History of clothes: costumes of the 18th century

Fashion, like all other social processes, is cyclical. For the flowering, the recession follows, and behind the rule of asceticism or moral standards comes the era of free mores and pretentiousness. The fashion trends of the 18th century are a gradual transition from the irrepressible luxury of the Baroque to the Rococo style, which has become a new word in the culture of visual images, and the direct evidence of this is served both by the male and female costume of the 18th century.

Fashion rococo

The name of this style is of French origin and means "decoration in the form of a shell". Distinctive features of rococo are elegant decorativeness, refinement, fragility, sensuality and some mannerisms. In this style, you will not see straight lines, they have curvature and smoothness. And despite the fact that rococo is a departure from royal splendor, it is still a reflection of the dominance of aristocratic fashion, to which the French revolution ended. Ideal in this direction was considered an elegant silhouette. Both female and male costume of the 18th century assumed refined manners, he dictated certain movements and gait, which were perfected under the watchful guidance of the teachers and teachers of the Polesse. The class of the bourgeoisie occupied a rather high position in society, but it was separated from the aristocracy by good manners. The 18th century has gone down in history as a century of gallantry, minuet, powder and lace.

Features of clothes in the style of rococo

The costume of the 18th century was distinguished by a smooth silhouette, narrow shoulders, too thin, tight waist, rounded hip line, a hairless hairdo. In a word, femininity reigned in fashion. Even the men's costume of the 18th century looked feminine and could hardly give masculinity to the representatives of the stronger sex. The materials used were velvet, expensive and heavy silk, brocade, as well as the finest linen and lace. Clothing, as a rule, shone with gold and jewels, often stones were used instead of buttons. By the way, the rococo fashion did not suffer repetition. No self-respecting woman would wear the same outfit twice.

Description of a man's suit

If you remember from literature and history, the representatives of the stronger sex differed in a special predilection for beautiful outfits and did not yield in any way to the ladies. A mandatory accessory of the 18th-century male European costume was a crystal white shirt made from a thin canvas. She had curvy sleeves with lace cuffs and a slit. In front of her decorated with a frill - lace ruffles. As a jacket put on the word. It was narrow, swinging and made of bright silk fabric, had long sleeves, fastened to the elbow joint in several places. As a rule, vesta was covered with embroidery. The fasteners were located from the waist line to the middle of the chest so as not to hide the frill. Later it became a sleeveless jacket, and the back was started from a different fabric - canvases - and it became known as "weston" or "vest", and on the other side of the English Channel - "weight-outs".

New elements of men's wardrobe

Upper men's clothing was considered a joustokor. At the beginning of the 18th century, the transformation of the joustokor into abi took place. He was denser, stretched his waist and chest, had several folds-tails in the side seams and had a slot with a fake, but quite noticeable clasp on the front. The ceremonial abi from satin or silk were sewn, the beads and pockets were decorated with beautiful embroidery of gold and silver threads. The cuffs were made of the same material as the vesta, which was worn under the abi. From the second half of the 18th century, this top item of the men's wardrobe became exclusively a palace garment. As for the lower part, it was common with the abi and the wrist rest to wear the culottes - narrow and short pants, like breeches, covering the knees and buttoning down at the bottom. On some models, you could see pockets. With cottons nobles had to wear white stockings from the silk span, and in the kit for the bourgeois included stockings of other colors. In the men's costume of the 18th century also included such attributes as gloves, sword belt and long or shortened cloaks. The winter set was supplemented with couplings and gaiters - stockings without soles, which they put on shoes.

Wardrobe of the women of the Rococo era

The female costume of the 18th century was made from the fairer sex by a real masterpiece, a beautiful, fragile and elegant statuette. Clothes were both bed and bright colors. The lady in her looked very feminine: fragile shoulders, thin waist, rounded hips. Required elements of the costumes of women of the 18th century were the lower shirt, a corset with fuchs on which the skirt lay freely, falling broadly. Figs in France were otherwise called "panniers," made from flexible willow twigs or even a whalebone. They were laid with rollers of various shapes and with several layers of quilted fabric. Pannier could also be diverse, oval, round and even conical in shape. As a rule, bell-shaped and the widest figs were worn by aristocrats, but the wives and daughters of the bourgeois wore several starched skirts, since panniers were an expensive pleasure. For dresses of court ladies , trains were made which were sewn to either the shoulders or to the waist.

Several models of dresses

The lower orders were called "frepon", and the upper ones - "modest". The first hem had a rich finish in the form of embroidery, the upper part, the bodice, was very narrow, since under it was worn a corset with hooks and laces. Modest was swinging from the waist. At the edge of the cut, embroidery of incredible beauty was performed, its bodice fastened in the chest by several bows or lacing. In this era it was customary to wear deep decollete in the form of a quill, decorated with lace. The sleeve was sewn to the shoulder line and was also trimmed with lace. An air kerchief was tied round his neck.

Another model of the dress of that period was a kontush. This is a wide, undistinguished long waist with a fold of Watteau on the back. He was worn without a belt, and a skirt was put on the skeleton under the bottom. The kontuzh was of two kinds - a raspberry, which was fastened to the chest with ribbons, or one-piece, without a cut. For the production of these dresses, silk, satin or semi-silk fabrics, and sometimes velvet, were used. The color could be very different. Since the middle of the 18th century, the length has significantly shortened, they were only worn at home. And on the street they wore only representatives of the lower classes. Ladies dressed in light silk stockings, embroidered with gold or silver.

Shoes and other accessories

As shoes, men wore either flat shoes with buckles or shoes. Women also wore open shoes, sometimes without a backdrop. They were sewn from satin fabric or very thin skin of different colors and had a rather high heel. In the men's wardrobe, a fashionable hat was a hat-hat. However, she liked the weak sex so much that they sometimes began to wear it. By the way, men rarely wore it on their heads, but more often they kept them on their elbows.

Female headgear was also considered a special cape. She was sometimes worn on top of a cocked hat, especially when traveling. At home, the ladies wore smart bonnets.

Later rococo

The history of the costume of the 18th century suggests that by the end of the century the fashion has completely changed. The 70's were marked by the dominance of the English style. And this presupposed simplicity, strictness of form and color. In this case, the first to undergo a change was not a female suit, but a male suit. Initially, the English manner began to dress the representatives of the big bourgeoisie, then it was taken up by the noble youth, and then the fashion passed to the courtly male attire. The English nobility, unlike the French, highly appreciated its comfort. Therefore, the clothes were very comfortable in cut and simple.

Man's suit of the second half of the 18th century

The costume consisted of a coat of blue cloth, a short yellow waistcoat, leather pants, high boots with lapels and a round hat. By the way, the tailcoat was originally considered the basis for the detail of the rider's costume, but later became widespread in Europe as everyday clothes for the upper classes. However, he was not supposed to wear a sword. For tailoring tailcoats used dark fabrics, including silk. He had standing, and in some models turn-down collar, from the waist down the bent floors.

If you follow the male fashion of the second half of the 18th century, you can see that the coat was subjected to constant transformation. Another element of the English wardrobe, which entered the European fashion of this period, was a dressing gown. This outer garment had straight floors and a shawl collar. Initially the dressing-gown, like the tailcoat, served as a dress for riding. Another feature of the clothes of the second half of the 18th century was that the shirts became simpler: their cuffs narrowed, and the frill became less lush and bulky. In addition to whites, men began to wear striped woolen stockings. By the way, the strip was popular with tailoring. Also appeared shortened (without sex) vests. As shoes, men wore soft shoes with large metal buckles, and for riding - boots-boots.

Women's wardrobe (18th century, 2nd half)

The ladies by the middle of the century did not hurry to follow the representatives of the stronger sex and abandon graceful rococo dresses. However, the female costume has become more complex both in decor and in silhouette. Krinolin acquired new shapes and became oval. Because of this, the skirts were elliptical bells, strongly stretched in the sides. In front and behind, the skirt was flattened. As you know, standing next to a lady in such a dress was impossible. The dresses were covered with a lot of bows and garlands of ribbons, and the edges were lined with a cascade of frills of lace. These dresses were especially appreciated at the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

These amazing costumes of the 18th century (see photo in the article) were also adopted at the court of the Russian Empress Catherine II. In the wardrobe of the ladies of this period, the morning polonaise was found, which consisted of a skirt and a bodice, on top of which a sweeping dress was worn. He had an inseparable back, consisting of three parts. The floors were straight. On the spot where the back was connected to the shelves, a lace was passing, which created the assemblies. The hem of the dress consisted of semi-circular draperies. Polonaise was so fond of fashionable women of fashion that they came up with special fun - mandatory morning walks in its grandparent options.

Fashion features: modifications

By the end of the 18th century, the skirts were slightly shortened - "to the bone". In such dresses ladies began to walk in everyday life. On their shoulders were lace capes. The ladies' costume contained many accessories: gloves, umbrellas, bouquets, hats with feathers, beads, brooches, etc. Near the end of the century, these three-dimensional frames began to come out of fashion, the dresses of a simpler cut began to come into use. This affected the influence of English fashion, which finally reached the women's wardrobe.

English women's costume

Dresses from the foggy Albion were distinguished by the softness of the lines. They were made to sew from fabrics of light and delicate shades. Skeletons, falsities, crinoline are in the past. The waist of these dresses rose a few centimeters up like an antique garment. Skirts flow and fall soft folds, ending with a small train. The cutout of the bodice is rounded, a soft scarf in the form of drapery is put over it. The rider's costume consisted of a separate skirt and jacket, like a man's frock coat. Women's shoes were made of brocade, satin or velvet. The heel was tall and square. With them, stockings of light tones floated.

The French Revolution and Fashion

The radical changes in the life of French society, which occurred in the late 18th century, had a strong influence on fashion. Political parties appeared in the country, and the adherents of each of them began to wear special clothes indicating their belonging to it. Supporters of the king continued to flaunt in luxurious outfits of light tones, and Republicans - in clothes of blue with sharp tails. Jacobins instead of short pricks began to wear long pants, short jackets and a red "Phrygian" cap. It was he who was considered a symbol of freedom. Nobles believed that such attire would bring them closer to the people. At that time, wigs, powder, braids, and bows disappeared. During this period, the Parisian fashionable men of both sexes wore antique costumes, in imitation of the ancient Romans and Greeks. The women had a minimum of clothes. As a bottom dress, tricot flesh-colored was worn, and on top are very transparent and flowing muslin tunics.

Costume of the 18th century in Russia

Until the 18th century, all layers of society wore a traditional Russian outfit, but it was influenced by Polish and French dresses. The European fashion was brought to Russia by Emperor Peter the Great. After this, the 18th-century men's suit in Russia, and only representatives of the nobility, became more or less similar to the above-described European ones. Commoners continued to get dressed in a national costume, which consisted of a shirt, ports and a caftan for men and a sarafan with a shirt for women. Among the models of the shirts were popular "golosheyki", who did not have a collar. On top of them they wore a gray coat, a zip-up or a padded coat (all these are varieties of caftan). As a shoe, ordinary people wore bast shoes. After the introduction of European customs, the Russian costume of the 18th century for noblemen of both sexes practically did not differ from the general European one.