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This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.

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Public Reaction to Rising Waists During the Late 18th Century: Regency Fashion

June 3, 2010 by Vic

To our modern eyes, Regency empire dresses represent a charmed and romantic era. But in 1794, the high-waisted look that had so recently come into fashion aroused much ridicule, and was described as the “banishment of the body from the female form.” The Rage, or Shepherds I have Lost My Waist was a doggerel based upon a popular song of the time: “Shepherds I have lost my love – Have you seen my Anna?”

Shepherds, I have lost my waist,
Have you seen my body?
Sacrificed to modern taste,
I’m quite a hoddy doddy!
For fashion I that part forsook
Where sages place the belly;
T’is gone – and I have not a nook
For cheesecake, tart, or jelly.
Never shall I see it more,
Till common sense returning,
My body to my legs restore,
Then I shall cease from mourning.
Folly and fashion do prevail
To such extremes among the fair,
A woman’s only top and tail,
The body’s banish’d God knows where!”

The implication of the ditty was of the poor lady’s predicament. She had to refuse cakes and jelly for her dressmaker had left her with no body. Worse, her legs looked as if they started just below her breasts.


This image shows a lady wearing the latest rages: tall feathers and an enormous watch with fob suspended below a girdle without a waist.

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Posted in Fashions, jane austen, Jane Austen's World, Regency Life, Regency Period, Regency society, Regency style, Regency World | Tagged regency dress, Regency Fashion, Rising empire waists | 9 Comments

9 Responses

  1. on June 3, 2010 at 15:45 Marilyn Parke

    Please excuse my ignorance but I am not familiar with the term, vinaigrette. Would you mind explaining its meaning?

    Thank you,
    Marilyn Parke


    • on June 3, 2010 at 16:06 Vic

      Vinaigrettes, popular from the late 18th century through the mid-19th century, were small containers used for holding various aromatic substances, usually dissolved in vinegar.

      This definition comes from Candice Hearn’s site: http://www.candicehern.com/collections/03/vinaigrettes.htm


  2. on June 4, 2010 at 22:49 Janeite Deb

    Hi Vic, thanks for my daily chuckle! [and now I cannot get this song out of my head!]
    Deb


  3. on June 5, 2010 at 06:41 Enid Wilson

    LOL, what a wonderful song. Is there any sound track of it available?

    Really Angelic


  4. on June 9, 2010 at 23:06 Lesley-Anne McLeod

    That is wonderful. I never thought about the new fashion upsetting people. And even a song written about it–thanks, Vic!~


  5. on June 21, 2010 at 01:05 Dressing for the Netherfield Ball in Pride and Prejudice: Regency Fashion « Jane Austen's World

    […] Public Reaction to Rising Waists in the 18th Century […]


  6. on November 17, 2010 at 11:03 Why Petticoats and Chemises Were Worn Under Regency Gowns « Jane Austen's World

    […] Public Reaction to Rising Waists in the Regency Era […]


  7. on November 21, 2010 at 16:38 The heaving Regency bosom, or was it? Some facts laid bare. « Jane Austen's World

    […] Public Reaction to Rising Waists […]


  8. on June 26, 2011 at 18:59 Parisian Milliner’s Advice to a Visiting Lady in 1801 « Jane Austen's World

    […] Public Reaction t0 Rising Waists During the Late 18th Century: Regency Fashion […]



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