Reading the Regency

Fashion - Men's Clothing

"Mr Vernon in a stewed-pea-coloured coat, with a ring carefully displayed on his little finger, bright and new, bought, I am persuaded, on his way out of town."
[Letter from Countess Granville to Lady G. Morpeth, written at Trentham, Staffordshire, October 1812]

The clothing worn by men was less complicated than the wide range of outfits worn by women, with fewer options, colours and decorations to choose from. They still had different outfits for day and evening wear, depending on where they were going and what they were doing, but life was somewhat simpler for the average Regency gentleman regarding fashion.

However, what was fashionable and what was not could change just as often. The favoured size, design and number of buttons on a coat or waistcoat could alter on a monthly basis, as did whether a coat had a silk lining or no lining at all. Some changes might be limited to the size of a button, the cut of a collar or the length or width of the coat's skirts or tails.

"I asked my tailor one day, who is a sensible man in his way, who invented the fashions. "Why, sir," said he, "I believe it is the young gentlemen who walk in Bond-street. They come to me, and give me orders for a new cut, and perhaps it takes, and perhaps it does not. It is all fancy you know, sir."
[Letters from England, vol 2, by Robert Southey, writing as Manuel Álvarez Espriella, pub. 1814]

Despite these frequent changes, older gentlemen or men who lived in the countryside, out of the glare of the Haut Ton, were not expected to keep up with the latest fashions.

Components of a male wardrobe

"Q. How was Thistlewood dressed on that day?
A. He had got a long great coat, a blue coat, white pantaloons, and top boots; a long brown great coat.
Q Pantaloons and top boots?
A. No, not pantaloons; white small cloathes and top boots."
[The Trial of James Watson, by William Brody Gurney, pub. 1816]

There was a minimum level of dress for a man that was considered respectable. One charitable endowment in Oundle, Northamptonshire that provided bedrooms for seven old men, gave those men a new set of clothing each year. The clothing consisted of a "hat, coat, waistcoat, a pair of breeches, two shirts, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes." The working poor would aim for that level of clothing at least, even if they had to buy it second-hand.

This list of items was almost identical to the clothes worn by all gentlemen of the day. Every outfit would have included a shirt, some sort of neckwear and a waistcoat, a coat, then either breeches and stockings or pantaloons, with either shoes or boots. The difference between rich and poor would have been in the quality and cost of each item.

How many items of clothing a gentleman owned would depend on his financial situation. This description comes from an article titled "Observations on the Prevailing Customs, Dress &c. of the Inhabitants of Great Britain":

"A young lady, a friend of mine, has been kind enough to favour me with the following particulars respecting the dress, &c., of her brother, who is considered by no means extravagant in his wardrobe. "I found," says she, "no less than fourteen pairs of small-clothes of different shapes and colours, one pair in particular so wide that, for the jokes' sake I absolutely crept down one leg but so long, that I thought I should never have arrived at the bottom. ... Of the waistcoat tribe I found nearly twenty species of various colours, but differing in form only about the collar. Of coats there were but six, the distance from the collar to the waist buttons varying from ten to fourteen inches. Of the cravats I took no particular account, some were white and some coloured, and most of them carefully starched."
[The Northern Star or Yorkshire Magazine, vol 2, pub. 1818]