"Your very respectful
"And obedient servant,
"—— ——
"Belgravia, Tuesday Morn.,
"May 6th, '56."
Gentlemen's Dress.—The subject now to be treated of, may be divided into several classes:—morning, promenade or visiting, and evening or ball dress; which again may be subdivided into others, such as riding-dress, dress suitable for bachelors' dinner-parties, or opera (when unaccompanied by ladies). Besides these again, we have dresses suitable for fishing, shooting, and yachting purposes, which, however, scarcely call for, or admit of, the display of much taste, inasmuch as the occupations for which such costumes are designed partake rather of the nature of healthy exercise than of that quiet and gentlemanly repose necessary to give full effect to the graces of the more elaborate "toilette." Military, Naval, and Court dresses may also be considered out of the scope of the remarks in this letter, because their being made scrupulously in accordance with rigid Regulation Rules, leaves no room for taste, but substitutes the dicta of official routine.
To commence our exemplifications with a Wedding-Suit, which, from the wearer's approximate connection with the ladies deserves the "pas"—it may be remarked that the time of day in which the ceremony is solemnized should determine the character of the costume, that is to say, whether it should be morning or evening. In either case, however, general usage allows (not to say demands), a more marked style than is generally worn in morning or evening usual wear. Should the wedding take place in the evening, a very elegant costume is, a dark claret dress-coat, white ribbed-silk, or moire antique, waistcoat, white silk neckcloth, black trowsers, silk stockings, and shoes. The lining of the sleeves, also, of white silk, coming to the extreme edge of the cuff, imparts a
singularly light and elegant appearance to the hand and glove. An equally elegant Morning Wedding-Dress might consist of a rich, deep-brown frock-coat; waistcoat of black cashmere, with a small violet-colored palm-leaf figure; neck-tie of silk, combining colors of black and cherry, or brown and deep blue; trowsers of delicate drab, or stone-color; gloves primrose, or slate-colored kid.
The usual Evening-Dress is so imperiously insisted on, that it might be almost classed in the category of uniforms, being almost invariably composed of black coat, vest, and trowsers. Two items, however, in this costume, admit of disquisition amongst "men who dress," viz., the vest and the tie—both of which may be either white or black, without any infraction of the laws of bienseance. This, therefore, must be settled by the taste of the wearer, who should remember that black, having the effect of apparently diminishing a man's size, and white that of increasing it, it would, therefore, be judicious for a person of unusual size to tone down his extra bulk by favoring black in both these garments, while he who is below the average standard could, if not actually increase his height or size, at least create the impression of more generous proportions. I, however, must confess a decided partiality for a white neck-tie, at least; because, although subject to the disadvantage of being de rigueur amongst waiters and other members of the Yellow Plush Family, it is, nevertheless, always considered unexceptionable, at any season, or hour, in any rank, profession, or capacity.
A Morning Call should be made in a frock-coat, or at least one in which this style predominates. It must, however, be constantly borne in mind that it is quite impossible to furnish even general rules on any one of these points that shall prove immutable, since not only each successive year, but every varying season produces decided changes in the standard established by Taste and Fashion.
Bachelors' Dinner-parties are pleasant, social reunions, at which gentlemen enjoy themselves with more abandon than would, perhaps, be considered consistent with the quiet and more retired respect due to the presence of the "beau sexe;" and, as a natural consequence, admit of a more négligé style of costume. Still, however, a certain regard must be had to the requirements of good society; and as many of these parties, when they break up, adjourn to the opera, or theatre, where they are pretty sure to meet ladies of their acquaintance, a costume half-way between morning and evening is, by tacit agreement, prescribed; for instance:—a coat of some dark color (generally termed "medley-colored"), cut rounded over the hips; black cap; inner vest, buttoning rather high in the breast; dark-grey trowsers, and black silk neckerchief, or ribbed silk scarf.
Instead of giving sketches of particular costumes, it would, perhaps, be better and tend more to develop the importance of dress, if a few remarks were made on the general rules which should guide one in selections for his own wear.