14. The Regency created the Regency Style
The wealthy enjoyed the new styles of dress introduced during the Regency Era. Breeches and stockings disappeared as items of a gentlemen’s attire, worn instead by footmen and other servants. Wigs also disappeared, other than among officers of the courts. Men wore high collars, cravats, and waist-length jackets with tails, adorned with beaver hats and a walking stick. Boots were more common than shoes, the dandy Beau Brummel recommended polishing them with champagne. A trim appearance for men created the wearing of male corsets. The Prince Regent had one corset with a waist measurement of fifty inches, an indication of his worsening obesity.
Women adopted a style known as the Empire Style, with high-waisted dresses which gripped the body just below the bodice. The hoops of preceding fashion trends were replaced with draped skirts which followed the line of the legs. Women of wealth wore their hair up, for the most part, adorned with tiaras or other jewels. Ladies and gentlemen of fashion changed their clothes several times a day, with some meant for business dealings, others for social calls, and still others for dining and social affairs. In a nation in which most of the lower class regarded bathing with suspicion, the upper class bathed daily, using scented soaps and perfumes in their baths. Gentlemen shaved or were shaved by servants, leaving only side-whiskers, not known as sideburns for many decades to come. Many gentlemen affected a monocle or quizzing glass, whether needed for vision or not.