y of the masses to duplicate upper-class haute couture--have been traced specifically to the court of Louis XIV of France, who "may rightly be said to have made and unmade France, and France the civilized world, so far as matters of art and fashion are concerned." This is completely consistent with the view that fashion continues to change cyclically according as elites' preferences and tastes change.
Throughout the eighteenth century, "in spite of wars, there was a continuous interchange of fashions" between France and England. In the early part of the eighteenth century in both countries, men's and women's apparel material was equally likely to consist of brocade and silk. A whole subculture of embroidered and ruffled neckwear appears to have been in vogue.
The cravat . . . went out of fashion in the 1740s. From 1785 the cravat came back into fashion in the form of a length of muslin wound three times round the neck and tied in a knot under the chin.
The stock came into fashion about 1730 and lasted all through the century. It was a high neckband of li
...