The Promenade as Runway: Fashionable Society and Shops in Brighton in the 1800s

When we talk about fashionable characters, our minds immediately conjure up visions of modern times and maybe peacocks showing off outside catwalk show venues and at some selected fashion trade fairs. Yet there has always been a so-called "fashionable society".

The Brighton Museum and Art Gallery has a section for example that explains how at the end of the 1700s, London's high society used to visit Brighton for the sea-water cures. Things changed, though, after the Prince of Wales (who became George IV) started going to Brighton and more people headed to the resort to see and be seen.

New visitors would introduce themselves to the Master of Ceremonies who organised the town's grand social occasions and would signal their arrival in the visitor's books kept in the circulating libraries. The latter were a bit like private clubs: people met there to play games, listen to music or read books. Another favourite pastime consisted in the promenade along the seafront, but gathering at the Assembly Rooms for grand balls and receptions was also popular.

"The Steine is thronged towards the close of the day with company and on Sunday evening exhibits vanity-fair in perfection," states a 1818 quote on one display. Around the Stein there were circulating libraries and assembly rooms, but the fashionable ones also loved to promenade along the Chain Pier, built in 1823 and mainly used to allow cross channel passengers to board the ships. So, in a way, the promenade was a bit like a runway where new fashions and trends were launched (see the third image in this post, with a "fashionista" from the early 1800s in a stylish yellow ensemble).

When the railway arrived in 1841 it brought with it more day trippers, and the fashionable elite – annoyed by these "savages" as proved by a cartoon lampooning them ("We must now leave this place; it may do for the Royal Family, but not for a fashionable one" claims the gentleman in the following illustration…) – moved the season to winter. Brighton turned in the 1900s into a popular resort, but the city retained its trendy status.

As Brighton changed from fishing town to fashionable resort, shops increased. Most shops were family based, but soon London-based merchants began to set up businesses selling luxury goods. By 1800, North Street had become Brighton's main shopping area. During the early 1800s, large shops such as Hanningtons and later Leeson & Vokins began to develop.

Apprentices and assistants usually lived in accomodations that belonged to the stores and worked long hours. Most stores were open from 8am to 10pm, six days a week.

At Hanningtons and Leeson & Vokins staff worked 5 days a week. Conditions for shop workers improved after the Early Closing Act in 1911. By 1937 there were 2,946 town centre shops in Brighton.

Displays in this section include photographs, department store bags, adverts and tools used by staff at Leeson & Vokins to take measurements and make alterations to garments (including a hat stretcher and measurer, chalk dispensers, a glove stretcher and a display hand for the Ladies outfitting department).

There was a sort of rigid hierarchy among shop assistants: as it is stated in a quote from an assistant who worked at Leeson & Vokins between 1925 and 1945, "There were parts of the counter which were thought to be the province of the first sales person and a little further down were the second sales person and so on down the ladder. If you were just the new lad you were probably right down the end…you hardly ever saw anybody, unless for some reason someone didn't want to serve someone." Things may have changed when it comes to shopping times and hierarchies among the staff, yet the main aim – providing a unique shopping experience – remains the same even in our times.