Saturday, May 23, 2015

Ca. 1820s Coat and Trousers, National Museum of Denmark

I've had this suit in my head all week but just finally found the source. It is from the National Museum of Denmark and is a perfect example of the deepening lapels that took hold in the early 1820s.


Link to the museum page: http://natmus.dk/historisk-viden/temaer/modens-historie/1790-1840/bukser-og-jaket/

The museum's website describes it as: "Long pants and morning dress from the 1820s....informal summer clothing....[Coat] is of white and blue narrow striped cotton . The pants are light yellow Nankin (sic) . In front flap with 3 buttonholes. Linning (sic) and crew (sic) are torn at the top."

Evolution of the collar and lapels is especially apparent wen compared to the common style of 5-10 years prior, as seen on this American linen coat from the MET, accession # 1997.508 and a coat of similar cut worn by Granville-Leveson, 1st Earl Granville in England, both ca. 1815.



Collars and lapels sat very noticeably higher at that point. Look closely here and you can see that William Croghan, Sr. of Locust Grove near Louisville, KY was keeping up with evolving fashions when his portrait was painted in 1820 at the age of 68 by John Wesley Jarvis (Collection of Historic Locust Grove, Louisville, KY):