(Fig. 1): Costume of a gentleman at the commencement of the reign of George III. It is remarkable only for the extra quantity of lace with which it is decorated, and the small black cravat which he wears. (Fig. 2): Side view of head-dress of a Maccaroni, showing (1) the height to which the hair was raised and plastered, (2) the row of curls around it, and (3) the large "club" tied with a broad ribbon. (Fig. 3): Complete costume of a Maccaroni (1772) showing a different treatment of the hair from that in Fig. 2, the ridiculously small hat, and the ornamented coat are also shown. (Fig. 4): A hat of the style worn in 1786. (Fig. 5): The last form of the cocked hat. Both Figs. 4 and 5 may be taken as specimens of the latter days of the wig, "large curls, ties and bob, ending in a single pigtail." (Fig. 6): Fashionable riding dress in 1786. The costume consists of a broad brimmed hat with band and buckle, powdered wig and pigtail, a long-tailed coat with large buttons, tight buckskin breeches buttoned at the knee, and high boots. (Fig. 7): A hat of the newest fashion of 1792, gaily decorated with gold strings and tassels. The natural hair is worn powdered, and the high coat collar is very characteristic of the time. (All the above are from contemporary prints.)]
Both George III. and his wife were decorous and retiring in their habits, and during their reign the fashions were started and maintained by the nobility and gentry of their Court.
The latter "did not wait for the royal sanction to their flippancies, and their taste or want of taste ran riot during this reign to an extent that equalled the absurdities of any previous period, and which makes the history of fashion during that time more varied than that of any similar length of time."
At the commencement of the reign, ladies' dresses were generally simple enough; but about 1763 the fashion came over from France of dressing the hair by curling and crisping it, and raising it by adding pomatum, upon a foundation of "many a good pound of wool," into such an erection "that my lady is dressed for three months at least, during which time it is not in her power to comb her head." So enormous were these head-dresses, that a satirist said: "Our fine ladies remind me of an apple stuck on the point of a small skewer." A sign of the times was the number of works written by hairdressers, which appeared with many illustrations, describing the various styles of these monstrosities of hairdressing, "for in those days hairdressers were great men."