THE urge to accessorise is by no means a modern element of fashion – it is an idea that has been around for centuries.

And a major new exhibition opening tomorrow (Friday, March 28) examines just how important the principle was to both women and men some 250 years ago.

Head to Toe, at Fairfax House in York, reveals the wide-ranging accessories that accompanied, ornamented, adorned and even underpinned the attire of fashionable 18th-century and Regency society.

It showcases the accessories that were worn from top to bottom - from headwear such as bonnets, hats, caps and parasols right through to stockings, garters and shoes of all shapes and patterns.

The more discreet accessories that were normally hidden from sight are also revealed with the layers of underwear that combined to create the fashionable form.

A key part of the exhibition reveals that vanity and the pursuit of fashion was not for the female realm alone. A pair of stockings for men with specially padded calves are amongst the more unusual forms of Georgian fashion accessory on display.

Other key pieces include a rare set of eighteenth-century patches worn to conceal smallpox marks on the face, and even eyebrows made from mouse hair.

Director Hannah Phillip said: “Fashion has the ability to cross time and irrespective of which period it comes from has great resonance with modern society.

“Head to Toe essentially shows that little has changed in the pursuit of ‘fashionability’ and that society's present fascination with creating and following trends is not new at all.”

The exhibition continues until November 2.