Who wears the pants?
BY JENNIFER NICOLE SULLIVAN 
August 18, 2010
Trousers, the three-piece suit and the button-fly. Even the popped collar. What do they have in common? Their fashion roots can be traced to the early 19th century.
In the Newport Historical Society’s latest fashion exhibit, “Dressing Manifest Destiny: Men’s Clothing in America 1800-1850,” several pieces show that when Americans forged West to expand our land as part of Manifest Destiny, men also expanded their wardrobes to include key garments that have remained staples in men’s fashion.
Located in the restored 1730 Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House in the historical society’s Touro Street headquarters, the fascinating exhibit features a variety of men’s work, everyday, formal and militia wear from the era spanning the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson to Zachary Taylor.
“I think one of the misconceptions about men in this time period is you see old photographs and old paintings and they’re kind of uniformly dressed in black. And you’re like wow, what a boring outfit,” said the exhibit’s curator Matthew Keagle. “But early in the 19th century particularly, men actually had a wide range of color, texture and pattern options for their clothing.”
Throughout the 18th century, breeches — tight-fitting, cropped pants (think skinny capris for men) — were fashionable until fulllength, baggier cut trousers, originally a working-class pant, took off in the early 19th century and dramatically transformed how men dressed. Only old-fashioned, old men still wore breeches through the 1840s.
Like breeches, the first trousers featured a fall front, a wide, rectangular flap over the crotch that buttoned at the waistband. Around the mid-1840s, a buttoned fly closure, similar to what we wear today sans zipper, became fashionable. On display are a pair of off-white, kneelength cotton breeches circa 1790-1810 and a pair of silk and linen full-length trousers with eared pockets circa 1820-1840, possibly owned by a Quaker.
“And it’s (trousers) stayed until this day. Who knows when we’re going to go back to (breeches) because obviously fashion is cyclical,” Keagle said. (Hit the gym, guys — skinny jeans could bring us back to breeches!) In the heart of the Industrial Revolution, even before sewing machines were made in the U.S. in the mid-1840s, the clothing business changed dramatically when tailors streamlined the way they made clothing by piece-working the process — specialized pattern makers, cutters and sewers worked together to produce clothing faster than a single tailor completing one garment. Therefore, men had more affordable, quality-made, ready-towear clothing options than ever before.
In a daguerreotype of an unknown boy circa 1845-1850 on display, the child wears a playful combination of patterns and colors — a plaid waistcoat, striped trousers and a patterned neck cloth—considered fashionable for the time. Men also could play with texture and color through neck cloths or cravats, which were knotted or bowed over their shirts. For early 19th century formal wear, men wore thick stiffened stocks around their necks covered with black silk, a flattened bow and fake white shirt tips.
Tailcoats moved from daywear in the mid-19th century to formal wear when the frock coat, a longer, looser fitting coat with a full- skirted hem, became popular business.
GQ, CIRCA 1800-1850 Gilt metal buttons owned by prominent Civil War general and engineer officer Gouverneur K. Warren represent his entire service (from left, topographical engineers, general staff and corps of engineers) from 1850 to the end of his career sometime after 1870. He died in Newport in 1882. |
Early trousers, like this pair circa 1820-1840, which likely were owned by a Pennsylvania Quaker because of its extremely fine silk, featured a buttoned fall front, a precursor to a fly closure.
The 40-inch chest and 40½-inch waist of this tailcoat, circa 1840-1845, challenge the misconception that men were much smaller in the past. The top hat is circa 1840-1860 and the shirt and neckcloth are reproductions.
images courtsey of The Newport Mercury