Shopping in 18th Century Dublin
Tailor’s Hall in Dublin 8.
Where did people buy clothes in 18th Century Dublin? What streets were the most fashionable shops located and were we as stylish as those in London and Paris?
I found out the answer to these questions and more at a talk which was held in the Tailor’s Hall one candlelit evening in Dublin’s Liberties. The beautiful Tailor’s Hall building (pictured above) is an event in itself and began its life as a meeting place for the Guild of Merchant Tailors from 1706-1841 and has been a place where everything from society balls, fencing classes and weddings have been held over the centuries.
It was in this location that Dr. Macushla Baudis gave a lecture on her PHD paper on Shopping for Paris fashions in 18th Century Dublin hosted by the Irish Decorative & Fine Arts Society. It was a marvellous evening of fashion history by candlelight. Seated in the fine 18th century meeting room of the Tailor’s Hall it didn’t take much to be transported back to 1790s Dublin and the fashionable folks who once sashayed Dublin’s streets in search of Paris’ finest silks.
18th Century Lyonnais silk coat. Dame Street in the 18th Century.
Where did people buy clothes in 18th century Dublin?
The fashionable shopping street of the time was the fine boulevard that we know today as Dame Street, imagine this wide street anchored by great buildings like the City Hall and sweeping to the vista of Trinity College lined with beautiful shops full of the finest clothes and silk- this was Dublin’s grandest shopping street in the 18th century. And what kind of fashionable goods were the elite of Dublin looking for? Lyonnais silk (as pictured above) Dr. Macushla Baudis discovered in her research the types of silks that were imported into Ireland from France at the time and talked through the establishments in Dublin who sold Lyonnais silk. She also talked through her research on the manufacturers who produced silk in Dublin (with the help of the French Hugenot community) and marketed it as French.
Lady Sarah Bunbury by Joshua Reynolds in 18th century silks, although she is dressed in classical rather than fashionable style.
Was Dublin up to date with Parisian fashions or did it take longer for trends to arrive in Dublin?
What I found the most interesting from this talk by Macushla is how trends travelled to Ireland in the 18th century. Contrary to how we perceive ourselves even today, new ideas and trends travelled to Ireland via fashion news that was printed in Parisian fashion magazines within a couple of weeks of these Journal du Mode being printed excerpts and fashion ideas were printed in the Irish press. At the time a lady created her own wardrobe from the silks she bought in Dublin and produced them with her very own dressmaker so the latest Paris fashions could have been on the backs of Dublin ladies within a matter of weeks. In the mass, high street fashion system we have today with all the technology that supports this machine we still struggle to produce and get into our hands a trend or style spotted in Paris a couple of weeks ago!
Tailor’s Hall in Dublin 8.
See the Irish Decorative & Fine Arts Society for more interesting talks and lectures on Irish decorative heritage or indeed join their organisation to be part of the community and get involved in events.
See more about The Tailor’s Hall here. It is now let out for weddings and events.