page_title: 1775–1795 in Western fashion
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: 1775–1795 in Western fashion / Men's fashion / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. President James Monroe presides over a cabinet meeting in 1823, discussing the Monroe Doctrine. Depicted people&#58; &#32;John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, William Wirt, James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Daniel D. Tompkins and John McLean
context_page_description: Fashion in the twenty years between 1775–1795 in Western culture became simpler and less elaborate. These changes were a result of emerging modern ideals of selfhood, the declining fashionability of highly elaborate Rococo styles, and the widespread embrace of the rationalistic or "classical" ideals of Enlightenment philosophes.
context_section_description: Throughout the period, men continued to wear the coat, waistcoat and breeches.  However, changes were seen in both the fabric used as well as the cut of these garments.  More attention was paid to individual pieces of the suit, and each element underwent stylistic changes. Under new enthusiasms for outdoor sports and country pursuits, the elaborately embroidered silks and velvets characteristic of "full dress" or formal attire earlier in the century gradually gave way to carefully tailored woolen "undress" garments for all occasions except the most formal.
  In Boston and Philadelphia in the decades around the American Revolution, the adoption of plain undress styles was a conscious reaction to the excesses of European court dress; Benjamin Franklin caused a sensation by appearing at the French court in his own hair (rather than a wig) and the plain costume of Quaker Philadelphia.
  At the other extreme was the "macaroni".
  In the United States, only the first five Presidents, from George Washington to James Monroe, dressed according to this fashion, including wearing of powdered wigs, tricorne hats and knee-breeches.
  The latest-born notable person to be portrayed wearing a powdered wig tied in a queue according to this fashion was Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia (born in 1779, portrayed in 1795).
caption: James Monroe, the last U.S. President who dressed according to an old-fashioned style of the 18th century, with his Cabinet, 1823. President wears knee breeches, while his secretaries wear long trousers.
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