Mary Ann Bell

Mary Ann Bell (fl. 1806 – fl. 1831), was a British fashion merchant, dressmaker and fashion journalist.^[1] She was a leading figure in the British fashion industry of her day, particularly during the Napoleonic era, when less contact between Great Britain and France encouraged more local fashion innovation.^[2]

She had an agent in Paris, who informed her about the latest fashion, which she regularly displayed in her shop in London twice a week. She claims to have invented the Bandage Corset (1819), a corset specially designed for support during pregnancy, which was purchased by Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, giving her the right to refer to herself as 'Corset Maker to her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Kent'.^[3] She participated as a fashion editor of the La Belle Assemblée as well as the 'World of Fashion and Continental Feuilletons', in which she displayed her own designed models. In 1830, she officially supported the boycott of French fashion, though in practice made use of them in her own shop.

• Ann Margaret Lanchester

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