Technically, the English Regency is the period from 1810 to 1820 when the future King George IV was Prince Regent during father George III's madness. The Elegant Arts Society enjoys the costume, dance, and other amusements of the era from roughly 1795 to 1825 during which the Prince was politically and socially ascendant and ladies' fashions generally of the high-waisted Empire line.

This was the age of Napoleon, Wellington, and Nelson; Byron's poetry and the novels of Jane Austen. The Parthenon marbles were brought to England from Greece. Railroads were new; so was the kaleidoscope. Chess, backgammon, and dominos as well as card games including whist, loo, and piquet were played, often for very high stakes; gambling was rampant.

Women's fashions of the period enjoyed a brief respite from heavy corsetry and hoops in the form of the lightweight, high-waisted "Empire" gown. Men's fashions, following the lead of Beau Brummell, had just begun to make a virtue of simplicity and fine tailoring, rather than extravagant display.

In dance, the Regency was a period of transition from the courtly dances of the baroque era, such as the minuet, to the romantic dances of the Victorian period. The English Country Dance was in its final moments, slowly being superseded by the quadrille and the cotillion; the waltz was new-come to England and still considered scandalous to dance.

Please join us in recreating the costume and dance of this exciting era of English history!

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