlotte Kennedy, the daughter of haberdasher John Kennedy, Mrs. Bean was married very young to her husband Thomas in 1803, and almost [...]
Madame Lanchester
By the time Regency modiste, Madame Lanchester was jailed for bankruptcy in Marshalsea Prison on February 8, 1812, she had spent more than a decade as one of London's best known milliner/dressmakers. Unfortunately, her flair and big ideas were not matched by her head for business. Margaret Ann Lanchester (1784-1818) 1800-02: 37 Sackville St. 1803-05: 17 New Bond St. 1806-10: 59 St. James St. Margaret Ann Lanchester had big ideas, talent, and a love of fine clothes. Inspired by Heideloff's Gallery of Fashion, to which her mother had subscribed in 1798-99, she set up shop [...]
List of Dressmakers in Regency London
A List of Dressmakers in Regency London This post lists some of the 160 women included in my Regency Modistes' Compendium (due for release December 2023). The Compendium represents the first and only comprehensive research into the identities and lives of the forgotten women who defined Regency fashion from 1800 to 1830. Variously known as as milliners, modistes, mantua makers, marchands des modes, and dressmakers, these women built the foundations of the present-day design fashion industry, as I discovered when I began my deep dive into their stories early in 2018. I've been adding to [...]
