The Heritage of Dress: Being Notes on the History and Evolution of Clothes

by Wilfred Mark Webb

Characteristic costumes are now rare. We can tell the cleric as a rule, though some, especially those who have belonged to some other profession previously, will not adopt the collarless coat of black, the choker, or the white tie.

Servants’ liveries may be left out of consideration here, but the man that has to do with horses proverbially looks “horsey.” To the list of uniforms to which we are accustomed there has been added of recent years that of the hospital nurse. The garb of various sisterhoods still catches our eye, and there are certain points which may help us occasionally in identifying a doctor, a lawyer, a schoolmaster, and an actor. According to a recent article by a detective in one of the daily papers,[52] the characteristics and individuality of a man will show through his clothes, and the writer alluded to, suggests the putting of a clergyman into a soldier’s or a sailor’s uniform, or again, the dressing of a valet in his master’s clothes. “He will look quite different. He will give a fresh character to the clothes, and you will realize at once that he is a second-hand copy.”

Mr. Chevasse says that if you walk down Oxford Street, Piccadilly, or through the City, you may pick out the ex-army officer, in his mufti tweed, for his instinct for dress is so ingrained that it is easy to recognize him. Mr. Chevasse would tell the fashionable physician from the following signs. His frock coat, scrupulously cut, his silk hat correctly quiet, which fit in with his sleek manners and the sang-froid of his superior knowledge. The dress dummy is another type—the man with the airs of a peacock, whose every article of dress is meant to attract attention. Of the actor whom one meets in the Strand, it is said that the odds and ends which he wears are typical of the parts he plays, but that his real individual character is not disguised as sometimes he might wish it to be.

In similar fashion we are given the points of the modern solicitor, of whom there are, we are told, two classes. The first type is dressed to exhale prosperity, and to convince the litigant that he is a safe man, but the character of his waistcoat will tell you more often than not that he robs Peter to pay Paul. The dress of other solicitors beams out sincerity, truth, reliability; the cloth is good and plain, and is well fitted to inspire trust and confidence.

At the present time so many visitors from other countries, who are sojourning here for a while or have come to stay, are to be seen in our streets, that it may be of interest to see what the Editor of the Tailor and Cutter[53] has to say upon the subject of their dress, or so far as that of the men goes. He says that, as a rule, in the case of the members of the aristocracy of all nations, their garments give the impression of having been made in London, and are free from the peculiarities which characterize those of other countries. Generally speaking, however, it is not difficult to tell the nationality of a man by his clothes. The American’s garments are usually made two sizes too large for him. The collar of his coat is very narrow, and the shoulders and back, on the other hand, exceedingly wide. His jackets are often extremely long, his trousers are peg-tops, finished with raised seams.

In some ways the German is a modified American, though often there is to be found a seam up the front of his coat from the waist, as he likes plenty of room about his chest, of which he makes much. While the American, however, often has his coat finished in some extraordinary way which he fancies to be original, there is a lack of personality about the German, and the uniformity of his garments would appear to be the result of his military training. The American likes a lounge suit, and the German the same, or a morning coat, while the Frenchman favours the latter or a frock coat, which he has finished off with as much ornamentation as possible in the way of silk facings, braided edges, and fantastic flaps. His garments are close-fitting, and the waist is emphasized.

The Spaniard is like the Frenchman with modifications, for his garments are tasteful and neat, with few peculiarities. In warm weather he wears no vest, and his jackets are close-fitting and finished with a low roll. In Austrian and Hungarian clothes French and German ideas seem to be skilfully blended, while Italian dress has more of the French than of the German characters. Norwegians and Danes are like Englishmen, though there is perhaps a little more preciseness and stiffness about their clothes. The colonial has no desire for show, and his tweed lounge suit is cut for comfort and made up for strength.

The impressions to be gained from dress that we have hitherto mentioned in this chapter are chiefly those which are unintentionally given to us by their wearers. The significances which it is meant that clothes should bear are still most numerous and important.

To-day, on ordinary occasions, rank is not shown by any special dress, which those in high stations themselves wear, though the case of their servants is different. In earlier times in our history, especially under the earlier Tudors, rank was indicated in civilian dress. Now the frock coat worn by King and Peer is considered just as necessary in many businesses, and is characteristic of the shop-walker. Men of assured position can even afford to dress badly, though the poor man cannot.