Recipes for Fashion in 1753: Satire and Material Culture

Last updated: Jan 7, 2024

These satirical rhyming recipes – “A Receipt for a Lady’s Dress” and “To the Author of the Receipt for Ladies Dress” – appeared in the The London Magazine or Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer in October 1753 (and in other newspapers, including the New York Gazette & Weekly Post Boy in January 1754). While the poems are intended to sound like satirical rebukes, they describe a lot of elements of contemporary fashion that can be traced to illustrations and extant examples. The hyperlinks added to the poems below will take you to articles related to the garments and accessories described in the poems.

A Receipt for a Lady’s Dreſs.

Hang a ſmall bugle cap on, as big as a crown,
Snout it off with a flow’r, vulgo dict. a pompoon;
Let your powder be gray, and braid up your hair,
Like the mane of a colt to be ſold at a fair.
A short pair of jumps, half an ell from your chin,
To make you appear like one juſt lying-in;
Before, for your breaſt, pin a ſtomacher bib on,
Ragout it with curlets of ſilver and ribbon.
Your neck and your ſhoulders both naked ſhould be,
Was it not for Vandyke, blown with chevaux de frize.
Let your gown be a ſack, blue, yellow, or green,
And frizzle your elbows with ruffles ſixteen;
Furl off your lawn aprons with flounces in rows,
Puff and pucker up knots on your arms and your toes;
Make your petticoats ſhort, that a hoop eight yards wide
May decently ſhew how your garters are ty’d;
With fringes of knotting, your Dicky cabob
On ſlippers of velvet, ſet gold a-la-daube.
But mount on French heels, when you go to a ball;
’Tis the faſhion to totter, and ſhew you can fall;
Throw modeſty out from your manners and face,
A la-mode de Francois, you’re a bit for his Grace.

To the Author of the Receipt for Ladies Dreſs

Since, Sir, you have made it your ſtudy to vex,
And audaciouſly laugh at the dreſs of our ſex,
Pray don’t be ſo blind to the faults of your own,
But let them, I beg, in the next lines be ſhown:
Inſtead of ſmall caps, you muſt then add ſmall wigs,
The tail of which moſtly reſembles a pig’s;
Put a hat upon that, and point it up high,
Juſt like an arrow that’s aimed at the ſky;
At the corner of which, I pray don’t forget
A talſel of ſilver, to make it compleat;
Let the ſtock be well plaited in fanciful forms,
Whilſt a fine diamond heart the ſhirt boſom adorns:
Let the ſword-hilt be cover’d with ribbon good ſtore,
Leſt the roughneſs around make the tender hand ſore;
Yet no need is for that, for they’ll certainly fly
The place where they think any danger is nigh:
His coat is to be but a foot from his waiſt,
And fixed as tight too as if it was lac’d;
In his pocket a houſewife and pincuſhion place,
Not forgetting a glaſs to view his ſweet face;
With ſtockings of ſilk, nothing leſs can ſuch pleaſe,
Bind his legs round with ſilver an inch above knees:
Hang a taſſel to that, or elſe it won’t do,
And in length it muſt reach half way to his ſhoe:
His bright buckles of ſtone, of five guineas price,
To adorn his neat feet, and make him more nice:
Thus dreſs’d and equipp’d, ’tis plain to be ſeen,
He’s not one jot better than monſieur Pantin.