Fashion in 1700–1750

Fashion in the period 1700-1750 in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by a widening, full-skirted silhouette for both men and women following the tall, narrow look of the 1680s and 90s. Wigs remained essential for men of substance, and were often white; natural hair was powdered to achieve the fashionable look.

Distinction was made in this period between full dress worn at Court and for formal occasions, and undress or everyday, daytime clothes. As the decades progressed, fewer and fewer occasions called for full dress which had all but disappeared by the end of the century.

Women's fashion

Gowns

The shoe of the previous period with its curved heel, squarish toe, and tie over the instep gave way in the second decade of the 18th century to a shoe with a high, curved heel. Backless mules were worn indoors and out (but not on the street). Toes were now pointed. This style of shoe would remain popular well into the next period.

Men continued to wear the coat, waistcoat and breeches of the previous period for both full dress and undress; these were now sometimes made of the same fabric and trim, signalling the birth of the three-piece suit. Coats were roughly knee-length throughout the period.

By the 1720s, the skirts of the coat had pleated panels inserted in the side seams; these were occasionally stiffened to increase the fullness over the hips. Coats had no collars early, and a short standing collar later. Oversized, turned-back cuffs extended to the elbow. Waistcoats remained long. Full dress coats and waistcoats were trimmed with lace, braid, or heavy embroidery; undress clothing had a similar cut but without the trim.

The frock was an English undress coat with a wide, flat collar, derived from the coats worn by working men.

Shirt sleeves were full, gathered at the wrist and dropped shoulder. Undress shirts had plain wrist bands and a high stock at the neck. Dress shirts had in ruffles of fine fabric or lace at the cuffs. Early in the period a black ribbon called a solitaire was tied around the neck.

Leather shoes fastened with buckles, and were worn with silk or woolen stockings. Stockings continued to be worn over the breeches until 1730 when the breeches were often worn over the stockings. With this change, the garters gave way to buckles on the breeches to hold up the stockings.

A loose, T-shaped cotton or linen gown called a banyan was worn at home as a sort of dressing gown over the shirt and breeches. Men of an intellectual or philosophical bent were painted wearing banyans, with their own hair or a soft cap rather than a wig.

Hairstyles and headgear

Wigs in a variety of styles were worn for different occasions and by different age groups.

The large high parted wig of the 1690s remained popular from 1700 until around 1720. During this time various colors were worn, but white was becoming more popular and the curls were getting tighter. Later, wigs or the natural hair were worn long, brushed back from the forehead and clubbed or tied back at the nape of the neck with a black ribbon. A bag wig gathered the back hair in a black silk bag.

Wide-brimmed hats with brims turned up on three sides into tricornes were worn throughout the era.

Toddler boys and girls wore low-necked gowns. Leading strings - narrow straps of fabric attached to the gown at the shoulder - functioned as a sort of leash to keep the child from straying too far or falling as it learned to walk.

Children older than toddlers continued to wear clothing which was in many respects simply a smaller version of adult clothing. Girls wore back-fastening bodices and petticoats rather than open-fronted robes, and might have shorter sleeves, but their gowns otherwise followed the lines of adult fashion.

References

• Arnold, Janet: Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction C.1860-1940, Wace 1966, Macmillan 1972. Revised metric edition, Drama Books 1977. ISBN 0-89676-027-8

• Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500-1914, Abrams, 1996. ISBN 0-8109-6317-5

• Baumgarten, Linda: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America, Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-300-09580-5

• Black, J. Anderson and Madge Garland: A History of Fashion, Morrow, 1975. ISBN 0-688-02893-4

• Cunnington, C.Willett and Phillis Emily Cunnington: Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century. London: Faber, 1972.

• Payne, Blanche: History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century, Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS

• Ribeiro, Aileen: Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe 1715-1789, Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-300-09151-6