The great find of recent weeks has been Google Books digitized volumes of the Gazette of Fashion from Edward Minister and Son, who were tailors and habit makers for the queen (you can see a sample here). I don't know every magazine that was ever published in the 19th century in America, but I do know that I have no knowledge of any American counterpart that would be similar to this particular one that might have been running as early as the 1860s. The Gazette is wonderfully illustrated, but even though it's great that Google Books has digitized a handful of volumes, it's unfortunate that the digitization was done somewhat slipshod.
The Gazette contained lovely fold out pages (in full color!), but Google Books did not attempt to capture these at all, it appears (you can see the fold in the picture above from an 1866 issue). It's too bad since the color pictures look really wonderful and it would have been great to see more examples of the use of color in men's clothing since I have such a terror of color and don't do well mixing and matching.
The Gazette contained lovely fold out pages (in full color!), but Google Books did not attempt to capture these at all, it appears (you can see the fold in the picture above from an 1866 issue). It's too bad since the color pictures look really wonderful and it would have been great to see more examples of the use of color in men's clothing since I have such a terror of color and don't do well mixing and matching.
The image at the right is an example of a typical black and white plate (from an 1869 issue). The detail on the clothing is excellent. Edward Minister and Son focused on suits and coats, including coats for women and clothing for boys. Throughout the magazine are some lovely examples of riding habits for women, winter coats, walking coats, sporting outfits, dusters, etc. The array of styles for men is pretty staggering and each issue contains patterns and articles on textiles, seasonal fads, etc.
I always tend to think of men's clothes as fairly limited then: a few styles of frocks and coats, but everything generally similar. In a full year of the Gazette there might be upwards of 75 different plates, all showing variations not only in the coats, but in the trousers as well (so many patterns!). There is an immense wealth of grist here. Now I just need to settle in and actually do the work! I'm looking forward to it, though, while most people couldn't afford the extravagance of so many different suits and coats, men of wealth and leisure ( and certainly royalty!) had more options than I ever imagined. It will be fun to see what sort of things I can use for my various characters.
I always tend to think of men's clothes as fairly limited then: a few styles of frocks and coats, but everything generally similar. In a full year of the Gazette there might be upwards of 75 different plates, all showing variations not only in the coats, but in the trousers as well (so many patterns!). There is an immense wealth of grist here. Now I just need to settle in and actually do the work! I'm looking forward to it, though, while most people couldn't afford the extravagance of so many different suits and coats, men of wealth and leisure ( and certainly royalty!) had more options than I ever imagined. It will be fun to see what sort of things I can use for my various characters.
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