Monstrosities of 1825 & 6 [graphic]

"A Park promenade, with wind-swept fashionables. In the foreground (left) are three tiny children, almost hidden by their huge wide-brimmed straw hats, below which ankle-length drawers are seen. With them is a wasp-waisted lady also in a big flat hat, and with inflated sleeves connected by a tiny corsage. A soldier wearing a flat cap looks down on the roof of hats with astonishment. A dandy resembling one of the Crowquills in BM Satires 15156, and holding a similar cane, is arm-in-arm with a tall man draped in high-collared and tasselled cape reaching to the ground. They meet and address two ladies. A grotesquely obese woman ogles a passer-by. The new developments in costume are trousers pinched at the knee, and inflated above and below it, and for women large flat hats with flexible brims (cf. BM Satires 15017, 15059), much-defined breasts, and draped shoulder-capes tied at the back, with a general impression of swirling draperies."--British Museum online catalogue