Finding fashion in the Sandys Archive
- 27th August 2026
In this blog, we explore some of the records that reveal how fashion evolved across generations of the Sandys family.
Clothes tell us a lot about the past. They offer insights into changing tastes, social attitudes and everyday life. The Sandys family of Ombersley created and kept a wealth of records that today help us trace changes in style from the 18th to 20th centuries.
Fashion historians can often date a piece of clothing with remarkable accuracy by recognising the dress of different eras. Portraits are particularly valuable sources because it’s often what someone is wearing that first catches our attention. Clothes reflected social status and changed over time. Wealthy families like the Sandys had greater access to the latest styles and more outfits to choose from. Yet it was the quality of fabrics, trimmings and accessories, rather than the cut, that distinguished the dress of a servant from that of her mistress.
The Sandys had the money and means to follow the latest trends. So, what did they wear and what does their archive reveal about changing tastes?
Advert for The Parisian Cloak and Mantel Saloon in one of ‘Atty’s’ scrapbooks, 19th cent – Archive Reference: 705:56/BA16936/143/1
Fashion from Paris
Let’s start with this advert for The Parisian Cloak and Mantle Saloon – a copy of which can be found in the scrapbooks of of Lord Arthur ‘Atty’ Hill (1792-1860). It shows four women standing in different cloaks and bonnets. Mantles were a loose, cape like garment worn over dresses. They provided warmth whilst also serving as a stylish accessory that reflected the elegance of French fashion. The French played an important role in shaping international style. They presented mantles, cloaks and coats to wealthy clientele in private, beautifully decorated saloons. Today we call these fashion shows.
Atty’s scrapbooks contain another Parisian print of the La Marchande de Modes. A marchande de mode sold and styled dresses, hats and other decorative accessories during the 18th century. These influential figures occupied a prominent place in fashion, and the role reached new heights with Rose Bertin – the favoured fashion merchant of Marie Antoinette.
We know from Atty’s sisters’ journal that he brought clothes home for them as gifts. While you’d be forgiven for thinking two high society ladies from the Regency era would be interested in fashion, they claimed not to be – telling one cousin:
Mama always chose our dress. We never care any thing about it…and scarcely ever know till the last moment, what we are to put on.
Their comments are an amusing contrast to the carefully curated collection of fashion illustrations kept by their brother in his scrapbooks.
La Marchande de Modes, printed by C Hullmandel, 1822 – Archive Reference: 705:56/BA16936/141
Victorian style captured
By the mid 19th century, both photography and fashion were common concepts. Like the painted portraits before them, 19th century photographs were carefully staged. Those who could afford it dressed in their most fashionable outfits. Looking good was important as these images were likely to be shared with family and friends.
One Sandys family photo album highlights the fitted bodice and wide, bell shaped skirts that characterised women’s fashion from 1840 to the late 1860s. By the late 1860s, dresses had become flatter at the front and fuller at the back, and would eventually evolve into the famous bustle silhouette of the Victorian era. This style remained popular until around 1875 when it was replaced by a long train.
The album dates from the time of Augustus Frederick, 4th Lord Sandys, who appears on one page wearing in a lounge suit – then the latest male fashion. His sister Mary Filmer was most likely responsible for the album’s collages. The shape of her skirt suggests several of the photos were taken around 1860s.
Sandys family photo album, note the bell shaped skirts and lounge suits, [1860s] – Archive Reference: 705:56/BA16936/142/1
Group portrait on the lawn at Ombersley Court, early 20th cent – Archive Reference: 705:56/BA16936/142
Mikey, 5th Lord Sandys, wearing a bowler hat, leather gloves and boots, early 20th cent – Archive Reference Number: 705:56/BA16936/142
Twentieth century tends
The photograph albums of the 5th Lady Sandys capture fashion at the turn of the 20th century. As the Edwardian era began, styles changed. The structured bustle gave way to a new silhouette with a narrow waist, large sleeves and extravagant wide brimmed hats. High necklines and long sleeves were typical of daywear for women. Eveningwear was fancier and (slightly) more revealing. Naturally such styles were worn by the wealthy, and working class women wore more practical clothing suited to everyday life. Fashions changed again with the start of the First World War.
One of the most famous fashion periods is the 1920s. Think glamorous women in flapper dresses dancing in underground speakeasies. Simple dresses with low hemlines were embroidered with beads and sequins and typical of the period. An example is the wedding photographs of the 6th Lord Sandys, Arthur Fitzgerald, and Cynthia Trench Gasgoine. One newspaper report describes their bridesmaids wearing ‘white satin dresses with low girdles of green and gold’ and ‘headdresses gold and green with clusters of grapes at each side’.
Photos from their daughter’s wedding album highlight the fashions of the 1950s and the return to glamour that followed the Second World War. The men are dressed in sharp, clean tailoring while the women wear dresses with fitted waists and full skirts – a style popularised by Christian Dior’s “New Look”.
Newspaper cutting of the 6th Lord and Lady Sandys on their wedding day in 1924 – Archive Reference: 705:56/BA16936/42/17
Patricia, daughter of the 6th Lord and Lady Sandys, and husband John Pepys-Cockerell with wedding guests at Ombersley Court, July 1955 – Archive Reference: 705:56 BA16936/136/6
Fashion through generations
From scrapbooks to photographs, the Sandys Archive traces fashion across generations. The examples featured in this blog are just a small selection of the fashion related records held within it. They reveal not only what was fashionable at different points in history, but also how clothing reflected wider social status and identity.
Explore more records, photographs and stories on the Sandys Archive project page
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