Menu

CEGE Connection

Share.Learn.Inspire.Transform

Connect and Join the Dialogue

Archives for September 2018

Congratulations to the Class of 2018

2 Comments

MBA(FS & Leadership) Class of 2018

MBA(FS & Leadership) Class of 2018

“Dalhousie at its best has been driven by a threefold mission of teaching, research, and service, and by a commitment to values of excellence, intellectual rigour, freedom of inquiry and expression, and inclusion and respect for all person.”

President’s Message, A 200th Anniversary Portrait Dalhousie University

Dr. Richard Florizone, Dalhousie’s 11th President

Fall convocation is only two days away, with the ceremonies scheduled for October 2nd and 3rd.  The Class of 2018 will walk across the stage to accept their degrees, marking the culmination of a rigorous academic journey. Graduations signify passages and transitions, of moving forward and of accepting new ventures and challenges.

“On behalf of the University Senate, we hereby attest that Dalhousie University has awarded the degree of…”

This year, students will have the honour of graduating during DAL200, a milestone year that celebrates Dalhousie’s 200th anniversary.   With a copy of “A 200th Anniversary Portrait” in their hands to remember their time at Dalhousie, graduates will join a dynamic alumni community that spans the globe.

MBA(FS & Leadership) 2018

Congratulations to the graduating Class of 2018. We are proud of your success and wish for you the very best in your future endeavours.

For those who live elsewhere in Canada the Fall Graduation Ceremonies will be video archived on Dalhousie Website.

Dalhousie Alumni Pins

Dal200a

Why you shouldn’t be a ‘straw-man’ environmentalist

Leave a Comment

Why you shouldn’t be a ‘straw-man’ environmentalist

File 20180720 142420 1l0f4nc.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1
A Eurasian Coot sits on a nest built from human litter, including plastic straws, inside a half-sunk boat in an Amsterdam canal.
(Shutterstock)

Riley Schnurr, Dalhousie University and Tony Robert Walker, Dalhousie University

The “straw bubble” has burst.

We’re midway through 2018, and we have seen an explosion of efforts and local action to eliminate plastic straws. Some of the world’s largest companies, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, have banned them from some of their operations.

McDonald’s announced recently that it would replace plastic straws with paper ones in all restaurants in the U.K. and Ireland by September 2018. Similarly, Starbucks will eliminate plastic straws from all of its stores globally by 2020.

Airlines, hotel chains and local restaurants in droves are all removing the ubiquitous plastic from their consumer services.

Dramatic and evocative statements and statistics, including the infamous “plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050” prophecy, are inciting some incredible interventions from governments, large multinationals and individual citizens. Although these kinds of statements may not be entirely accurate, the overwhelming response has been the removal of straws from day-to-day society.

Anti-straw backlash

Along with these recent “anti-straw” endeavours, there comes an accompanying “anti-anti-straw” rhetoric that opposes such interventions on various grounds.

For instance, disability rights activists have weighed in on the plastic-straw ban. Some people with disabilities need straws to drink because they have trouble swallowing or cannot lift or hold a cup.

A plethora of alternatives to plastic straws exist to provide practical solutions, including silicone, paper and stainless steel. Ultimately, this means all consumers have an ethical choice to make: planet or plastic?

We don’t contest the importance of accessibility, which is why we do not argue in favour of an absolute outright ban on straws. Rather, we believe that “having a disability and doing your part to help the environment are not mutually exclusive.”

The anti-anti-straw arguments we take issue with are often either libertarian (hands off my straws) or pessimistic (this does not address the root cause of the problem) in nature. Some of these arguments are a mix of both.



Read more:
Beyond our oceans: Microplastics pollute rivers and lakes too

A slew of journalists and writers have recently put forward counter-arguments to interventions seeking to reduce ocean plastics. They write that targeting straws specifically will not make a significant difference to the ocean.

Quantitatively, sure, straws make up a small portion of the plastics that enter and contaminate the ocean (roughly four per cent of litter). This does not mean, however, that straws aren’t worth addressing.

Why is a targeted effort towards four per cent of marine litter being attacked as useless or ineffective, when the posited alternative is no effort at all?

Target “gateway plastic”

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup’s annual Dirty Dozen list highlights the items most commonly found on marine and freshwater shores. Straws rank ninth, below cigarette butts, food packaging, bottle caps and plastic bags.

Other studies have found similar contributions to marine litter from plastic straws. The UNEP 2018 State of Plastics report also ranks straws and stirrers in seventh place for plastics found in the environment.

However, these other plastics require an entirely different approach to mitigating their entry into the environment.

Starbucks’ new lid features a teardrop-shaped opening about the size of a thumbprint. Its design has helped the company promise to go straw-less.
(Starbucks)

Should we focus on an outright ban on cigarettes with the same vigour as we have straws? Can we vilify single-use plastic bottle beverage industry players in the same manner?

Presumably, those who are anti-anti-straw would respond accordingly, if not an order of magnitude greater, to these kinds of petitions.

War on straws

Dune Ives, the executive director of the Lonely Whale Foundation, has called straws “the gateway plastic” for those on the verge of environmentalism. For example, something as mundane or “playful” as a straw can open up a larger, more serious conversation about plastic pollution, or global mass consumption even more broadly.

This point is both the crux of the “war on straws” and the crucial piece moving forward in the overall endeavour to reduce marine plastic pollution: changing the norm.

Comparisons may also be made with plastic bag bans. For example, many countries and jurisdictions around the world have successfully implemented plastic bag bans or taxes to reduce plastic environmental pollution.

Like plastic straws, some groups suggest that because plastic bags are ultra-lightweight, they likely make negligible contributions to municipal waste. These groups also claim that banning plastic bags is more about appearances and idealism than about protecting the environment. However, like plastic bag bans, the concept of eliminating or replacing single-use plastic (SUP) straws requires a revolution in consumer mentality.

Changing habits

There is no radical extreme call to immediately stop the production of plastic products. Indeed, shaming plastic use has been seen as an ineffective way to get more people on board.

Plastics are imperative in many contexts, including sterile packaging and disposable tools in medicine, reducing food spoilage and increasing food safety. The movement to remove SUP straws, or even bags, should consider these nuances, but it is far from destroying the foundation of modern society.

With about eight million to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic entering our oceans each year, there is an urgent need to address our pervasive plastic problem.

We need a broad-scale and widespread approach that questions our throw-away culture, and the overwhelming trend to buy more, buy bigger and buy more often. Avoiding the use of a plastic straw may seem trivial, but it counts.

It may seem like a drop in the ocean, but what is an ocean anyway but many, many, drops?

Riley Schnurr, Graduate Student, Dalhousie University and Tony Robert Walker, Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Dr. Binod Sundararajan: The Leadership Condition

Leave a Comment

Dr. Binod Sundararajan Associate Director of the Rowe School of Business, Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University.

Dr. Binod Sundararajan, Associate Director of the Rowe School of Business, Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University.

May 29, 2017, Halifax Airport.  This was the date and place of my first meeting with Dr. Binod Sundararajan.  I was passing through with my family on my way home (Vancouver) and Dr. Sundararajan was on his way to present at an academic symposium in Toronto.   Over the past year, our first brief conversation has transitioned into an extended dialogue that continues to inspire my personal journey.

Dr. Binod Sundararajan is the Associate Director of the Rowe School of Business, Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University. He teaches Managing People at the MBA level, and Business Communication, and Corporate Communications at the undergraduate level.  Students enrolled in the MBA Leadership program have the benefit of Dr. Sundararajan’s knowledge and experience, which is recognized internationally.  His speaking engagements and conference presentations span the globe.

Dr. Sundararajan recently co-founded CELNeT, with his research partner, Dr. Martine Durier-Copp. The Collaborative eLearning and Network Lab (CELNET) specializes in researching virtual communications, how to make virtual teams more effective, and e-Leadership – the art and science of managing virtually.

CEGE Connection is thrilled to launch Dr. Sundararajan’s column, Musings from the L-Edge, which will focus on sustainable leadership that responds and adapts to the requirements of our fast-paced, ever changing global community.

We invite you to join the conversation.

Rebecca
Editor and Blog Coordinator, CEGE Connection

Musings from the L-Edge – Dr. Binod Sundararajan

Leadership is not about being appreciated.
It is about responsibility.
It doesn’t matter that the burden is heavy.
It matters that you carry it.

– Splinter (Hamato Yoshi-Sensei of the TMNT -s1e14)

The Human Condition has been variously described as the interplay between the viva activa (active life) and viva contemplativa (contemplative life) – Hannah Arendt, the dynamic between the selfish and selfless human instincts (E.O. Wilson’s theory of Eusociality), “a profoundly deep, extremely dark and fearful – indeed terrifying – psychological issue” (Jeremy Griffith) or as The Who sing about it in “Teenage Wasteland”. Whereas Arendt discusses the Human Condition in terms of the role of labour, work, and action, others have delved into deeper socio-psychological aspects of the concept. What then does this have to do with the Leadership Condition?

The Leadership Condition is the cognitive stasis in the mind of the leader that lets them focus on the betterment of their followers. When one feels that they are impelled to do something, the right thing, they move from the ‘contemplative state’ to the ‘actio’ state, to action. This metastasis of thought could move them to the “viva praetōrēs” state, to be a leader of life. Not being a Latin scholar, or even remotely familiar with Latin, I picked the vocative case of the Latin word ‘praetor’ to denote ‘leader’, because this case identifies the person being addressed, in this case a ‘leader of life’.

Why is this Leadership Condition important and why isn’t everyone being afflicted with this condition? It falls on a few, not necessarily the chosen few, to recognize that they have it within them to use this cognitive metastasis into a practical, useful, relevant, and meaningful pursuit, that of ensuring that their followers (stakeholders) are indeed in a better state than when the leader assumed the leadership position. When an individual is in the throes of this Leadership Condition, then they are focused on their responsibilities, they are aware of the burden they carry, and the difference is that they not just carry it, but they carry it well. Then we have the exemplars of the Leadership Condition, not just footnotes.

How then can one achieve this metastatic state of the Leadership Condition? The Leader always sits on the precipice, the L-Edge. They look forward and have the luxury of looking back as well. Every leader is not Janus, though they can be, staring at the precipice and looking at what was and what can be, not just for themselves, but their followers as well. How the leader views this situation, context, and course of action, determines how the leader will successfully carry the burden they are entrusted with. The L-Edge is both the leading edge of innovation and discovery, but also the bleeding edge where the leader can perish, when the metastasis of thought and action is untrammeled and/or devoid of empathy. But when the praetor acts in good faith, then the Leadership Condition is manifest in its might and the praetor is operibus anteire, leading the way with deeds. Orta recens quam pura nites – Newly risen, how brightly you shine.

Dr. Binod Sundararajan
September 2018

DAL200: A 200th Anniversary Portrait Dalhousie University

Leave a Comment

“No one person has seen all of Dalhousie: all its iterations, all the personalities that helped to form it and have, in turn, been formed by it.  This book is a witness to the University’s two hundred years.  It is a cloud chamber, a place where transformation in time and space has been frozen, offering glimpses into multiply memories.”

Mona Holmlund, A 200th Anniversary Portrait Dalhousie University

“No one person has seen all of Dalhousie: all its iterations, all the personalities that helped to form it and have, in turn, been formed by it. This book is a witness to the University’s two hundred years. It is a cloud chamber, a place where transformation in time and space has been frozen, offering glimpses into multiply memories.” Mona Holmlund, A 200th Anniversary Portrait Dalhousie University

DAL200 is a historic once-in-a life event that celebrates Dalhousie’s journey over 200 years.  We are witnessing a significant milestone that allows us to pause for a moment and reflect on past achievements even as we look forward to the opportunities that await us in the coming decades.

Dalhousie University: A 200th Anniversary Portrait

Dalhousie University: A 200th Anniversary Portrait, curated by Mona Holmlund with the opening epic poem by celebrated poet and alumnus George Elliott Clarke, is a profound exploration into the past, present and future of Dalhousie University.   To order your copy of  A 200th Anniversary Portrait Dalhousie University, visit Dalhousie University Bookstore.

“Dalhousie’s 200th anniversary is an occasion to celebrate our past, thank those who have contributed to our success, and look to the future.  Throughout these pages, see what we have achieved together, and dream about what’s next.”

President’s Message

Dr. Richard Florizone, Dalhousie’ 11th President

Dalhousie University: A 200th Anniversary Portrait

Dalhousie University: A 200th Anniversary Portrait

Dr. Kathleen Kevany: Eating as a political, social, spiritual act: The World Peace Diet

2 Comments

Eating as a political, social, spiritual act: The World Peace Diet

File 20180814 2894 12p57bc.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1
Moving to a plant-based diet is one of the top things we can do to stop climate change.
Photo by William Felker/Unsplash

Kathleen Kevany, Dalhousie University

We must believe that we are capable of creating “a place of love and mutual assistance and understanding.” This is how visionary Tim Berners-Lee described the utopianist John Perry Barlow at the time of his death, adding: “I don’t think he was naïve.”

Our current climate change crisis calls for this type of bold, inspiring and transformative action. The book Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan to Reverse Global Warming, put out by Project Drawdown, explains, maps, measures and models solutions that are already in place.

“Drawing down” occurs when we succeed in reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere on a year-to-year basis. This is not a daydream. We are currently achieving this on a small scale. If we scale up these efforts we can reverse global warming.

Escalating climate change need not be inevitable like the duration of this summer’s extreme heat. It is not too vast or too hard or too complex for us to tackle. It is the most important goal for humanity to undertake at this time.

Eight of the top 25 actions to achieve this reversal involve food. Each one of us can rethink the food we are producing, eating and wasting. And we can call for more government and industry action to support sustainable food systems.

Nothing more fully and powerfully influences the daily lives of everyone than our food.
Alexandr Podvalny/Unsplash

The World Peace Diet offers one way. This diet encourages mindful eating. Advocates say that many animal-based eaters become so largely because of cultural, social and familial pressures. They argue that it is not necessary to carry on these unexamined and outmoded traditions.

Food impacts everything

Eating is personal, public and political and impacts all aspects of human life. Nothing more fully and powerfully influences the daily lives of everyone than our food, food choices and food systems. Food is a tool to nourish life but also for taking political action and for averting the dangers of climate change and preventing unnecessary harm.

If we shift to plant-based diets and plant-rich living, our water, land and fuel will be used more efficiently and ethically. When we channel grains and legumes to animals and away from human consumption we make it more challenging for small producers to compete in the global supply chain and for the poor to obtain adequate nourishment.

An array of problems arise from animal agriculture — diet-related diseases, food insecurity and inequality, hunger as well as obesity, escalating health-care costs, animal commodification, along with water and air pollution, biodiversity loss and soil deterioration and land degradation.

Left to right, Brad Wall, former premier for Saskatchewan, his wife Tami, film director James Cameron and his with Suzy speak with local farmer Albert Vandebery prior to their funding announcement for a new pulse food processing facility in Vanscoy, Sask., last September.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards

As it takes many times the resources to produce the same amount of food through animal products, eating more plants and less meat, dairy and eggs would enable a fairer distribution of the world’s food and resources.

Many researchers and activists are calling for more sustainable global food systems.

A report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on “livestock’s long shadow” shows that animal agriculture — meat production and consumption — is heating up and polluting the planet’s resources.

Sustainability researcher Marco Springmann and his team, with the Future of Food project and the British Heart Foundation predict that the global adoption of a vegetarian diet would result in 7.3 million less deaths per year. A massive swing to a vegan diet, experts say, would result in additional prevention of obesity, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular mortality.

The Plant-based Prevention Of Disease conference, hosts events to educate the public that plant-based diets can prevent diseases. And Gene Baur of Farm Sanctuary, a political, social and spiritual movement challenges us when saying, “If we can live well without causing unnecessary harm, why wouldn’t we?”

Leaders of such organisations imagine a world where all beings are fed, loved and nurtured. It seems such imaginings offer pretty good returns. We will all benefit from the outcomes of this type of diet change: people will be healthier, there will be less premature death and disability, and provincial budgets could save some resources to attend to additional priorities beyond health care.

Plant-rich living, mindful eating

Animals suffer and lose their lives to the food system, but workers in slaughterhouses also face precarious, psychologically demanding, low-paying jobs.

As writer Jonathan Safran Foer suggests, this system often treats “living animals like dead ones.” Human workers fare only slightly better. Slaughterhouse work is physically demanding and exacts significant mental and emotional strain.

Reducing meat consumption is better for the planet and also more ethical as no animals are harmed.
Sam Carter/Unsplash

Maybe our ignorance is not so surprising. The opaque nature of our food systems – including concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) – is by design. Ag-Gag laws, are present in “virtually every significant livestock producing state.” These laws make it a “crime for anyone, including employees of CAFOs, to take pictures that document animal abuse or environmental violations.”

When it comes to food choices, we are encouraged not to examine exploitative relationships with animals or other people. Humans have become ‘rationalizing, ready to disregard science, morals and our well-being, so we can slaughter and consume animals.

By reducing animal agriculture, we also could improve health, stabilize grain prices, enhance food security and prevent unnecessary harm and violence. Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet says:

“Food is a source and metaphor of life, love, generosity, celebration, pleasure, reassurance, acquisition and consumption. While concurrently, it can be a metaphor of control, domination, cruelty, and death. Eating can be a purposeful, intimate act, a regime of self-care and love, and a powerful political message.” In the wise words of the Lorax by Dr. Seuss, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

We can choose a non-violent lifestyle. We could choose not to take a life to eat. We could eat an array of nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits and vegetables to meet our nutritional requirements without giving up on taste or satisfaction.

Movie director, James Cameron isn’t launching the biggest pea protein production facility in Canada because he thinks it will be an idea that will fade. This is the way forward.

Peas are loaded with helpful vitamins like K that strengthens bone health. They provide high fiber, low fat and a powerful source of vegetable protein. And when fresh they taste like summer in your mouth.

Choosing peas can help to build the place of love and mutual assistance and understanding that John Perry Barlow envisioned. Food could be our greatest vehicle for more peaceful, mindful and sustainable living.

Kathleen Kevany, Associate Professor Sustainable Food Systems, Director of Rural Research Centre, Dalhousie University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Denise Hinds & Patrick Law: Grand Champions, Deeper Learning

2 Comments

Denise Hinds

Denise Hinds

The Centre for Executive and Graduate Education (CEGE) provides opportunities for deeper learning by delivering robust course content in ways that engage students to study, integrate and apply what they have learned. Deeper learning fosters competencies required to participate within our social milieu: critical thinking, collaborative and communication skills.  CEGE’s commitment to their students was dramatically evidenced in the GLO-BUS Simulation introduced by Dr. Carolan McLarney in the 2018 winter semester of International Business.

GLO-BUS is an International Business Strategy Simulation. Participants run companies that compete for global market leadership in two product categories: (1) wearable video cameras that deliver stunning video quality and have powerful photo capture capabilities (comparable to those designed and marketed by global industry leader GoPro) and (2) sophisticated camera-equipped copter drones that incorporate a company designed and assembled action- capture camera and that are sold to commercial enterprises.

Patrick Law

Denise Hinds, Patrick Law and Golnaz Zilabi were members of “IRIS Cameras,” the class team that finished 1st place in the GLO-BUS simulation exercise conducted during IB Winter 2018. In late July, an invitation was given to “IRIS Cameras” to participate  in the GLO-BUS Best-Strategy Invitational (BSI), an event to manage a GLO-BUS company in competition against companies from 10 to 11 other universities and business schools. The Invitational was to be conducted online from July 30 – August 18 and entailed a 10-round playing of GLO-BUS among participants from universities worldwide. Denise and Patrick accepted an invitation to represent Dalhousie University.

Dr. Carolan McLarney is delighted to announce that Denise and Patrick, under the company name ‘Jenuine Cameras’ won first place on August 10, 2018, becoming the 2018 GLO-BUS BSI “Grand Champions”.

CEGE Connection reached out to Denise and Patrick for their insights into the BSI Invitational:

Denise Hinds & Patrick Law:

“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’”

Brian Tracey

When we set out on the BSI journey, we agreed that we must believe that the product or service of our company would benefit others and be good for the world.  We decided to name our company ‘Jenuine’ as a play on the word ‘Genuine’ and a way to represent our business beliefs.  In addition, we were drawn to the meaning of “jen” which signifies “the cardinal Confucian virtue of benevolence to one’s fellowmen.”

 “Begin with the end in mind.”

Stephen Covey

From the start, we worked with two principles to give us the edge over the other schools:

  1. Long-term fundamentals beat short-term decisions every time: Other competitors will focus on short term gains because it feels good “in the moment” but does not guarantee long-term results.   We used this knowledge to our advantage and directed our efforts on choosing sustainable strategies.
  2. Measure what matters and ignore what doesn’t:  Rather than revisiting past trends to determine whether our strategies were working out, we stayed focused on our competitive advantages. In the end, our company fundamentals were the most important benchmarks of our performance and success.

“In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats.”

Warren Buffett

Speaking of competitive advantages, we wanted to set up a “moat”.   We realized early on that our product had to be as different as possible in good ways.  As Sir John Templeton once wrote, “If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.”  We focused on developing a long term durable competitive advantage by selling/producing our products with larger margins than our competitors. To learn more on this topic, there is a great article on moats (durable competitive advantages): Measuring the Moat by Vishal Khandelwal.

“…investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.”

Benjamin Graham

We did several things to buy into the inherent margin of safety, from our high cumulative R&D approach; our sensitivity analysis activity; to the number of workstations added and robotic upgrade investments.   Of course, forecasting and competitive assumptions played a significant role, as did marketing our product well.  We agreed with Henry Ford, that “stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time”. 

The best way for us to strategize our next move, was to try to understand our competitors by preparing for every round.  This in turn required us to review the competitive intelligence report, financial statistics, benchmarks pages to see if we were meeting or beating our targets (in order of importance). In the words of Warren Buffett, “risks come from not knowing what you’re doing.”

What do business students need to know?

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”

Samuel Johnson.

In everything we do, we must do it with integrity. As business students, we need to make long-term decisions for those long-term benefits.  As students in the MBA (Leadership) stream, we chose to get involved in an extra-curricular activity to showcase our talents and education.  We discovered that the GLO-BUS Best Strategy Invitational was not just about business strategies, ethics, marketing, competitor assumptions, financials, or player psychology.  It was about a deeper, more profound recognition that we are involved within a global community that requires our highest participation and best efforts.

Dalhousie University and, in particular, the Centre for Executives and Graduate Education (CEGE) offers students the required lessons, the deeper learning to thrive within the competitive world of business. More importantly, CEGE creates an inclusive environment that fosters critical thinking about engaging within a world that offers many opportunities and possibilities.

DAL200: Fashion Statement 1818

Leave a Comment

“Give a girl an education and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.”

 Jane Austen

Regency Fashion, Photo Credit Michelle Hunter

Regency Fashion, Photo Credit Michelle Hunter

Michelle Hunter attended a DAL200 display of Regency Fashion that featured fashion designs of 1818, the year Lord Dalhousie received the royal approval to establish Dalhousie University via Lord Bathurst.  For those fashionistas who enjoy following historical fashion trends, this post is dedicated to you!

The year 1818 is at the end of the Regency period (1811-1820).  At this time, Canada was mostly under British rule.  Therefore, fashion was very much inspired by what was worn in England.  The Regency era is famous for its high-waisted, Empire-line silhouettes reminiscent of Ancient Greek dress.  Ladies of the Regency era typically owned various types of gowns for different occasions and times of the day, such as morning dresses, walking dresses, and evening dresses.

Regency Fashion, Photo Credit Michelle Hunter

Regency Fashion, Photo Credit Michelle Hunter

The dress presented here would likely have been an evening gown, worn by a well-to-do woman of the middle class, or by a higher-class woman.  In 1818, waistlines were very high at just below the bust.  Embroidery, appliques, and flounces on skirts were very popular. Lace overlays and tulle were also widely used that year.  Machine-made net and gauze had been on the rise since around 1810.

Men’s dress was very much inspired by dandyism (being preoccupied with fashion but appearing nonchalant about it) and the Romantic movement. Dark colours of rich cloth (such as velvet) were very fashionable, as were short hairstyles and high boots.  Breeches were on a decline and being replaced by pants or trousers.  A typical Regency man would have worn the three-piece suit, consisting of the pants/trousers, a waistcoat, and a coat.  A white linen shirt would also have been worn underneath the waistcoat, as well as a neckcloth or cravat around the neck.  The black silk top hat was preferred by most men of the time.  Overall, the Regency era favoured long and lean silhouettes and is often associated with tales of romance and Jane Austen. (This information was recorded on the 1818 Information signage on display. See photo below)

Regency Fashion, Photo Credit Michelle Hunter

Regency Fashion, Photo Credit Michelle Hunter

TOP