Fashion in the years 1750–1775 in European countries and the colonial Americas was characterised by greater abundance, elaboration and intricacy in clothing designs, loved by the
Rococo
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
artistic trends of the period. The French and English styles of fashion were very different from one another. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
.
After reaching their maximum size in the 1750s,
hoop skirt
A hoop skirt or hoopskirt is a women's undergarment worn in various periods to hold the skirt extended into a fashionable shape.
It originated as a modest-sized mechanism for holding long skirts away from one's legs, to stay cooler in hot clim ...
s began to reduce in size, but remained being worn with the most formal dresses, and were sometimes replaced with side-hoops, or
pannier
A pannier is a basket, bag, box, or similar container, carried in pairs either slung over the back of a beast of burden, or attached to the sides of a bicycle or motorcycle. The term derives from a Middle English borrowing of the Old French ' ...
s.
["Panniers ritish(1973.65.2)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1973.65.2 (October 2006)] Hairstyles were equally elaborate, with tall headdresses the distinctive fashion of the 1770s. For men,
waistcoat
A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit) or vest ( US and Canada) is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wea ...
s and
breeches
Breeches ( ) are an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. Formerly a standard item of Western men's ...
of previous decades continued to be fashionable.
English style was defined by simple practical garments, made of inexpensive and durable fabrics, catering to a leisurely outdoor lifestyle.
[Ribeiro, Aileen: ''The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750–1820'', Yale University Press, 1995, ] These lifestyles were also portrayed through the differences in portraiture. The French preferred indoor scenes where they could demonstrate their affinity for luxury in dress and lifestyle. The English, on the other hand, were more "egalitarian" in tastes, thus their portraits tended to depict the sitter in outdoor scenes and pastoral attire.
Changes in fashion in the period
1750s
* Women: Court dress included elaborate and intricate styles influenced by Rococo; hoop skirts; panniers;
corsets; petticoats; stays; conical torso shape with large hips; "standardized courtly bodies and faces" with little individuality
** French: Elaborate court dress, colorful, decorative, portraiture inside
** English: Simple and practical, inexpensive durable fabrics, outdoor lifestyle,
[Ribeiro, Aileen: ''The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750–1820'', Yale University Press, 1995] portraiture outside
* Men: Coat; waistcoat; breeches; large cuffs; more attention on individual pieces of the suit;
wigs for formal occasions; long and powdered hair
1760s
* Women: New strapless stays cut high at the armpit; or "stiff-bodied" gown; riding habit
* Men: Frock coat; knee length breeches fitted snugly; full shirt sleeves; original Macaroni
[Amelia Rauser, ''Hair, Authenticity, The Self Made Macaroni'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, Fall 2004) p. 101.]
1770s
* Women: or sack-back gown; or close-bodied gown; the "Brunswick"; tall hair and headdresses
* Men: Waistcoats began to shorten; Macaroni imitators
[S. West, ''The Darly Macaroni Prints and the Politics of the Private Man'', Duke University Press]
Women's fashion
Overview

Women's clothing styles emphasized a narrow, inverted conical torso, achieved with boned stays, above full skirts.
Hoop skirt
A hoop skirt or hoopskirt is a women's undergarment worn in various periods to hold the skirt extended into a fashionable shape.
It originated as a modest-sized mechanism for holding long skirts away from one's legs, to stay cooler in hot clim ...
s continued to be worn, reaching their largest size in the 1750s, and were sometimes replaced by side-hoops, also called 'false hips', or
panniers.
[ Court dress had little or no physical comfort with restriction of movement. Full-size hoop skirts prevented sitting and reminded those wearing them to stand in the presence of the King. Stays forced a proper standing posture. Garments like these could not be washed often because of the fabrics from which they were made. The ]Enlightenment
Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:
Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
produced a backlash against sumptuary law
Sumptuary laws (from Latin ) are laws that regulate consumption. '' Black's Law Dictionary'' defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures for apparel, food, furnitu ...
s which asserted a stagnant social hierarchy. During the Enlightenment, court dress stayed almost the same while outside of court dress, fashion became less extravagant and shifted more towards comfort rather than courtly display.
Gowns
The usual fashion of the years 1750–1775 was a low-necked gown
A gown, from the Latin word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by people of both sexes in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the t ...
(usually called a ), worn over a petticoat. Most gowns had skirts that opened in front to show the petticoat worn beneath. If the bodice of the gown was open in front, the opening was filled in with a decorative stomacher
A stomacher is a decorated triangular panel that fills in the front opening of a woman's gown or bodice. The stomacher may be boned, as part of a stays, or may cover the triangular front of a corset. If simply decorative, the stomacher lies o ...
, pinned to the gown over the laces or to the stays beneath.
Close-fitting sleeves just past the elbow were trimmed with frills or ruffles, and separate under-ruffles referred to as engageante
Engageantes are false sleeves worn with women's clothing. They were worn during the 18th and 19th centuries, with a brief revival in the 20th century. In the 18th century, engageantes took the form of ruffles or flounces of linen, cotton, or la ...
s in modern terms, of lace or fine linen were tacked, to the inside of the gown's sleeves, or perhaps to the shift or chemise sleeves. The neckline was trimmed with a fabric or lace ruffle, or a neckerchief called a "fichu
A fichu (, from the French "thrown over") is a large, square kerchief worn by women to fill in the low neckline of a bodice.
Description
It originated in the United Kingdom in the 18th century and remained popular there and in France through t ...
" could be tucked into the low neckline. Women would also sometimes wear a neckerchief or a more formal lace modesty piece, particularly on low-cut dresses.
The or sack-back gown
__NOTOC__
The sack-back gown or ''robe à la française'' was a women's fashion of 18th century Europe. At the beginning of the century, the sack-back gown was a very informal style of dress. At its most informal, it was unfitted both front and b ...
featured back pleats hanging loosely from the neckline. A fitted bodice held the front of the gown closely to the figure.
The or close-bodied gown
A close-bodied gown, English nightgown, or ''robe à l'anglaise'' was a women's fashion of the 18th century. Like the earlier mantua, from which it evolved, the back of the gown featured pleats from the shoulder, stitched down to mould the gown c ...
featured back pleats sewn in place to fit closely to the body, and then released into the skirt which would be draped in various ways.
The Brunswick dress was a two-piece costume of German origin consisting of a hip-length jacket with "split sleeves"—flounced elbow-length sleeves and long, tight lower sleeves—and a hood, worn with a matching petticoat. It was popular for traveling.
Court dress, the or "stiff-bodied" gown, retained the styles of the 1670s. It featured a low, oval neckline that bared the shoulders, and the heavily boned bodice laced closed in back, unlike the front-opening robe. The elbow-length sleeves were covered with tiers of lace flounces, echoing the full-sleeved chemise worn with the original style.
Front-wrapping thigh-length "shortgowns" or bedgown
A bedgown (sometimes bed gown, bedjacket or shortgown) is an article of women's clothing for the upper body, usually thigh-length and wrapping or tying in front. Bedgowns of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear i ...
s of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear, worn with petticoats. Over time, bedgowns became the staple upper garment of British and American female working-class street wear.
As in previous periods, the traditional riding habit
A riding habit is women's clothing for horseback riding.
Since the mid-17th century, a formal habit for riding sidesaddle usually consisted of:
* A tailored jacket with a long skirt (sometimes called a petticoat) to match
* A tailored shirt or ...
consisted of a tailored jacket like a man's coat, worn with a high-necked shirt, a waistcoat, a petticoat, and a hat. Alternatively, the jacket and a false waistcoat-front might be a made as a single garment, and later in the period a simpler riding jacket and petticoat—without waistcoat—could be worn.
Underwear
The shift, chemise
A chemise or shift is a classic smock type of women's undergarment or dress. Historically, a chemise was a simple garment worn next to the skin to protect clothing from sweat and body oils, the precursor to the modern shirts commonly worn in W ...
(in France), or smock, had a low neckline and elbow-length sleeves which were full early in the period and became increasingly narrow as the century progressed. Drawers were not worn in this period.
The long-waisted, heavily boned "stays" of the early 1740s with their narrow back, wide front, and shoulder straps gave way by the 1760s to strapless stays which still were cut high at the armpit, to encourage a woman to stand with her shoulders slightly back, a fashionable posture. The fashionable shape was a rather conical torso, with large hips. The waist was not particularly small. Stays were laced snugly, but comfortably. They offered back support for heavy lifting, and poor and middle-class women were able to work comfortably in them.
Free-hanging pockets were tied around the waist and were accessed through "pocket slits" in the side-seams of the gown or petticoat.
Woollen or quilted waistcoats were worn over the stays and under the gown for warmth, as were petticoats quilted with wool batting, especially in the cold climates of northern Europe and America. In the 1770s stays began to be produced so they would end higher on a woman's body. Phillip Vicker complained: "For the late importation of Stays which are said to be now most fashionable in London, are produced upwards so high that we can have scarce any view at all of the Ladies Snowy Bosoms..."
Shoes
Shoes had high, curved heels—the origin of modern "louis heels"—and were made of fabric or leather, with separate shoe buckle
Shoe buckles are fashion accessories worn by men and women from the mid-17th century through the 18th century to the 19th century. Shoe buckles were made of a variety of materials including brass, steel, silver or silver gilt, and buckles for ...
s. These were either shiny metal, usually in silver—sometimes with the metal cut into false stones in the Paris style—or with paste stones, although there were other types.
Hairstyles and headgear
By the 1770s extreme hairstyles and wigs
A wig is a head covering made from human or animal hair, or a synthetic imitation thereof. The word is short for "periwig". Wigs may be worn to disguise baldness, to alter the wearer's appearance, or as part of certain professional uniforms.
H ...
had come into fashion. Women wore their hair high upon their heads, in large plumes. To create tall extreme hair, rolls of horse hair, tow, or wool were used to raise up the front of the hair. The front of the hair was then frizzed out, or arranged in roll curls and set horizontally on the head. Women turned their hair up in the back often in a knot. In addition, pomatum and false hair was used to give more height to the hair. Pomatum was paste that women used to stiffen their hair. Pomatum was also used to hold powder, which women put in their hair. The Pomatum was made of many ingredients including hog's grease, tallow, or a mix of beef marrow and oil.
Women's style gallery
File:Anna Bacherini Piattoli.jpg, 1 –
Image:Pompadour6.jpg, 2 – 1755
Image:Pompadour .jpg, 3 – 1759
File:Elisabeth Freudenreich 1760.jpg, 4 – 1760
File:Lady Susan Fox-Strangways.jpg, 5 – 1761
File:Denner - Queen Charlotte, 1761.jpg, 6 – 1761
File:Lucretia Chandler, Mrs. John Murray, 1763, by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) - Worcester Art Museum - IMG 7698.JPG, 7 – 1763
File:Mrs Benjamin Pickman by John Singleton Copley.jpeg, 8 – 1763
File:John Singleton Copley Mrs. Epes Sargent II 1764.jpg, 9 – 1764
File:Marie Antoinette in a red hunting habit-1772.jpg, 10 – 1771
Image:Mrs John Winthrop.jpg, 11 – 1773
Image:Trinquesse1.jpg, 12 – 1774
File:Hedvig_Elisabeth_Charlottas_bil%C3%A4gersdr%C3%A4kt_-_Livrustkammaren_-_56681.tif, 13 – 1774
File:Roslin_Alexander_-_Hedvig_Elisabeth_Charlotta_av_Holstein-Gottorp2.jpg, 14 – 1774
# Self-portrait of Anna Bacherini Piattoli wearing a Brunswick.
# A 1755 portrait of Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
wearing a floral gown with matching petticoat. Her sleeves end in flounces worn over lace engageantes. Her stomacher is decorated with a vertical row of ribbon bows.
# A 1759 portrait of Madame de Pompadour shows her petticoat trimmed with flounces to match her gown. She wears a small lace ruff around her neck.
# Elisabeth Freudenrich wears a gown trimmed with silk ribbons. Her hair is dressed high and two curls frame her neck, 1760.
# Lady Susan Fox-Strangways's gown is worn with wide, tiered engageantes, 1761.
# Queen Charlotte wears an elaborate neck ruffle with a large diamond brooch with her court gown. Her figure shows the full, rounded bust and small waist created by narrow-backed stays, 1761.
# In the American colonies Mrs. John Murray wears a simple gown with cuffed sleeves, 1763.
# Mrs. Benjamin Pickman, the wife of a wealthy merchant of Salem, Massachusetts, wears a blue silk gown with robings. She carries a parasol, 1763.
# Mrs. Epes Sargent II wears a dark blue riding habit and carries a plumed hat, Massachusetts, 1764.
# Marie Antoinette at age 15 wears a riding habit with a striped waistcoat. Her hair is tied back and she wears a tricorn hat, France, 1771.
# Mrs John Winthrop of Boston, Massachusetts, in the fashionable dress of 1773. Her indoor cap is trimmed with striped and dotted ribbons, and her gown is trimmed with "robings" of ruched fabric—strips of fabric gathered on two sides. A lace fichu fills in her neckline.
# Side view of a frock of 1774 shows pleated robings and striped ribbon rosettes.
# Wedding dress of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp
Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (; 22 March 1759 – 20 June 1818) was the queen consort of Charles XIII of Sweden and II of Norway. She was also a famed diarist, memoirist and wit. She is known as ''Hedwig Elisabeth Charlo ...
made of silver brocade, 1774.
# Portrait of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp
Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (; 22 March 1759 – 20 June 1818) was the queen consort of Charles XIII of Sweden and II of Norway. She was also a famed diarist, memoirist and wit. She is known as ''Hedwig Elisabeth Charlo ...
wearing the same dress as in the previous picture, 1774.
French fashion
File:After Liotard - Princess Sophie of France.png, France, 1750
File:Madame Adélaïde de France tenant un éventail by the studio of J.-M. Nattier.jpg, France, 1752
File:Jean-Marc Nattier 003.jpg, France, 1754
File:Jean-Marc Nattier, Madame Adélaïde de France faisant des nœuds (1756) - 002.jpg, France, 1756
File:Nattier, Jean Marc - Marie Adélaïde of France - Louvre INV 6892.jpg, France, 1758
File:Portrait of Julie de Thellusson-Ployard.jpg, France, 1760
File:Drouais - Madame Sophie de France (1734-1782) - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg, France, 1762
File:Nivelon - Marie Josèphe of Saxony - Versailles MV 3797.jpg, France, 1764
File:Boucher - Bergeret NGA.jpg, France, 1766
File:Marie Joséphine Buron par David.jpg, France, 1769
File:Louise-Marie de France, dite Madame Louise (1737-1787).jpg, France, 1770
File:Madame de Provence by Drouais in 1772.png, France, 1772
File:Drouais - Marie Therese de Savoie, comtesse d'Artois - Versailles.jpg, France, 1775
British fashion
File:Arthur Pond Rhoda Delaval, Lady Astley (1725 - 1757), circa 1750, Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland, Yorkshire and North East, National Trust.jpg, England, 1750
File:Elizabeth gunning02.jpg, England, 1752
File:Mrs John Brown (Jane Lucas) 1754 by Joseph Blackburn.jpg, England, 1754
File:Sarah Ursula Rose MET ap64.309.2.jpg, England, 1756
File:Ann Fairchild Bowler by John Singleton Copley.jpg, England, 1758
File:'Mrs. Nathaniel Loring' by Joseph Badger, Dayton Art Institute.JPG, England, 1760
File:Ann Saltonstall 1762 by Joseph Blackburn.jpg, England, 1762
File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mary, Countess of Howe - WGA08407.jpg, England, 1764
File:Lady Holland by Ramsay.jpg, England, 1766
File:Gainsborough - Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (1711-1775).jpg, England, 1768
File:Thomas Gainsborough - Retrato de Senhora John Bolton.jpg, England, 1770
File:Dorothy Quincy Hancock.jpg, England, 1772
File:Frances Abington, as Lady Bab Lardoon in 'The Maid of the Oaks' by Thomas Hickey now in the Garrick Club.jpg, England, 1775
German fashion
Men's fashion
Overview
Throughout the period, men continued to wear the coat
A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...
, waistcoat
A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit) or vest ( US and Canada) is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wea ...
and breeches
Breeches ( ) are an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. Formerly a standard item of Western men's ...
of the previous period. However, changes were seen in both the fabric used as well as the cut of these garments. More attention was paid to individual pieces of the suit, and each element underwent stylistic changes. Under new enthusiasms for outdoor sports and country pursuits, the elaborately embroider
Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to stitch thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across various cultures. Common stitches found ...
ed silks and velvets characteristic of "full dress" or formal attire earlier in the century gradually gave way to carefully tailor
A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century.
History
Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...
ed woollen "undress" garments for most occasions, whilst continuing to be worn for more formal ones (e.g. Balls, receptions, court appearances...). This more casual style reflected the dominating image of "nonchalance." The goal was to look as fashionable as possible with seemingly little effort. This was to be the new, predominant mindset of fashion.
Coats
The skirts of the coat narrowed from the gored styles of the previous period. Waistcoats extended to mid-thigh to the 1770s and then began to shorten. Waistcoats could be made with or without sleeves.
As in the previous period, a loose, T-shaped silk, cotton or linen gown called a banyan
A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...
was worn at home as a sort of dressing gown over the shirt, waistcoat, and breeches. Men of an intellectual or philosophical bent were painted wearing banyans, with their own hair or a soft cap rather than a wig.
A coat with a wide collar called a frock coat
A frock coat is a formal wear, formal men's coat (clothing), coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian era, Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). ...
, derived from a traditional working-class coat, was worn for hunting and other country pursuits in both Britain and America.
Shirt and stock
Shirt
A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist).
Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...
sleeves were full, gathered at the wrist and dropped shoulder. Full-dress shirts had ruffles of fine fabric or lace, while undress shirts ended in plain wrist bands.
Breeches, shoes, and stockings
Knee-length breeches fitted snugly and had a fall-front opening.
Low-heeled leather shoe
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...
s fastened with buckles were worn with silk or woollen stocking
Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transpar ...
s. Boot
A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...
s were worn for riding. The buckles were either polished metal, usually in silver—sometimes with the metal cut into false stones in the Paris style—or with paste stones, although there were other types. These buckles were often quite large and one of the world's largest collections can be seen at Kenwood House
Kenwood House (also known as the Iveagh Bequest) is a stately home in Hampstead, London, on the northern boundary of Hampstead Heath. The present house, built in the late 17th century, was remodelled in the 18th century for William Murray, 1st E ...
.
Hairstyles and headgear
Wigs were worn by middle and upperclass men, or the hair was worn long, brushed back from the forehead and "clubbed" (tied back at the nape of the neck) with a black ribbon. Wigs were generally now short, but long wigs continued to be popular with the older generation. Hair was powdered for formal, evening occasions.
Wide-brimmed hats turned up on three sides called "cocked hats"—called tricorns in later eras—were worn in mid-century.
The Macaroni
The trend of the macaroni grew out of the tradition of those who partook of the Grand Tour. Elite men in the 18th century would travel abroad across Europe, namely Italy, to broaden their cultural depth. These men adopted foreign fashions and tastes and brought them back to England where they interpreted them further. The original macaroni of the 1760s was characterized by elaborate dress consisting of short and tight trousers, large wigs, delicate shoes and small hats. As the general population of English males became exposed to the luxurious appeal of the macaroni trend, they began to adopt and replicate the trends they saw. By the 1770s, any man could appear as if they themselves had been on the Grand Tour-based solely on their outward appearance.
The macaroni and the subsequent imitators were criticized for being gender ambiguous and effeminate
Effeminacy or male femininity is the embodiment of feminine traits in boys or men, particularly those considered untypical of men or masculinity. These traits include roles, stereotypes, behaviors, and appearances that are socially associated wi ...
. Frequently, the macaroni fashion trend was the subject of satirical caricatures and pamphlets. Their large costume like wigs and short coats, which deeply contrasted the masculine British dress of the time, were ridiculed for their frivolity and were said to be threatening the stability of gender difference, thereby undermining the nation's reputation. The question of farce and inauthenticity comes into play as well because by dressing as a macaroni, one claimed the status and the means of an elite who went on the Grand Tour.
Although many mocked the macaroni for their outwardly eccentric characteristics, some celebrated them for their commitment to the demonstration of personal identity. The idea of a unique character was becoming an important concept that spanned many types of media including books and prints as Britain wanted to distinguish itself from France.[West, p. 175.]
Men's style gallery
File:Man's 3-piece velvet suit c. 1755.jpg, 1 –
Image:Georg Friedrich Händel 2.jpg, 2 – 1756
File:Man's fitted banyan 1750-1760.jpg, 3 – 1750–60
Image:Crowle1760s.jpg, 4 – 1761
Image:Voiriot DesVoisins.jpg, 5 – 1761
Image:Charles Blair (detail of The Honorable Henry Fane (1739–1802) with Inigo Jones and Charles Blair.jpg, 6 –
Image:Comte d'Angiviller.jpg, 7 –
File:1stLordWodehouse.jpg, 8 – 1764
File:Nathaniel Sparhawk1 John Singleton Copley.jpeg, 9 – 1764
Image:David Hume.jpg, 10 – 1766
File:Benjamin West portrait of John Grey 1766.jpg, 11 – 1766
File:Denis Diderot 111.PNG, 12 – 1767
File:Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copley.jpg, 13 – 1772
# Man's 3-piece suit has coat, waistcoat and breeches of cut, uncut and voided silk velvet, France, . The waistcoat buttons match the coat buttons, but are smaller.
# Portrait of George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
in a dark red coat with deep cuffs worn over a long gold brocade vest or waistcoat. His shirt has full sleeves gathered at the wrists with ruffles, 1756.
# Man's fitted double-breasted banyan
A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...
, an at-home gown or informal coat, made in the Netherlands of Chinese silk, 1750–60.
# Suit of 1761 features a dark blue coat and waistcoat with fine embroidery on the edges, deep cuffs, and pocket flaps. Hair is tied back but not powdered. The waistcoat reaches to mid-thigh.
# M. Gilbert DesVoisins, Councillor of State in Ordinary wears a shirt with front and wrist ruffles of fine lace. 1761
# Informal country clothes of 1760–62. The long collared coat without cuffs is a "frock".
# Comte d'Angiviller wears a rose-coloured coat with a fur lining over a flowered white satin waistcoat with gold braid or embroidery. His shirt has a lace frill down the front. French fashion emphasizes rich fabrics over cut and tailoring, .
# Portrait of Lord Wodehouse wearing a deep blue coat, waistcoat and breeches, 1764.
# Nathaniel Sparhawk of Maine wears a rose velvet suit with a collarless coat, 1764.
# David Hume wears a reddish collarless dress coat and matching waistcoat trimmed with bands of gold. His shirt sleeves are gathered into wrist bands with tiny pleats—visible by his left hand—and have fine lace ruffles, 1766.
# John Grey, third son of the Earl of Stamford, wears a brown coat and waistcoat over a linen shirt, 1766.
# Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...
wears a shot silk
Shot silk (also called changeant, changeable silk, changeable taffeta, cross-color, changeable fabric, or "dhoop chaon" ("sunshine shade")) is a fabric which is made up of silk woven from warp and weft yarns of two or more colours producing an ...
banyan over his waistcoat and shirt. The shirt fastens with buttons and buttonholes at the neck, details usually hidden by the stock, 1767.
# Samuel Adams wears a plain coat with wide revers, a small stand-up collar, deep cuffs, and large pocket flaps. His shirt has small sleeve ruffles and is worn with a narrow stock, 1772.
Children's fashion
During most of this period, the clothes worn by middle- and upper-class children older than toddlers continued to be similar to the clothes worn by adults, with the exception that girls wore back-fastening bodices and petticoats rather than open-fronted robes. Boys wore dresses until they were breeched.
File:Caroline Matilda 1754 by Liotard.jpg, 1 – 1754
File:Badger attributed Two Children Detail of Boy.jpg, 2 – 1755–60
Image:Lowry bateson family detail.jpg, 3 – 1762
Image:Georg David Matthieu 001.jpg, 4 – 1764
File:John Singleton Copley - A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham) - Google Art Project.jpg, 5 – 1765
Image:John Singleton Copley Young Lady with a Bird and Dog.jpg, 6 – 1767
File:Nathaniel_Dance_-_The_Pybus_family_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, 7 – 1769
File:Bobrinsky (variation).jpg, 8 –
File:William Williams 01.jpg, 9 – 1770–75
File:Carl_Ludwig_Christinec_001.jpg, 10 – 1772
# Young girl's costume of 1754.
# Boy's dress,
# Young Irish girls wear back-fastening bodices and sheer, embroidered aprons, 1762.
# The future Frederick Francis I
Frederick Francis I (10 December 1756 – 1 February 1837) ruled over the German state of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, first as Duke from 1785 to 1815, and then as Grand Duke from 1815 until his death in 1837.
Early life
Frederick Francis I was born in ...
, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his sister Sophia Frederica wear the miniature versions of adult costume that were standard for upper-class children, 1764.
# American boy wears a frock with a pink satin lining over a buff-colored waistcoat and a collared shirt with wrist frills, 1765.
# An American girl of 1767 wears a pink satin back-fastening gown over a smock and black shoes with low heels.
# '' The Pybus Family'' by Nathaniel Dance-Holland
Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1st Baronet (8 May 1735 – 15 October 1811) was an English painter and politician.
Early life
The third son of architect George Dance the Elder, Dance (he added the 'Holland' suffix later in life) studied art ...
. The girls wear mobcaps and a straw hat
A straw hat is a wide-brimmed hat woven out of straw or straw-like synthetic materials. Straw hats are a type of sun hat designed to shade the head and face from direct sunlight, but are also used in fashion as a decorative element or a ...
. The teenage boy has powdered hair and wears a frock coat and knee length breeches. The youngest child wears a loose white frock with a cloth belt, 1769
# Young Russian boy in court dress, with powdered hair and miniature sword, .
# Boy's suit of the early 1770s is worn with a collared shirt and a floppy bow at the neck.
# Young girls with mobcaps.
Working class clothing
Working-class people in 18th century England and America often wore the same garments as fashionable people—shirts, waistcoats, coats and breeches for men, and shifts, petticoats, and dresses or jackets for women—but they owned fewer clothes and what they did own was made of cheaper and sturdier fabrics. Working-class men also wore short jackets, and some, especially sailors, wore trousers rather than breeches. Smock-frock
A smock-frock or smock is an outer garment traditionally worn by rural workers, especially shepherds and waggoners. Today, the word smock refers to a loose overgarment worn to protect one's clothing, for instance by a painter.
The traditional sm ...
s were a regional style for men, especially shepherds. Country women wore short hooded cloaks, most often red. Both sexes wore handkerchiefs or neckerchiefs.[Styles, ''The Dress of the People'', pp. 32–36.][Baumgarten, ''What Clothes Reveal'', pp. 106–127.]
Men's felt hats were worn with the brims flat rather than cocked or turned up. Men and women wore shoes with shoe buckles—when they could afford them. Men who worked with horses wore boots.
Notes
References
* Arnold, Janet: ''Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction C.1860–1940'', Wace 1966, Macmillan 1972. Revised metric edition, Drama Books 1977.
* Ashelford, Jane: ''The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914'', Abrams, 1996.
* Baumgarten, Linda: ''What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America'', Yale University Press, 2002.
* Black, J. Anderson and Madge Garland: ''A History of Fashion'', Morrow, 1975.
* de Marly, Diana: ''Working Dress: A History of Occupational Clothing'', Batsford (UK), 1986; Holmes & Meier (US), 1987.
* Payne, Blanche: ''History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century'', Harper & Row, 1965. ASIN B0006BMNFS.
* Ribeiro, Aileen: ''The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750–1820'', Yale University Press, 1995,
* Ribeiro, Aileen: ''Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe 1715–1789'', Yale University Press, 2002,
* Rothstein, Natalie (ed.): ''A Lady of Fashion: Barbara Johnson's Album of Styles and Fabrics'', Norton, 1987,
* Steele, Valerie: ''The Corset: A Cultural History''. Yale University Press, 2001,
* Styles, John: ''The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England'', New Haven, Yale University Press, 2007,
* Takeda, Sharon Sadako, and Kaye Durland Spilker, ''Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915'', LACMA/Prestel USA (2010),
* Tortora, Phyllis G. and Keith Eubank. ''Survey of Historic Costume''. 2nd Edition, 1994. Fairchild Publications.
* Tozer, Jane and Sarah Levitt, ''Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes 1770–1870'', Laura Ashley Press,
* Waugh, Norah, ''The Cut of Women's Clothes: 1600–1930'', New York, Routledge, 1968,
External links
Glossary of 18th Century Costume Terminology
* ttp://www.englishcountrydancing.org/frenchfashion.html French Fashions 1700 - 1789 from ''The Eighteenth Century: Its Institutions, Customs, and Costumes'', Paul Lecroix, 1876*
Looking at Eighteenth-Century Clothing by Linda Baumgarten at Colonial Williamsburg
18th century fashions in the Staten Island Historical Society Online Collections Database
18th Century Notebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:1750-1775 in Western fashion
1750s fashion
1760s fashion
1770s fashion
18th-century fashion
Age of Enlightenment
History of clothing (Western fashion)