18th Century French Men's Clothing

In order to provide a strong frame of reference for men's clothing in the eighteenth century, it is first necessary to note that by 1700, France had become the leading center of fashion. It is true, as Cunnington says, that throughout the century, "in spite of wars, there was a continuous interchange of fashions" (Cunnington, 1970, p. 69) between France and England. But owing to the popular-culture influence of the French court, French fashion became the standard by which all European clothing was measured, for both men and women. When the French Revolution did away with court life and democratization of French society began, the French influence on fashion remained strong for women but began to decline for men. What is more important to note, as we shall see, is that there was a rough equivalence in manifest men's styles in France and England, with England copying France in the first part of the century and France copying England in the last part.

The progress from first to last parts of the eighteenth century shows evidence of a gradual decrease in the extravagance of men's dress. In this connection, Barsis notes that "

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today's "tails." Simultaneously sleeves became longer and cuffs less conspicuous; and in time the cuff disappeared, usually replaced by the present style of coat sleeve ending in a slit either buttoned or pseudo-buttoned. Collars became higher and more prominent (Gorsline, 1952, p. 100). Cunnington draws a distinction between the coat and what she calls the frock; she adds that the term frock coat (used by Gorsline, above) is a redundancy. In any case, cunnington says the frock was looser than the coat and more suited to sporting activity for higher classes and more typical of lower-class men's wear. She says it was worn from the 1770s onward everywhere in France except at Court, where the more formal dress was standard (Cunnington, 1970, p. 73). The eighteenth century saw the appearance of the so-called great-coat or surtout, "and from 1738 sometimes known as a wraprascal. It was a large loose overcoat reaching to below the knees. Some had side vents, but always a back vent when worn on horseback ... It had a small collar round the neck and one, two, or three cape-like collars below this to shed the rain" (Cunnington, 1970, p. 76). Cloaks, meanwhile, were worn until 1750 by the upper classes, though they continued to b
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Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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