The Three-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity

 

 

Colonial Wig

 Greeting an attractive ballet dancer in one's box at the theatre.  

 Going out to a formal evening with one's wife. 

  Being measured for a new suit of court clothes by a suitably servile tailor. 

The Enlightenment caused a number of changes in men’s ideal image. Intelligence and wit were prized above physical prowess of any kind and the army became a profession only resorted to by the poorer, younger sons of the nobility. Military dress played less of a part in the fashion inspiration for men’s clothes as a result, and women’s dress, Asiatic dress, and Country clothing were turned to as sources of inspiration instead.

A "Banyan" (Asian style robe) and turban like cap for wearing at home, inspired by Persian (Iranian) dress. Well to do intellectual men often had themselves painted "at home" in their Banyans, instead of in formal full dress.

The Man of Fashion: Peacock Males and Perfect Gentlemen

A History of Men's Fashion

 
  Dramatic Works of the Marquis de Sade

  military man with walking stick from Max von Boehn's Das Beiwerk der Mode, 1928

It should be noted that In England at this time period high fashion and everyday dress for the nobility became separated into two distinct entities, for example, a mid-18th Century English Duke might wear laces, gilt embroidery and velvets at a formal occasion yet wear simple dark Quaker built clothes during the day, almost indistinguishable from what a middle class shopkeeper might wear.

The Dominant style in the the early part of the century was with the formal mode of dress which gradually phased out, until in 1800, almost all that was left was the informal day dress. Throughout the century the two styles existed side-by-side, usually cut along the same lives and only distinguished by color, fabric and trimming.

Go on to: The Cut of Men's Clothes 1700-1800

Patterns For The Drawing Below and other Men's Clothing, available at
The 18th Century Pattern Page.

Number Six Cologne Spray - 3 oz.

• Contemporary text Project Gutenberg Edition of Letters to His Son by the Earl of Chesterfield
• Getting dressed in the 18th Century: YouTube - Dangerous Liaisons Opening

• 18th Century Men and Waistcoats

• DHM, Everyday Life Culture II, Textiles, Man's dress suit 1750/1770