Man's Waistcoat, 1775–85
date: label: Date made
content: 1775-1785
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.
label: Description
content: By the late 1760s, a fashionable man chose tight-cut clothing to create a sleek, youthful image. His snug, barely hip-length waistcoat had sharply spread center front points and a tapered hem so as to showcase his elegant leg, prominent chest, and narrow back. It was also cut with curved fronts to fit the exaggerated posture he had learned from early childhood, which required him to hold his shoulders back and down, and to carry his arms away from his body.
label: Description
content: This green silk taffeta waistcoat was made towards the end of the transformation, when changes in cut, fabric, and decoration combined to create a narrow, graceful impression. Even so, the tailor had to be very frugal when cutting it out because the fabric was not wide enough to allow the green silk taffeta to extend under the gentleman's arms. His customer would not have minded, though, because he would never have removed his suit coat in public. It was tailored around the mid-1770s for a man who wanted to create a streamlined torso. Although the fabric and embellishment of this waistcoat are boldly colored, the delicate scale of its embroidered motifs helped its wearer to create an illusion of slenderness.
label: Description
content: The waistcoat is embroidered with chain-stitched flowers, garlands, wreaths, and ribbons, using silk floss in dark red, purple, yellow, white, and three shades each of pink and green. Small sprigs are scattered every three inches over the ground of the waistcoat fronts.
label: Description
content: Garlands are worked along the center front edges. The flared, double-scalloped pocket flaps are embroidered with wreaths and floral sprays festooned with embroidered tassels and ribbons. The same motifs appear under each pocket flap, following its outline. Because the green silk taffeta was dyed in a two-step process involving both blue and yellow dye baths, the fabric is mottled with some unintended blue spots.
label: Description
content: The waistcoat closes at the center front with twelve flat self-covered embroidered buttons. The medium-short skirt is cut away below the lowest button to form a spread point over each thigh, and is angled upward sharply from the points toward the side vents. Off-white twilled silk fabric faces the center front edges, the front skirts, and the pocket flaps. The linings of the upper fronts and back, as well as the waistcoat back, are made of plain-weave white linen, and coarse white linen is used for the pocket interiors. The skirt is vented at the center back. The overall front length is 31 in (78.74 cm).
label: Description
content: To see an embroidered waistcoat as it would have been worn by a fashionable man, link to the portrait of <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/American_paintings_and_sculpture/john_dart_jeremiah_theus/objectview.aspx?OID=20013164&collID=2&dd1=2"><I>John Dart</I></a>, about 1772–4, by Jeremiah Theus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. To see how a stylish man would have worn his clothing, link to the portrait of <a href="http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=45805+0+none"><i>John Musters</i></a>, 1777–about 1780, by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Musters’s waistcoat is cut to fit much like the 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.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: From Amy Pleadwell
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T13563.000
label: catalog number
content: T13563.000
label: accession number
content: 256480
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Waistcoat, Embroidered
label: Object Name
content: waistcoat
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: linen (lining material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 31 in; 78.74 cm