Skip to content

WELCOME TO OUR STORE

SUPPORT OUR WORK

  • HOME
  • MAGAZINE
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • BACK ISSUES
    • FIND SELVEDGE
    • ORDER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • FOR YOURSELF
    • FOR SOMEONE ELSE
    • FOR AN INSTITUTION
    • FOR STUDENTS
    • SUBSCRIBER ACCESS
    • SUBSCRIBER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SHOP
    • SELVEDGE GOODS
    • ARTISAN GOODS
    • MAGAZINES
    • BOOKS
    • ORDER FAQs
    • CONTACT US
  • LEARN
    • BOOK A WORKSHOP
    • BOOK A TALK
      • REGULAR TALKS
      • TEXTILE TRAVELS SERIES
      • UNCUT CLOTH SERIES
    • LISTEN TO A TALK
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • TRAVEL WITH US
    • EVENT FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • ARTISANS
    • SHOP
      • ALL
      • CLOTHING
      • INTERIORS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • TOYS
    • EXPLORE
    • ACCESS TALKS
    • WATCH SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO PLAYLIST
    • CONTACT US
  • COMMUNITY
    • READ OUR BLOG
    • JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
    • SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO A PODCAST
    • VISIT A TEXTILE COLLECTION
    • SEE AN EXHIBITION
    • ENTER A PRIZE DRAW
    • MAKE A PROJECT
    • CONTACT US
  • COLLABORATE
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • WORK WITH US
    • WRITE FOR US
    • WRITE FOR THE BLOG
    • BECOME A STOCKIST
    • CONTACT US
    • SEE ARTISAN INFO
  • STORY
    • READ OUR STORY
    • GET TO KNOW US
    • READ ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
Log in
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Selvedge Magazine
  • HOME
  • MAGAZINE
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • BACK ISSUES
    • FIND SELVEDGE
    • ORDER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • FOR YOURSELF
    • FOR SOMEONE ELSE
    • FOR AN INSTITUTION
    • FOR STUDENTS
    • SUBSCRIBER ACCESS
    • SUBSCRIBER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SHOP
    • SELVEDGE GOODS
    • ARTISAN GOODS
    • MAGAZINES
    • BOOKS
    • ORDER FAQs
    • CONTACT US
  • LEARN
    • BOOK A WORKSHOP
    • BOOK A TALK
      • REGULAR TALKS
      • TEXTILE TRAVELS SERIES
      • UNCUT CLOTH SERIES
    • LISTEN TO A TALK
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • TRAVEL WITH US
    • EVENT FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • ARTISANS
    • SHOP
      • ALL
      • CLOTHING
      • INTERIORS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • TOYS
    • EXPLORE
    • ACCESS TALKS
    • WATCH SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO PLAYLIST
    • CONTACT US
  • COMMUNITY
    • READ OUR BLOG
    • JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
    • SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO A PODCAST
    • VISIT A TEXTILE COLLECTION
    • SEE AN EXHIBITION
    • ENTER A PRIZE DRAW
    • MAKE A PROJECT
    • CONTACT US
  • COLLABORATE
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • WORK WITH US
    • WRITE FOR US
    • WRITE FOR THE BLOG
    • BECOME A STOCKIST
    • CONTACT US
    • SEE ARTISAN INFO
  • STORY
    • READ OUR STORY
    • GET TO KNOW US
    • READ ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
Log in Cart

Item added to your cart

Access Denied
IMPORTANT! If you’re a store owner, please make sure you have Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin, as you have customer based locks set up with EasyLockdown app. Enable Customer Accounts
BALLOONOMANIA

BALLOONOMANIA

June 4, 2022
Share

Image: The Montgolfier Balloon from The English Pleasure Garden 1660-1860. Image courtesy of Sarah Jane Downing Collection

In the early 1780s the greatest ambition for science was to conquer the natural environment. New developments in design and engineering were bringing speed to land and sea, the canal network was transforming the map of Britain, but what of mastering flight? There were great fears that any encroachment into the heavens would meet with inevitable doom or perhaps even God’s wrath. The first flights involved hapless farm animals who without the means or ability to control their hot air balloons inevitably suffered crash landings, sometimes in flames.

It was with great daring then that the first aeronauts took to the skies. The first manned flights drew much attention and scepticism, many thought it a hoax, many more thought it would end in crashing disaster, but all wanted to see. The Montgolfier brothers successfully launched a balloon of silk taffeta lined with paper at Versailles in 1783, followed just eight months later by Madame Élisabeth Thible on 4 June 1784. Dressed as the Roman Goddess Minerva she took to the skies singing an operatic aria before bravely stoking the balloon’s fire box throughout the flight and suffering a turned ankle when the balloon crash landed 4km away.


Image: Lunardi's Balloon on display at The Pantheon 1784. Image courtesy of Sarah Jane Downing Collection

Later that year Vincenzo Lunardi made the first balloon ascent from London and Balloonomania swept Britain! The handsome Italian aeronaut was commemorated in fashion with the Lunardi hat as worn in a portrait of Letitia Ann Sage. Sadly but not unpredictably, despite the fact that the Georgian actress flew with Lunardi her part has been expunged from history.


Image: Lunardi’s Balloon by Robert Dighton from Pastimes and Pleasures in the Time of Jane Austen. Image courtesy of Sarah Jane Downing Collection

The Lunardi hat was a large puff of silk over a wire frame with a shallow straight brim of straw lavished with ribbons. Particularly useful to compliment the wide frizzled hairstyles of the 1780s popularised by the Duchess of Devonshire, they were often worn with a cap beneath offering a pretty border of lace to the face. Although the Lunardi name disappeared after a couple of years, the ‘Balloon Hat’ lasted longer, and the construction of silk crown and straw brim continued in various forms into the next century.


Image: 'What You Will' by John Raphael Smith. Image courtesy of Sarah Jane Downing Collection

The portrait of Letitia Ann Sage is part of the permanent collection at The Science Museum in London. Read more of Letitia Ann’s aeronautical activities at: The First English Female Aerial Traveller - Science Museum Blog. Read more about Lunardi in my book Pastimes and Pleasures in the Time of Jane Austen and more about Georgian balloon ascents in my book The English Pleasure Garden 1660-1860.

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.

Invalid password
Enter

Quick links

  • SEARCH
  • ABOUT US
  • T&Cs
  • FAQs

Subscribe to our newsletter by entering your email address below. "I just wanted to say how much I admire your informative and inspirational newsletters - I always look forward to them!" Tricia, San Rafael, USA

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Payment methods
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Diners Club
  • Discover
  • Google Pay
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • Shop Pay
  • Visa
© 2023, Selvedge Magazine Powered by Shopify
  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.