Bath is often presented as a city which epitomises the values of Georgian polite society, and continues to be celebrated as such today. It is considered a city of elegance and refinement, which was once inhabited by Jane Austen heroines, dashing soldiers, and ailing aristocrats. This reputation continues to inform and influence the cultural offerings of the city today, with events such as the annual Jane Austen Festival still drawing flocks of tourists every year.

The two exhibitions reviewed here take opposing attitudes to this characterisation of eighteenth-century Bath. The Fashion Museum’s Georgians: Dress for Polite Society embraces concepts of beauty, spectacle and extravagance, indulging in the romanticism of glittering assemblies and promenades. Hallie Rubenhold, curator of the Portrait of a Lady? Ruin and Reputation in the Georgian Era exhibition at No. 1 Royal Crescent, presents a more diverse image, and has termed her exhibition an “anti-Austen” representation of eighteenth-century society.

Georgians: Dress for Polite Society, curated by the Fashion Museum’s Curator and Collections Assistants, takes the visitor on a roughly chronological tour of men’s and women’s fashion through the eighteenth century. It is categorised by the reigns of each monarch, and has an added section for more recent garments inspired by the eighteenth century, such as designs by Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. The effect is a glittering ensemble of over thirty gowns and coats, demonstrating the splendour of high society’s fashionable dress.

Previous exhibitions at the Fashion Museum, such as Laura Ashley: The Romantic Heroine (2013), have been impressively imaginative in the way the garments were presented and how their stories were told. In contrast, Georgians relies heavily on the beauty of the dresses themselves to carry the exhibition. It contains a number of excellent ideas with regard to interpretation, but fails to quite achieve its potential. The garments themselves have been chosen well, demonstrating the array of colours, textiles, styles, and techniques which were in use at the time of their creation, although the period of sharp evolution from the 1780s through to 1800 was lacking in representation or explanation. A number of innovative display choices were made, such as a very insightful juxtaposition of a court mantua and a fashion doll dressed in a miniature version, highlighting the purpose of these dolls. Interesting connections between royalty and dress were also made, such as the inclusion of a Highland costume, worn by King George IV on the occasion of his visit to Edinburgh in 1822.

What this exhibition lacked was a strong narrative. As the introductory panel explained, the exhibition acts as a showcase for eighteenth-century Britain, pinpointing key themes, such as industrialisation, consumerism and politeness. The display panels were well researched, each contextualising the garments displayed using references to historical figures and events. However, this was not translated into a clear purpose. Instead, the eighteenth century was presented in a somewhat static state, with a focus on individual case studies, rather than a flowing story. The design of the exhibition also suffered from this lack of purpose. Prints, satires, and design drawings from the period decorated some of the walls, but there was no cohesion between them and the garments on display, and they did little to add to the experience of the exhibition. The atmosphere evident in exhibitions of similar garments, such as the Museum of London’s Pleasure Gardens (a permanent display in the gallery Expanding City: 1666-1850s) and indeed the Fashion Museum’s own Behind the Scenes at the Fashion Museum (2014) could have been an excellent precedent for this exhibition. For many visitors, the garments themselves will carry the exhibition. However, ideally, the exhibition should have explored the significance, importance and nuances of eighteenth-century dress further.

Portrait of a Lady? Ruin and Reputation in the Georgian Era takes a significantly different approach to Georgians. The exhibition has been collaboratively organised by the Bath Preservation Trust, Edward Bayntun-Coward and Hallie Rubenhold, and focusses on a private collection of sixty-four mezzotint engravings of women. These prints have been used to provide a glimpse into perceptions of femininity in the eighteenth century, and to consider which qualities were prized, celebrated or noted in these images. The prints were displayed on a wall at one end of the exhibition, with the rest of the space used to tease out the strands of the stories they had to tell through a combination of supplementary images and objects, as well as interpretive text. In the first part of the room, display panels explained the process of mezzotint printing, illustrated with an intricately etched plate, as well as examining print shops and the consumption of these images. The rest of the exhibition focussed on the personal backgrounds of a broad spectrum of women from eighteenth-century society, telling the stories of duchesses, mistresses, actresses, and prostitutes.

Although the brand new exhibition space at No. 1 Royal Crescent is small compared to the Fashion Museum, much fascinating and pertinent information was communicated clearly and effectively through the interpretation. One of the key messages which the curators drew from the images was the commodification of women. As the synopsis of the accompanying catalogue states: “once committed to paper, a woman’s portrait could be used by anyone for any purpose […] as women were for possessing, so too were their images”. The exhibition panels impressed with similarly pertinent and intelligent statements, meaning that this exhibition was stimulating for a wide range of audience. One of the most interesting stories told was that of Kitty Fisher, who sat for a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which was subsequently printed and circulated as an engraving. Kitty died on her way to Bath at the age of 28, either of smallpox, consumption, or possibly through lead poisoning from her heavy white make-up. Her body was then taken to Bath, dressed beautifully, and lay there in state, allowing those captivated or intrigued by her fame, brought about by both her reputation and the circulated images, to pay their respect or satisfy their curiosity.

These two exhibitions represent very different approaches to interpreting the eighteenth century. While the intrinsic beauty of the Fashion Museum’s Georgians: Dress for Polite Society will no doubt appeal to visitors, it did feel like a missed opportunity to formulate an exhibition which would contribute to ongoing discussion and to create an innovative display. Conversely, Portrait of a Lady? Ruin and Reputation in the Georgian Era took the deliberate decision to challenge traditional public perceptions of women in the eighteenth century, and achieved this admirably through engaging, if not entirely innovative, interpretation.

Georgians: Dress for Polite Society is at the Fashion Museum, Bath from 25th January 2014 to 1st January 2016. Portrait of a Lady? Ruin and Reputation in the Georgian Era is at No. 1 Royal Crescent, Bath from 16th May to 14th December 2014.