.. to understand fashion from the 1770’s to the 1870’s. FRANCE led American & English fashion despite the eras being named for the ENGLISH: “Georgian” (after 3 English kings named George), “Regency” (referring to the transition of power between 2 of the English Georges), & “Victorian” (almost a century of …
The French Revolution was important to fashion, because what France did; everyone else did (include war, conflict, & Court intrigue). France ruled American fashion from the early 1700’s & through both Revolutions until France’s reign ended with the flashy “Belle Epoque” era at World War I. France ruled fashion because: …
George Bryan “Beau” Brummel was an iconic figure in Regency England, & a friend of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV). He was the 1775 founder of the “Dandies”, who established the mode of dress for men that rejected overly ornate fashions to one of perfectly fitted & …
… “and called it Macaroni”… American patriots were making fun of the British by referring to the British sub-culture of the Macarons & Muscadins when they sang “Yankee Doodle” & mimicked the aristocratic aires of the British nobility. (photos: “Yankee Doodle” sheet music of the 1770’s with a picture of …
… young men & women were imitating the English & French “Dandies” in defiance of the political situation of the American Revolution. It is not known if the American Dandy had a political statement to make, or if they just liked the freedom to wander about in weird costumes, hitting …
… the original being street “dandyish” street gangs roaming Paris. They became known as the “White Terror”, a backlash against jacobin oppression. They roamed the streets drinking, toasting the monarchy, & lashing out at patriots with sticks AND THEY LOOKED FABULOUS DOING IT. (painting: a “Dandy”)
.. the Incroyables, young bourgeouis men & women who dressed up in protest of the French Reign of Terror. The English counterpart, & having its root in the 1770’s, at the time America was in its Revolution were the “Dandies” (sketch: “Blinded by Buttons”, 1775 joke about Dandies)
.. or “Marvelous Woman”, who ruled the live fast, die young social whirlwind that took over the salons of Paris after The Terror. Juliet, Theresa Cabarrus Fontenay Tallien, & Josephine de Beauharnais (later Empress of France), barely survived the Jacobin regime. It was partly on Thersa’s behalf, with whome Tallien …
…earned them the derogatory name “Muscadins” among the lower classes – a name already applied to a wide group of anti-jacobins. They wore bicorne hats and carried bludgeons, which they referred to as their “executive power”. (painting: Muscadins on the streets of Paris in about 1794)
.. large earrings, green jackets, wide trousers, huge neckties, thick glasses, & hats topped by “dog ears” with their hair falling over their ears. Sometimes they pulled their hair up in back using a comb to imitate the hairstyles of the condemned. Some sported large monocles, & they frequently affected …
