The histories of royal and aristocratic women’s fancy-dress costumes in Britain’s nineteenth century have traditionally centred around analysis of the women who wore them. While often obscured by a lack of source material, the modistes, milliners and dressmakers responsible for their creation bring greater depth to the study of women’s fashion. Modistes are elusive figures in the history of women makers in Britain. Referring to the women who were at the top of the fashion establishments, their lives and careers have seldom been the topic of scholarly research. This article centres around three modistes who worked in London’s West End in the mid-nineteenth century. Madame Maradan Carson, Madame Laure and Sarah A. Unitt each worked in a fashion house at 12 Princes Street, Hanover Square over almost three decades—united not only through their place of work, but also their involvement in the creation of fancy-dress costumes. Madame Laure and Sarah A. Unitt were responsible for making Queen Victoria’s elaborate costumes for her Bals Costumés held at Buckingham Palace in 1842, 1845 and 1851. Concentrating the research around this trio of women demonstrates both the opportunities and the risks associated with a career in the world of fashion during the nineteenth century and expands our understanding of the work undertaken by modistes at the head of the West End’s most fashionable establishments.
Sarah J. Hodge (Wed,) studied this question.