…were of the same fashion lines as stiff silks, but gradually with increasing use, the looser, simpler, and plainer style of dress began to evolve.  The simple cotton muslin dresses of the 1780’s had wide sashes.  By 1793, the sash narrowed and the waistline raised up. (Sketch: 1805 high and …

…the “corset” was a pieced and complex garment.  Gussets, which assisted making the breasts and hips “rounded” were the beginning of innovative cutting techniques. (Sketch:  Early regency style achieved with early regency corsets)

…gussets to enhance the bust and hips with light bones or cording to facilitate lacing.  These had a central, usually hard wood tapered busk, up the center front to assist in pushing the bust line up into a prominent position. (Photo:  Beautiful modern reproduction of an early Regency corset)

…Heavy, thick, or extra undergarments were discarded though, as they distracted and ruined the “natural” body shape, and so the boned stay lost popularity with the woman trying to obtain the “fashionable” shape of the day. (Extant: early Regency corsets looked much like softer and shorter versions of late 18th …

…clung to the body, showing every nuance and every contour of her shape.  This meant some form of support would have to lift the breasts.  It also meant small women or older or less endowed women might need some type of padding or augmentation. (Portrait: Lydia Hartford Wallace Berrett in …

…with high rounded breasts and long well-rounded legs and arms was the ideal every woman strived to obtain.  Neo-classical fashions demanded a more revealed and youthful bosom in its natural state. (Portrait:  The youthful bosom of the early Regency era)

…of the English and French, however discuss that stays were worn or not worn in equal measure.  Young women and those with beautiful figures discarded undergarments, while those of “bountiful flesh” or older and gravity drawn shapes continued to wear some sort of understructure. (Portraits Featured and below: Many older …

…of world fashion, social order had been completely overturned during the French Revolution.  With it came a loosening of morals and deportment.  In France, the new, clingy, near-naked fashion silhouette was more popular than other places such as England. (Portrait:  Early regency fashion was nearly naked for all shapes and …

…printed cottons coming from India in England and France at the time because those countries wanted to support their own textile industries, cotton became wildly popular.  Cotton quickly replaced silk, wool, and linen.  By 1759 France and 1774 England had given up and removed the laws. (Extant 1815 cotton gown)

…as society was rapidly growing more urbanized, the demand for mass production demanded “proportionate” systems to speed up the trial and error of previous methods.  The fitted garment became the norm. (Caroline Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte’s little sister in 1808 had perfectly fitting garments)