18 century fashion icon: Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire .

Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire was one of the most famous ladies of the Georgiana era. Known for her beauty and sense of style and fashionable clothes, she was a trendsetter of the time, an icon. She was also famous for her political activism. Friend of Queen Marie Antoinette and ancestor of Lady Diana, Princess of Wells. Georgiana was painted several times by both Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds.

The 1785 Thomas Gainsborough painting of Lady Georgiana with the famous large black hat, witch immediately become very fashionable and came to be known as the 'Gainsborough' or 'portrait' hat.

Portrait of Lady Georgiana,her sister Lady Henrietta Frances and her brother George John Spencer, Viscount Althorp. 1774

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire  (1775)

1761-62 Lady Georgiana Spencer who became the famous Duchess of Devonshire as a child by Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsboroguh - Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire (1783)

Duchess of Devonshire by Joshua Reynolds (1783) 

with her sister Lady Henrietta Frances

Lady Georgiana with her sister Lady Henrietta Frances

Lady Georgiana as Diana

The fashionable headpieces of the time, among them the 'Gainsborough' or 'portrait' hat, the trend Georgiana created.