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The style of ladies' dresses in the days of George IV. forms a striking contrast to the fashions of the present day. The ordinary walking dresses were made loosely and simply - not high to the throat, as they were afterwards, nor yet low; the waist, with utter disregard to its natural length, portioned off by a belt coming almost immediately under the arms, from which descended a long, straight, ungraceful skirt, without any undulation or fulness whatever, reaching to the feet, but short enough to leave them visible. The sleeves were plain and close to the arms, fastened at the wrist with a frill. The same scantiness of material, and absence of crinoline were observed in the evening dresses; they wore low bodies and short sleeves, with long gloves reaching to the elbow. The trimmings varied according to the taste of the wearer, as in our own day. Small flowers at the bottom of the skirt seem to have been the prevailing style. The hair was generally arranged in short curls round the face; but this was also subject to variations, of course, and some wore it plaited. The head-dress was composed of a bouquet of flowers placed on the top of the head. But the most ugly and uncouth part of the dress, and the most irreconcilable to modern ideas of taste, was the bonnet which the mothers and grandmothers of the present generation wore. The crown was in itself large enough for a modern hat of reasonable proportions; and from it, the leaf grew out, expanding round the face, in shape somewhat like a coal-scuttle, and trimmed elaborately with feathers and flowers.
Towards the end of the following reign the style of ladies' dress suddenly changed. The unshapely shortwaisted robe was succeeded by one of ampler dimensions,; longer and fuller, with a moderate amount of crinoline - enough to give dignity and grace to the figure, but not expanding to the same absurd extent as afterwards - and long pointed stomachers. The bonnets were considerably reduced in size, but still continued larger than the) are worn now. The ball dresses at the beginning of the present reign were very much like those of our own day, except that they were then made of heavy, rich materials - silk, satin, brocade, &c., and now they are generally composed of gauzy gossamer stuff, which gives a light, airy appearance to the figure. The style of the sleeve varied, but one of the fashions at this time was a puffing at the shoulder, and sloping gradually down, commonly called the "leg-of- mutton sleeve." The cloaks were large and full, enveloping the whole figure, and reaching almost to the ground. Since then the fashions have not undergone any very material alterations, except those little variations in minor details which every recurring season brings, and which it would be quite beneath the dignity of history to record.
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