Man’s Waistcoat, 1740–60
date: label: Date made
content: 1740 - 1760
label: date made
content: c. 1740
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: Men's fashion went through a revolutionary change during the last half of the eighteenth century, as clothing steadily shrank from a curvaceous, full-skirted style into a slender, vertical silhouette. The waistcoat was a vest-like garment that a man wore, along with his breeches, over his shirt and under his suit coat. This particular waistcoat dates from the second quarter of the century and represents men’s clothing before it had begun to evolve.
label: Description
content: The unidentified gentleman from Maine who wore this garment sometime around 1740 would have probably purchased it as a flat textile for his tailor to cut and fit to his measurements. When it was finished, he must have presented an impressive figure. His waistcoat, with its squared fronts and full skirts, would have draped over his torso and swirled around his upper thighs. Wide pocket flaps protruded over his hips, held out by three otherwise useless buttons beneath them. Moreover, the pattern of the silk fabric made his waistcoat appear even more massive. The design, which was woven just for this purpose, featured a huge floral pattern around the edges of the skirts and fronts that accentuated the expansive scale of the garment.
label: Description
content: This waistcoat of brown tone-on-tone warp-patterned silk brocade is woven to form, with a diaper pattern–a small diagonal grid–that covers the ground and a large-scale serpentine leaf and flower design along the straight front base and center front edges. Both pocket flaps are also woven to form, and their lower edges are cut in mirror-imaged S-curves; they are sewn at either side of the center front on each hip. Although the pocket flaps have three decorative vertical buttonholes, the holes were never cut. Three non-functional buttons are sewn under each pocket flap.
label: Description
content: Fifteen buttons are sewn along the right center front. Fifteen buttonholes are worked along the left center front, but the lowest four were never cut open and thus can not be buttoned. The upper eleven buttons are domed, with a brown silk diamond embroidered in four sections, surrounded by a small diapered ground. The lower four buttons, and the buttons under the pocket flaps, are mostly flat and covered with brown basket-weave silk.
label: Description
content: The back skirts of the waistcoat are of the primary fabric, but the upper back is of plain-weave brown silk. The fronts and back skirt are lined with brown silk twill, and the upper back is lined with napped off-white cotton and linen fustian. The waistcoat is open down the center back from the shoulders to the hem. Three pairs of cotton tape ties originally spanned the slit, but they are now missing. The skirt is vented at the sides from waist to hem. The overall length of the front, measured from the shoulder seam to hem, is 36 in. (91.4 cm).
label: Description
content: To see how the clothing of a prosperous man would have been worn, link to the portrait of an <a href="http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=34169+0+none"><I>Unidentified British Navy Officer</I></a>, about 1745, by John Wollaston, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The officer wears a waistcoat that is cut much like the brown silk one shown here.
label: Description
content: This Web entry was made possible in part by a generous grant from the National Association of Men’s Sportswear Buyers, in memory of Joseph S. Klein.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: World
label: used in
content: United States: Maine
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: From Mrs. Benjamin Ginsburg
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CS.293501.003
label: catalog number
content: 293501.003
label: accession number
content: 293501
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Waistcoat
label: Other Terms
content: Waistcoat; Upper Body; Main Dress; Male
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length, sh seam to base: 36 in; 91.44 cm
label: Measurements
content: length, shoulder to waist: 21 in; 53.34 cm
label: Measurements
content: length, waist to base: 15 in; 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: forepart hem, side to center front: 16 in; x 40.64 cm
label: Measurements
content: shoulder strap: 3 1/2 in; x 8.89 cm
label: Measurements
content: pocket flap, maximum: 3 in x 7 in; 7.62 cm x 17.78 cm
label: Measurements
content: armscye: 8 1/4 in; 20.955 cm
label: Measurements
content: button span, center front: 22 3/4 in; 57.785 cm
label: Measurements
content: lowest button to base: 7 1/4 in; 18.415 cm
label: Measurements
content: buttons, center front: 11/16 in; x 1.74625 cm
label: Measurements
content: buttons, pocket: 3/4 in; x 1.905 cm
label: Measurements
content: length, extant tape ties, center back: 10 3/4 in; x 27.305 cm