Fashion in the years 1750–1775 in European countries and the colonial Americas was characterised by greater abundance, elaboration and intricacy in clothing designs, loved by the Rococo artistic trends of the period. The French and English styles of fashion were very different from one another. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette.
After reaching their maximum size in the 1750s, hoop skirts began to reduce in size, but remained being worn with the most formal dresses, and were sometimes replaced with side-hoops, or panniers."Panniers [British] (1973.65.2)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1973.65.2 (October 2006) Hairstyles were equally elaborate, with tall headdresses the distinctive fashion of the 1770s. For men, waistcoats and breeches of previous decades continued to be fashionable.
English style was defined by simple practical garments, made of inexpensive and durable fabrics, catering to a leisurely outdoor lifestyle.Ribeiro, Aileen: The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750–1820, Yale University Press, 1995, These lifestyles were also portrayed through the differences in portraiture. The French preferred indoor scenes where they could demonstrate their affinity for luxury in dress and lifestyle. The English, on the other hand, were more "egalitarian" in tastes, thus their portraits tended to depict the sitter in outdoor scenes and pastoral attire.Ribeiro. The Art of Dress. p. 35.
Changes in fashion in the period
1750s Women: Court dress included elaborate and intricate styles influenced by Rococo; hoop skirts; panniers; corsets; petticoats; stays; conical torso shape with large hips; "standardized courtly bodies and faces" with little individualityWahrman, Dror. The Making of the Modern Self: Identity and Culture in Eighteenth-century England. New Haven: Yale UP, 2004. Print. French: Elaborate court dress, colorful, decorative, portraiture inside English: Simple and practical, inexpensive durable fabrics, outdoor lifestyle,Ribeiro, Aileen: The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750–1820, Yale University Press, 1995 portraiture outside Men: Coat; waistcoat; breeches; large cuffs; more attention on individual pieces of the suit; wigs for formal occasions; long and powdered hair
1760s Women: New strapless stays cut high at the armpit; or "stiff-bodied" gown; riding habit Men: Frock coat; knee length breeches fitted snugly; full shirt sleeves; original MacaroniAmelia Rauser, Hair, Authenticity, The Self Made Macaroni (Johns Hopkins University Press, Fall 2004) p. 101.
1770s Women: or sack-back gown; or close-bodied gown; the "Brunswick"; tall hair and headdresses Men: Waistcoats began to shorten; Macaroni imitatorsS. West, The Darly Macaroni Prints and the Politics of the Private Man, Duke University Press
Women's fashion
Overview
Women's clothing styles emphasized a narrow, inverted conical torso, achieved with boned stays, above full skirts. Hoop skirts continued to be worn, reaching their largest size in the 1750s, and were sometimes replaced by side-hoops, also called 'false hips', or panniers. Full-size hoop skirts prevented sitting while stays forced a proper standing posture. Garments like these could not be washed often because of the fabrics from which they were made. The Enlightenment produced a backlash against sumptuary laws which asserted a stagnant social hierarchy. During the Enlightenment, court dress stayed almost the same while outside of court dress, fashion became less extravagant and shifted more towards comfort rather than courtly display.McNeil, The Appearance of Enlightenment
Gowns The usual fashion of the years 1750–1775 was a low-necked gown (usually called a ), worn over a petticoat. Most gowns had skirts that opened in front to show the petticoat worn beneath. If the bodice of the gown was open in front, the opening was filled in with a decorative stomacher, pinned to the gown over the laces or to the stays beneath.
Close-fitting sleeves just past the elbow were trimmed with frills or ruffles, and separate under-ruffles of lace or fine linen were tacked to either the inside of the gown's sleeves, or to the shift or chemise sleeves. The neckline was trimmed with a fabric or lace ruffle, or a neckerchief called a fichu could be tucked into the low neckline. Women would also sometimes wear a neckerchief or a more formal lace modesty piece, particularly on low-cut dresses.
The or sack-back gown featured back pleats hanging loosely from the neckline. A fitted bodice held the front of the gown closely to the figure.
The or close-bodied gown featured back pleats sewn in place to fit closely to the body, and then released into the skirt which would be draped in various ways.
The Brunswick dress was a two-piece costume of German origin consisting of a hip-length jacket with "split sleeves"—flounced elbow-length sleeves and long, tight lower sleeves—and a hood, worn with a matching petticoat. It was popular for traveling.
Court dress, the or "stiff-bodied" gown, retained the styles of the 1670s. It featured a low, oval neckline that bared the shoulders, and the heavily boned bodice laced closed in back, unlike the front-opening robe. The elbow-length sleeves were covered with tiers of lace flounces, echoing the full-sleeved chemise worn with the original style.
Front-wrapping thigh-length "shortgowns" or bedgowns of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear, worn with petticoats. Over time, bedgowns became the staple upper garment of British and American female working-class street wear.Baumgarten, What Clothes Reveal, pp. 116–119.
As in previous periods, the traditional riding habit consisted of a tailored jacket like a man's coat, worn with a high-necked shirt, a waistcoat, a petticoat, and a hat. Alternatively, the jacket and a false waistcoat-front might be a made as a single garment, and later in the period a simpler riding jacket and petticoat—without waistcoat—could be worn.
Underwear The shift, chemise (in France), or smock, had a low neckline and elbow-length sleeves which were full early in the period and became increasingly narrow as the century progressed. Drawers had been worn by at least some women since 1665.
The long-waisted, heavily boned "stays" of the early 1740s with their narrow back, wide front, and shoulder straps gave way by the 1760s to strapless stays which still were cut high at the armpit, to encourage a woman to stand with her shoulders slightly back, a fashionable posture. The fashionable shape was a rather conical torso, with large hips. The waist was not particularly small. Stays were laced snugly, but comfortably. They offered back support for heavy lifting, and poor and middle-class women were able to work comfortably in them.
Free-hanging pockets were tied around the waist and were accessed through "pocket slits" in the side-seams of the gown or petticoat.
Woollen or quilted waistcoats were worn over the stays and under the gown for warmth, as were petticoats quilted with wool batting, especially in the cold climates of northern Europe and America. In the 1770s stays began to be produced so they would end higher on a woman's body. Phillip Vicker complained: "For the late importation of Stays which are said to be now most fashionable in London, are produced upwards so high that we can have scarce any view at all of the Ladies Snowy Bosoms".
Shoes Shoes had high, curved heels—the origin of modern "louis heels"—and were made of fabric or leather, with separate shoe buckles.Tortora & Eubank 1995, p. 272. These were either shiny metal, usually in silver—sometimes with the metal cut into false stones in the Paris style—or with paste stones, although there were other types.
Hairstyles and headgear By the 1770s extreme hairstyles and wigs had come into fashion. Women wore their hair high upon their heads, in large plumes. To create tall extreme hair, rolls of horse hair, tow, or wool were used to raise up the front of the hair. The front of the hair was then frizzed out, or arranged in roll curls and set horizontally on the head. Women turned their hair up in the back often in a knot. In addition, pomatum and false hair was used to give more height to the hair. Pomatum was paste that women used to stiffen their hair. Pomatum was also used to hold powder, which women put in their hair. The Pomatum was made of many ingredients including hog's grease, tallow, or a mix of beef marrow and oil.
Women's style gallery
Self-portrait of Anna Bacherini Piattoli wearing a Brunswick. A 1755 portrait of Madame de Pompadour wearing a floral gown with matching petticoat. Her sleeves end in flounces worn over lace engageantes. Her stomacher is decorated with a vertical row of ribbon bows. A 1759 portrait of Madame de Pompadour shows her petticoat trimmed with flounces to match her gown. She wears a small lace ruff around her neck. Elisabeth Freudenrich wears a gown trimmed with silk ribbons. Her hair is dressed high and two curls frame her neck, 1760. Lady Susan Fox-Strangways's gown is worn with wide, tiered engageantes, 1761. Queen Charlotte wears an elaborate neck ruffle with a large diamond brooch with her court gown. Her figure shows the full, rounded bust and small waist created by narrow-backed stays, 1761. In the American colonies Mrs. John Murray wears a simple gown with cuffed sleeves, 1763. Mrs. Benjamin Pickman, the wife of a wealthy merchant of Salem, Massachusetts, wears a blue silk gown with robings. She carries a parasol, 1763. Mrs. Epes Sargent II wears a dark blue riding habit and carries a plumed hat, Massachusetts, 1764. Marie Antoinette at age 15 wears a riding habit with a striped waistcoat. Her hair is tied back and she wears a tricorn hat, France, 1771. Mrs John Winthrop of Boston, Massachusetts, in the fashionable dress of 1773. Her indoor cap is trimmed with striped and dotted ribbons, and her gown is trimmed with "robings" of ruched fabric—strips of fabric gathered on two sides. A lace fichu fills in her neckline. Side view of a frock of 1774 shows pleated robings and striped ribbon rosettes. Wedding dress of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp made of silver brocade, 1774. Portrait of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp wearing the same dress as in the previous picture, 1774.
French fashion
British fashion
Spanish fashion
Men's fashion
Overview Throughout the period, men continued to wear the coat, waistcoat and breeches of the previous period. However, changes were seen in both the fabric used as well as the cut of these garments. More attention was paid to individual pieces of the suit, and each element underwent stylistic changes. Under new enthusiasms for outdoor sports and country pursuits, the elaborately embroidered silks and velvets characteristic of "full dress" or formal attire earlier in the century gradually gave way to carefully tailored woollen "undress" garments for most occasions, whilst continuing to be worn for more formal ones (e.g. Balls, receptions, court appearances...). This more casual style reflected the dominating image of "nonchalance." The goal was to look as fashionable as possible with seemingly little effort. This was to be the new, predominant mindset of fashion.
Coats The skirts of the coat narrowed from the gored styles of the previous period. Waistcoats extended to mid-thigh to the 1770s and then began to shorten. Waistcoats could be made with or without sleeves.