A Change in the Petticoats, or the Years 1780 &1817

William Heath ('Paul Pry')|Thomas Tegg

1817 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

This fashion satire responds to the short skirts that became fashionable in London around 1817. At left, a mature woman represents the modes of yore in an enormous hooped petticoat, a long pointed stomacher, and a calash hood worn over a large plain cap. She is amazed by a modern young woman who adopts a fashionable stooped posture (also seen in Heath's "Belle's and Beaus, or a Scene in Hyde Park," 1817 (1970.541.148)). Bared breasts and shoulders are accentuated by a high waisted dress with large bishop sleeves. Below, a projecting skirt that ends above the knees and exposes flat slippers fastened with ribbons. On the head, a bonnet with a scooped brim and cylindrical crown is trimmed with flowers and feathers.

Artist

William Heath ('Paul Pry')|Thomas Tegg

Date

1817

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jill Spalding, 2022