Throughout 18th and 19th Century England, aristocratic women came to establish themselves as dictators of society’s aesthetic taste. The choices they made, not only in decorating their homes, but also in curating their personal fashion, set the standard for feminine expression that women from all walks of life strived to reach. It was expected that a woman could create a domestic sphere that accurately reflected the trends of the period, without being too ostentatious. This was the meaning of “taste,” and it was marked by a level of exclusivity that correlated with one’s social standing. As time went on, upper-class women were not limited to products and materials created in England. Rather, they had access to items brought in from places such as France, Germany, and China. The introduction of these new pieces allowed taste to remain classist; only a certain amount of material could be secured at a certain time, and therefore only a certain amount of people had access to it. Limited quantities of international goods continued to fall into the hands of the wealthy, ensuring that they remained one step ahead of the commoners that aspired to be just like them. This allowed the evolution of taste to proceed.
In this exhibit, I contend that this development of taste was not entirely due to the increased cultural literacy of women. Instead, it was initiated by the growing influence of English men on the global landscape. Because the availability of international goods was dependent on what men brought back from their foreign travels, the feminine idea of taste became marked by the male perspective on beauty and aesthetic appeal. The five items in this exhibit demonstrate the evolution of taste into a reflection of male imperialistic ideals. Fans from China and fabrics from France inspired English female fashion, but the first of those that entered Britain were imported by men. Feminine ideas of beauty in the Georgian Era became a function of the world as their masculine counterparts experienced it, solidifying the reach and control that English men had on the world around them.