A new exhibition in York shows how the Georgians loved fashion just as much as we do. MAXINE GORDON reports.

IF BOTOX had been around in the 18th century, you could bet your last guinea that the Georgians would be queuing up for a spot of cosmetic enhancement.

Known for their fine clothes, outlandish hair and make-up and general vanity, they weren’t called the Gorgeous Georgians for nothing.

A new exhibition at Fairfax House in York gives a warts and all view of the depths the Georgians mined in the pursuit of beauty.

“My favourite pieces are some of the more quirky items such as the mousebrows and the patches to cover small-pox marks,” begins Hannah Phillip, director of Fairfax House and curator of the new exhibition, Head To Toe: Accessorising The Georgians.

The “mousebrows” are fake eyebrows, made – yes, you’ve guessed it – from mouse hair.

“Georgian women liked really marked eyebrows and if you didn’t have them by nature then you had to stick them on,” said Hannah.

They also used small black “patches” – designed to look like beauty spots – to cover over small pox marks on their face.

They were also known to use “cheek plumpers” to make their faces look more round.

In the display cabinet at the Georgian townhouse on Castlegate, these look like two small flesh-coloured rounds, not dissimilar to what we use today to pad out bras. Hannah says these items were worn inside the mouth and she suspects it was to combat the problems brought about by rotten teeth.

“Tooth loss was a big issue for the Georgians,” says Hannah. “They loved sugar and had rotten teeth. I have a sneaking suspicion they used these to fill the face out and give it a plumper appearance.”

Men were not immune to a flirtation with fakery too. Among the many pieces on show in the exhibition are a pair of men’s white stockings with lambswool padding.

Hannah explains: “These were to give men fashionable muscular calves. They wore breeches and where the breech stopped, they wanted their calves to look large and shapely.”

Georgian women were obsessed with their shape too. Each layer of clothing was designed to create the fashionable silhouette of the day: flat at the front, with a raised bust, a small waist and full hips.

Lord Fairfax and his daughter Anne were followers of fashion - a study of the archives reveal bills of sale for their fine clothes.

“Lord Fairfax was a man of fashion who bought innumerable suits, all in the finest velvet and in a variety of colours,” says Hannah. Men’s fashions extended to shoes – often with heels – as well as decorative buttons, some of which were made by Wedgwood.

While many in high society looked to London and Paris for the latest trends, by 1760, York was well established as a fashion destination.

Hannah said: “Then as now, York was the place to shop. They went to Stonegate and Spurriergate. In the 18th century, York was a thriving hub for the Northern gentry and aristocracy. Rather than make the audacious journey to London, they stayed in York.”

Hannah says despite the distance of three centuries, we can see much our lives today reflected in how the Georgians used to live.

“I am continuously amazed by the similarities,” she says. “I see a heel in the same shape and I can see where it has come from. Everything that goes around comes round again in fashion.

“The exhibition shows us that the Georgians were human beings, interested in the same things as us. They had a fashion-conscious eye and enjoyed shopping and keeping up with the latest fashions.”

* Heat to Toe: Accessorising The Georgians, runs at Fairfax House, Castlegate, York, until November 2. Find out more at fairfaxhouse.co.uk