Feb 24, 2012
Evolution of the Regency Spencer?
I've heard it said that the Earl of Spencer singed the tails of his tail-coat while standing beside a fire and then cut off the ends, unwittingly starting a new fashion.
Or was it?
Looking at these pictures of an early spencer from 1795 at http://www.abitiantichi.it/collezione/abiti/corpino25.html makes me wonder - was it simply evolution?
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3 comments:
I think the jacket just kept following the waist up as well. In general, I go with style evolution over origin stories that involve someone doing something by accident and everything following from that one person.
I agree, I think it just followed the waist. But that doesn't explain HOW it got the name.
Val
That's true. I did just find this article from The Kentish Register, The Origin of the Spencer (Feb, 1795) - it states that there was a story that Lord Charles Spencer deliberately created it to see if he could spread a silly fashion. Whether or not he created it, I could see the name for the man's garment following from the story, and being applied to the women's jacket because of its short length.
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