Gird Your Lions

October 5, 2016 10:37 AM

A Century Of Style: An illustrated guide to 1800s menswear
posted by The Whelk (15 comments total)

Great stuff! I love that the 1820 look has become the de rigueur weekend uniform for (Northeastern at least) women in the fall/winter. Some call it the Han Solo look, but many people do swap out the down vest for a cloth coat that's nipped at the waist and flared in the tail, basically exactly the 1820s men's stye. I suppose it became womens' wear via the equestrian route, but it's been adopted way beyond those circles.
posted by Miko at 10:53 AM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

I would like the 1885 wedding suit with cutaway coat, please. Also a frock coat with a velvet collar and a relatively low waist. And maybe that light camel sack suit midway down the page.
posted by Frowner at 10:54 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

yo fam those 1833 quintuple forward pleat trousers are fire af

rel. you all need to be following four_pins
posted by radicalawyer at 11:21 AM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Here in London, the plunging waistcoat à la 1885 seems to be making a comeback among the dapperest of the dapper City gents. I suppose anything that allows self-expression within the tyranny of the business suit is a good thing.

I love how in the first decades of the century-- the years of Jane Austen and the Napoleonic wars-- your throbbing Regency blokes were wearing outfits that proclaimed "I SAY. Behold my crotch, and damme 'tis a fine one. Crotch crotch crooooootch" and by the time you get to the 1840s they're like "what crotch. where. must cover the unnameable parts, lest they inflame indecent ardours. no crotches here, move along"
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:37 AM on October 5, 2016 [17 favorites]

That 1830s look is fantastic. I love the waistcoat.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:42 AM on October 5, 2016

I love how in the first decades of the century-- the years of Jane Austen and the Napoleonic wars-- your throbbing Regency blokes were wearing outfits that proclaimed "I SAY. Behold my crotch, and damme 'tis a fine one. Crotch crotch crooooootch"

Bingley and Darcy are ready.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:47 AM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

1897 Fock Coat

I know it's a typo, but fock, that's a coat.
posted by Segundus at 12:49 PM on October 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

Social lions. Or that's how I'm choosing to read it. Beau Brummel was a lion, socially speaking.

I mean, that's an actual phrase, like "lionize" for to giving someone a lot of admiration and publicity.

Also, if we say "lions", we can imagine that all these outfits are worn by adorable lions with big fluffy manes under their hats.
posted by Frowner at 1:09 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

'Crotch crotch crooooootch'
Well this one certainly has that 'Derek Smalls at airport security' look to it. This one, however, I'd be delighted to wear. Thanks The Whelk, good find!
posted by punilux at 4:08 PM on October 5, 2016

Crotch crotch crooooootch

Damn, it's been too long since I've re-watched Tales of the City.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:10 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Hmm plaid seemed to be popular in the 1870s and 1970s, so I'm awaiting a comeback in 2070.
posted by littlesq at 6:42 PM on October 5, 2016

My brain/eyes/psyche mistranslated this title to, "An illustrated guide to 1800s men's underwear," so I kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling . . .
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:00 PM on October 6, 2016

The 1860s has really resonated a long time.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:35 PM on October 6, 2016

I'm sad that we're getting the social aspects of the Victorian age only with no style. My youthful futuristic imaginings had me expecting the opposite.
posted by bongo_x at 4:14 PM on October 9, 2016

I knew we were getting a dystopian Neo-Victorian cyberpunk future but I thought we'd have better clothes.
posted by The Whelk at 8:19 AM on October 10, 2016 [1 favorite]