Regency Fashion: The Invisible

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In my recent study of Gillray’s prints, I revisited Les Invisibles (c. 1810). This print explores French Empire inspired fashions satirically, exposing the strange Francophilia still rampant in England despite ongoing conflict between the two nations.

The dismissal of this cartoon abruptly closes the political history of Gillray's days as traced in his plates his pencil was rendered powerless and the personages whose careers he had illustrated to this point with so much originality must now be suffered to pass from our descriptions as suddenly as the extinction of the satirist's faculty drove their figures from his own teeming brain The principal social sketches issued by Gillray within a few months of his seizure by th malady which attacked his faculties may be briefly recapitulated Les Invisibles and Le Bon Genre 1810 a pair of plates published both in London and Paris are generally ascribed to our artist They represent the extravagant male and female fashions prevailing in the two capitals at this period during the revival of the semi classical costumes generally described as the fashions of the Empire The two figures we have here engraved representing the mode in 1810 may be compared with those of 1803 given on a former page The prin cipal difference consists in the change of the wide cravat for a very large shirt collar in the gentleman and in the lady the excess of covering to her person Between cap bonnet collar and frill even their faces are nearly concealed and it is for this reason that they are termed in the original print Invisibles Invisibles The second print indicates the evening costume of the same epoch Two extravagantly attired B
couples are indulging in the giddy waltz then a dance recently imported which excited the strictures of the graver section of the community Gillray, J., Grego, J., Wright, T. (1873). The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; with the History of His Life and Times [by J. Grego].. United Kingdom: Chatto and Windus.

As is shared in the Victorian source above, the title is referencing how all the faces are hidden by bonnets and collars.  The poke bonnet was often called in France les invisibles, because it hid the face.

Gillray was said to have been inspired, or copied, the image from a French version, no doubt being very tongue-in-cheek about doing so.

The poke bonnet reminds me of other styles of women’s headwear that hide their faces and hair, both religious and not, but Gillray’s print does not seem to take a gendered look at this style of fashion because he includes the gentlemen, too.  The homogeneity and almost anonymity affected by the fashion is interesting to contemplate, particularly within the context of 1810s, as Britain entered a turbulent decade at home and abroad.

 

 

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2 Responses to Regency Fashion: The Invisible

  1. Anonymous says:
    August 30, 2026 at 2:26 pm

    I can’t find the reference now, but , if I remember correctly, the French had a petticoat called the Invisible around 1802. When I saw the title of the piece, I thought that was to be the subject instead of the bonnets that were like objects put on horses to keep their sight straight ahead