Did the Poor Wear Stays?
Lowkers, 1814
The Costume of Yorkshire
George Walker
The Costume of Yorkshire
George Walker
I often get asked if servants and lower-class women wore stays. The answer is yes, of course they did. Stays are essential. Especially if you were poor when they might have been a mainstay of your wardrobe.
Many parishes have notes showing that they supplied stays or materials for stays to the women they took in, and these places did not supply ANYTHING that wasn’t essential. You can also see them being worn openly in George Walker's "The Costume of Yorkshire" (1814). Lots of women are shown in stays while out working in the fields. Many of the women are also shown in 18th century-style bed jackets, not in high-waisted, Regency-style dresses. Many of the stays shown are also of the 18th century. Notice the woman on the right in the print shown. She's clearly wearing Georgian-style stays and petticoats as she works, and the stays are worn on the outside, showing, not hidden away as something "naughty".
There is also quite a bit of information on this topic in the fantastic article "Some Aspects of the Use of Non-Fashionable Stays" by P. and R.A. Mactaggart. It mentions all kinds of facts about stays and the working class, such as the Rev James Woodforde giving his maid permission to go to town to buy herself a new pair of stays in 1782. Mactaggart also shows images of extant examples, many of which are made of heavy leather and scored to make them more easily accommodate the round shape of a torso.
Another frequent question is how did they deal with getting them on and off without assistance. The answer is that no one really lived alone. There was always someone—a husband, sister, another servant—to help you.
Many parishes have notes showing that they supplied stays or materials for stays to the women they took in, and these places did not supply ANYTHING that wasn’t essential. You can also see them being worn openly in George Walker's "The Costume of Yorkshire" (1814). Lots of women are shown in stays while out working in the fields. Many of the women are also shown in 18th century-style bed jackets, not in high-waisted, Regency-style dresses. Many of the stays shown are also of the 18th century. Notice the woman on the right in the print shown. She's clearly wearing Georgian-style stays and petticoats as she works, and the stays are worn on the outside, showing, not hidden away as something "naughty".
There is also quite a bit of information on this topic in the fantastic article "Some Aspects of the Use of Non-Fashionable Stays" by P. and R.A. Mactaggart. It mentions all kinds of facts about stays and the working class, such as the Rev James Woodforde giving his maid permission to go to town to buy herself a new pair of stays in 1782. Mactaggart also shows images of extant examples, many of which are made of heavy leather and scored to make them more easily accommodate the round shape of a torso.
Another frequent question is how did they deal with getting them on and off without assistance. The answer is that no one really lived alone. There was always someone—a husband, sister, another servant—to help you.