Today's quickie Fashion Plate Friday is a trio of gents hanging out from a Winter 1856 plate out of Gentleman's Magazine.
We see here a nice array of evening wear, formal wear, and after-dinner wear (a robe for smoking, lounging, etc.). Obviously these are well-to-do fellas who have the leisure and money to spend on fancy clothes and a variety of pieces that would be far above and beyond the casual 19th century man.
Too bad there aren't any fashion plates for the "other half" as the non-wealthy class was termed (though they were hardly half ~ more like 80% or even more). I should look into that and see if I can find more common dress. Typically you can find fashion plates for the "peasantry" of other countries, but I can't say I've ever seen such for America. Also, even the lower classes who couldn't afford fancy clothes tried to dress in the basic style of the rich (where they could). So their textiles might be more pragmatic or even shabby, but the general cut of the cloth was usually emulated wherever and whenever possible. One gets a better sense of the regular clothes of the day from photographs ~ of which I will have to remember to share more!
We see here a nice array of evening wear, formal wear, and after-dinner wear (a robe for smoking, lounging, etc.). Obviously these are well-to-do fellas who have the leisure and money to spend on fancy clothes and a variety of pieces that would be far above and beyond the casual 19th century man.
Too bad there aren't any fashion plates for the "other half" as the non-wealthy class was termed (though they were hardly half ~ more like 80% or even more). I should look into that and see if I can find more common dress. Typically you can find fashion plates for the "peasantry" of other countries, but I can't say I've ever seen such for America. Also, even the lower classes who couldn't afford fancy clothes tried to dress in the basic style of the rich (where they could). So their textiles might be more pragmatic or even shabby, but the general cut of the cloth was usually emulated wherever and whenever possible. One gets a better sense of the regular clothes of the day from photographs ~ of which I will have to remember to share more!
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