You might look at Daniel Purdy, The Tyranny of Elegance--I'm sure he talks about this. Susan Hiner
On Jan 31, 2011, at 8:53 PM, Hope Greenberg wrote: > > It's funny how something so commonly known can strike us afresh with > questions. In this case: > > It's quite apparent that during the Federal/Empire/Regency or turn of the > 18/19century period* a dark blue coat was the sign of higher status and, > together with black, the most common color for full dress. The number of > mentions in Austen, the number of fashion plates that show them indicates > that this is so. Does anyone have any (documented) explanations why? > > The most common one seems to be "because Beau Brummel says so" though this > blog post suggests a Goethe/Werther connection > (http://austenette.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/the-blue-coat/). > > Is it simply a fashion choice that became popular or does anyone know of an > economic, political or other reason for the prominence of the blue coat? (For > example, something like the tax on hair powder contributing to the demise of > that particular fashion, or the tax laws regarding Irish linen that increased > its popularity, etc.) > > - Hope > > * I'm tempted to start using the abbreviation FER to cover this time period! > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume Susan Hiner Associate Professor Dept. of French and Francophone Studies Vassar College suhi...@vassar.edu _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
