Dressing the Georgians: exhibition explores ‘pivotal moment’ in fashion

Detail from St James’s Park and the Mall, attributed to the British School, shows the scene from 18th-century London’s most fashionable meeting place. Photograph: Royal Collection Trust/various

The wide, hooped gowns worn by women in the 18th-century court of Queen Charlotte were not just the style of the time, but a regal requirement.

But in the pleasure gardens and coffee houses, a fashion revolution was under way. Women and men were rejecting the formal grand costumes of the Georgian aristocracy in favour of new textiles and more comfortable clothes.