Victorian Waistcoat Find! But he needs a date.

pastperfect2

pastperfect2

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We went to the simultaneous Farmers and Flea Market this morning. Disappointing. All very professional and the same rugs, etc you could get at Target. Only 2 booths were selling older/used merchandise - all the rest was brand new tat.

Even the farmers were selling produce they had bought elswhere and brought in. Oh - maybe a few ears of corn from their own fields, but all the melons and squash had store stickers on them


Anyway - this was about 4 miles from our new house. We passed a small antique mall on the way back. So in we go. The business next door had a great name - "Lure de Flea" - but it was closed.

And this is what we brought home:


waistcoat.jpg


It's a silk brocade with small flowers in peach with bleu and green . It is a man's, with a shawl collar, machine sewing, passementerie buttons, silk back, slight chest padding at the armsceyes and cotton lining. The front waist is cut straight across, no V. There is some wear here and there.

Now I can't get to my research books quite yet - the bookshelves will happen next week.

So - Is this 1860s? 1870s? Maybe even 1880s? There is no back belt, and the front is cut quite a bit longer than the back.

Hollis
 
Hi Hollis

I find men's waistcoats so fiddly to identify as there is practically nothing written about them! :)
I have a very similar one to yours which I have finally been able to date to the mid 1840's to 1853 at the latest (excuse the shape of it as it's on a female dressform!):

<img src="http://www.corsetsandcrinolines.com/fsimages/men/1850waistcoat1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.corsetsandcrinolines.com/fsimages/men/1850waistcoat2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.corsetsandcrinolines.com/fsimages/men/1850waistcoat3.jpg">

Mine has a pouched front and the front is wholly padded which is more typical of late Regency waistcoats, it also has a thin cord edging around the bottom which appeared on waistcoats after 1839. Does yours have a thin silk cord edging the bottom front?
Also during the mid 1840's , waistcoats often had a narrow leather lining at the foreparts on the hem edge (my one doesn't but I have seen ones that have this).

Brocades were popular during the 1840's and 50's but then patterns started to become bolder during the 1860's and early 70's and then eventually becoming plain in the late 1870's and onwards.

It said in one of my books that "Silk fabrics, especially brocaded or embroidered ones, were common for fashionable wear until the 1850's".

Necklines became higher during the 1860's for waistcoats and remained so for daywear. Yours isn't as high as they would become.

Since yours has alot of early victorian features but has a moderately high neckline (it's higher than my one but not as high as 60's ones would go to), I would say that it may be from the 1850's (I see some handsewing in the last photo too).

Lei
 
Was leafing through my Priscilla Dalrymple book and found some photos in the very late 1840's section, the 1850' section and a couple at the very early 1860's showing similar waistcoats like yours. The frustrating thing about men's clothing is that as you know, they wore the same things for years (LOL, even my man does in 2004)! :)
I would still give a general date of 1850's for yours as it seems that is when yours seems to have been worn the most but I did find an interesting late 1840's daguerreotype showing a young, handsome man wearing a near identical waistcoat to yours:

<img src="http://www.corsetsandcrinolines.com/example/waistcoata.jpg">

Hope this helps! :)

Lei
 
I'm thinking yours is late Hollis. THat rose brocade fabric is so late 1880s - 1890s looking, and I seem to recall that men's waistcoats of that period were often shaped to the body, like a corset. I just took a quick look through my books and didn't see what I am thinking of, but I think it's c. 1890ish when men were wearing the very tightly fitted coats with the waistcoats peaking below the coat in front.
 
I am totally ignorant on men's early fashion - part of the reason is the lack of much detailed info.

Thanks Leia for your responses and also for posting that
wonderful image of the young chap.

Jonathan, as always, thanks for your info too!

And regardless of the age - this is one dandy looking
garment!

Sue
 
Thanks all - I do find vests on their own a bit hard to date. And without my books - well. The stitching is both hand and machine - the sides seams are done by hand. I usually see this large shawl collar earlier, but men's fashions can linger on for such a long , long time.

Hollis
 
I reserve the right to be totally wrong on my earlier suggestion by the way... it was just a "I think" response... to be honest I haven't a clue! lol
 
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