This
text and the costume history illustrations shown are from Pages 432-441 of the
chapter on late C18th dress in the reign of King George
III 1760-1820, and taken from English Costume by Dion Clayton Calthrop. As there are so many illustrations to this particular chapter, I have
divided it into 3 sections.
Page 1 (this page) - is as Calthrop intended it to be with the text
matching the line drawing illustrations and is primarily focused on the
ADDITIONAL sketches of Georgian men's coats and hairstyles, plus two
colour plates of male dress at the start and end of this Georgian era.
Page 2 - Focuses on the female line drawing sketches of costumes
of the same George III era, plus two colour plates.
Page 3 - Shows the occupational dress plates of men's clothing of
this 60
year Georgian reign. For the Introduction to this book see this
introduction written by Dion Clayton Calthrop.
My comments are in italics.
GEORGE THE THIRD
Reigned sixty years: 1760-1820.
Born 1738. Married, 1761, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
The full-skirted coat, though still worn, has given way, in general,
to the tail-coat. The waistcoat is much shorter. Black silk
knee-breeches and stockings are very general.
The cuffs have gone, and now the sleeve is left unbuttoned at the wrist.
The coat is long and full-skirted, but not stiffened. The cravat is
loosely tied, and the frilled ends stick out. These frills were, in the
end, made on the shirt, and were called chitterlings.
Throughout this long reign the changes of costume are so frequent, so
varied, and so jumbled together, that any precise account of them would
be impossible. I have endeavoured to give a leading example of most kind
of styles in the budget of drawings which goes with this chapter.
Details concerning this reign are so numerous: Fashion books, fashion
articles in the London Magazine, the St. James's Chronicle, works
innumerable on hair-dressing, tailors' patterns - these are easily within
the reach of those who hunt the second-hand shops, or are within
reasonable distance of a library.
DRAWINGS TO ILLUSTRATE THE COSTUME OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD
THE FIRST FORTY-EIGHT DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR
(Calthrop), AND
THE REMAINING TWELVE BY THE DIGHTONS,
FATHER AND SON.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 1 & 2, 1768 -1772.
Calthrop writes:- Following my drawings, you will see in the first the ordinary wig,
skirted coat, knee-breeches, chapeau-bras, cravat or waistcoat, of the
man about town. I do not mean of the exquisite about town, but, if you
will take it kindly, just such clothes as you or I might have worn.
In the second drawing we see a fashionable man, who might have
strutted past the first fellow in the Park. His hair is dressed in a
twisted roll; he wears a tight-brimmed little hat, a frogged coat, a
fringed waistcoat, striped breeches, and buckled shoes.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 3 & 4, 1773.
In the third we see the dress of a Macaroni. On his absurd wig he wears
a little Nevernoise hat; his cravat is tied in a bow; his breeches are
loose, and beribboned at the knee. Many of these Macaronis wore coloured
strings at the knee of their breeches, but the fashion died away when
Jack Rann, 'Sixteen String Jack,' as he was called after this fashion,
had been hung in this make of breeches.
In number four we see the development of the tail-coat and the
high-buttoned waistcoat. The tail-coat is, of course, son to the
frock-coat, the skirts of which, being inconvenient for riding, had
first been buttoned back and then cut back to give more play.
»
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 5 & 6, 1773-1782.
In the fifth drawing we see the double-breasted cut-away coat.
Number six is but a further tail-coat design.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 7 & 8, 1783-1786
Number seven shows how different were the styles at one time. Indeed,
except for the Macaroni and other extreme fashions, the entire budget of
men as shown might have formed a crowd in the Park on one day about
twenty years before the end of the reign. There would not be much
powdered hair after 1795, but a few examples would remain.
A distinct change is shown in the eighth drawing of the long-tailed,
full coat, the broad hat, the hair powdered, but not tied.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 9 & 10, 1787-1789.
Number nine is another example of the same style.
The tenth drawing shows the kind of hat we associate with Napoleon, and,
in fact, very Napoleonic garments.
Ω
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 11 & 12, 1791.
In eleven we have a distinct change in the appearance of English dress.
The gentleman is a Zebra, and is so-called from his striped clothes. He
is, of course, in the extreme of fashion, which did not last for long;
but it shows a tendency towards later Georgian appearance - the top-hat,
the shorter hair, the larger neckcloth, the pantaloons - forerunners
of Brummell's invention - the open sleeve.
Number twelve shows us an ordinary gentleman in a coat and waistcoat,
with square flaps, called dog's ears.
As the Drawings of Georgian Men's Coats continue you can see that the dress became more and more
simple, more like modern evening dress as to the coats, more like modern
stiff fashion about the neck.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
Drawings of Georgian Men's Coats 13 & 14, 1793.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 15 & 16, 1793.
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 17 & 18, 1795.
˚
ABOVE - MEN'S COAT
DRAWINGS 19 & 20, 1797.
ABOVE - DRAWING OF MAN 1803
Mid-Georgian Bag Wigs & Queues Illustration
Men's Neater Hairstyles Illustration
Beaver & Round Hats 1786+ Illustration
See a large number of images on the
Georgian
women's page here ....
Calthrop continues the last part of the chapter with
these few paragraphs:-
Georgian Women
These colour plates show the last of the
pannier dresses, which gave way in 1794 or
1795 to Empire dresses. After the French Revolution all dress of both
men and women underwent radical changes.
The drawings of the women's dresses should also speak for themselves.
‡
Georgian Wigs
You may watch the growth of the wig and the decline of the hoop - I
trust with ease. You may see those towers of hair of which there are so
many stories.
Those masses of meal and stuffing, powder and pomatum, the dressing
of which took many hours. Those piles of decorated, perfumed, reeking
mess, by which a lady could show her fancy for the navy by balancing a
straw ship on her head, for sport by showing a coach, for gardening by a
regular bed of flowers. Heads which were only dressed, perhaps, once in
three weeks, and were then rescented because it was necessary.
Monstrous germ-gatherers of horse-hair, hemp-wool, and powder,
laid on in a paste, the cleaning of which is too awful to give in full
detail. 'Three weeks,' says my lady's hairdresser, 'is as long as a head
can go well in the summer without being opened.'
See more on
Georgian wigs.
Then we go on to the absurd idea which came over womankind that it was
most becoming to look like a pouter pigeon. She took to a buffon,
a gauze or fine linen kerchief, which stuck out pigeon-like in front,
giving an exaggerated bosom to those who wore it. With this fashion of
1786 came the broad-brimmed hat.
Travel a little further and you have the mob cap.
All of a sudden out go hoops, full skirts, high hair, powder, buffons,
broad-brimmed hats, patches, high-heeled shoes, and in come willowy
figures and thin, nearly transparent dresses, turbans, low shoes,
straight fringes.
I am going to give a chapter from a fashion book, to show you how
impossible it is to deal with the vagaries of fashion in the next reign,
and if I chose to occupy the space, I could give a similar chapter to
make the confusion of this reign more confounded.
See a large number of images on the
clothing of
Georgian Women.
THE FIRST FORTY-EIGHT DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR, AND
THE REMAINING TWELVE BY THE DIGHTONS,
FATHER AND SON. See the
Occupational Dress for Men page.
The King.
The Navy.
The Army.
Pensioners.
The Church.
The Law.
The Stage.
The Universities.
The Country.
The Duke of Norfolk.
The City.
The Duke of Queensberry.
See the
Occupational Dress for Men page.
You have been reading English Costume History at
www.fashion-era.com © from the chapter
on Hanoverian King George III 1760-1820, from Dion Clayton Calthrop's
book English Costume.
Fashion-Era.com looks at women's costume and fashion history and analyses the mood of an era. Changes in technology, leisure, work, cultural and moral values. Homelife and politics also
contribute to lifestyle trends, which in turn influence the clothes we wear. These are the changes that make any era of society special in relation to the study of the costume of a period.
Fashion-Era.com can take no responsibility for any information on the site which may cause you error, loss or costs incurred from use of the information and links either directly or
indirectly. This site is owned, designed, written and developed by author: Pauline Thomas and Guy Thomas. This site is designed to be viewed in 1024 X 768 or higher.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Fashion-era.com reserves the right to add or
delete information, graphics and links. Copyright © 2001-2013 on all content, text and images in Fashion-era.com. Images
and text in this website may not be used on other websites.
If you have any comments, or if you see any broken links, then please email with details of the page url or problem.
