(@
[email protected] This is in response to your post regarding underwear prior to Victorian times. A friend boosted your post, but when I replied, I received a message saying that your post was marked as followers only or some such and couldn't be replied to. I just wanted to clarify a few things.
The following is from Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style (or the Ultimate Dandy in the UK edition) by Ian Kelly. Please forgive the (x). This was scanned into my computer (I'm blind) and there was an ocr error, so I wrote x.
"Like Brummell, and all young men of fashion, it appears that Byron wore underwear rarely or not at all. A study of Scrope Davies's accounts reveals a similar absence, and Prince (x)-Muskau's mention of the number of "summer trousers" a gentleman needed refers to the same issue. The older generation kept with older ways; some of the very rare examples of male undergarments surviving from the period belonged to Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Coutts, the banker, but in their dotage. The younger set aspired to a different aesthetic, and the line of the trouser was not to be interrupted by rucked shirttails or underwear."
From another passage in the same book. This is from a discussion of when Brummell was still in England (he left in 1816), so it's well within the Regency.
"One Persian ambassador to the Court of St. James's was moved to write that he found the Brummell style of trousers "immodest and unflattering to the figure . . . [they] look just like underdrawers-could they be designed to appeal to the ladies?"
This is directly from Brummell. Keep in mind that he died in 1840, only three years after the Victorian era began. This is from The life of George Brummell, esq., commonly called Beau Brummell by Captain Jesse. It is a biography, not a piece of fiction.
"Pray send me what remains in the drawers of the bed-room there are some waistcoats, drawers, pantaloons, &c., and in the upper tiroir, sundry trifling things which I forgot, but which I may have occasion for."
This is from 1837 or so from the same book.
"I have not a single shirt that will hang to my back, nor are my socks and drawers in a better state."
This is again from Brummell, from a book that he wrote called Male and Female Costume. It was written in 1822 but not published until 1934.
"Ancient drawings and descriptions furnish us with an idea of the remainder of their dress in the resemblance of modern underdrawers."
From the same book.
"The following is the description of the dress of a Running Footman in 1730: ”They wear fine Holland drawers and waistcoats, thread stockings, a blue silk sash fringed with silver, a velvet capwith a great tassel; and carry a Porter’s staff with a large silver handle.”"
It is true that there was a trend to use shirttails as underwear. This remained so even into the Edwardian era. But drawers were certainly known prior to Victorian times.
#AntiqueMenswear #Brummell #clothing #Edwardian #fashion #Regency #Victorian
Georgiana Brummell
Georgiana Brummell
Kulturkramkiste
scb1122