Light colors and light fabrics characterized the 18th century in contrast to the darker and heavier garments of the previous and subsequent centuries. Women still wore long cone-shaped corsets, but the heavy look of the past vanished with the introduction of light silks and colors and the loose gown, or mantua. Spread over a type of hoop support called panniers, skirts appeared to float and billow, and the Watteau back pleats, falling from the shoulders, removed the appearance of constraint. By 1750, panniers became extremely wide, but this fashion subsided just a few years later.
Men also wore silk, and their light knee breeches, coats with flared skirts, and flowered waistcoats were in predominantly light colors. Soft lace replaced the starched, formal ruffs of the previous century. The immense wigs worn by men gave way to natural sized powdered wigs. The most common hat was the tricorn, a low crowned hat with the brim turned up on three sided.
In France, fashion became stiffer and more elaborate and formal. In England, the leaders of fashion copied the more practical and convenient dress of the working classes. While the French wore stiff brocades, the English turned to wool cloth. The French Revolution produced two radical changes in European costume for men, the return of trousers 
after some 600 years of disuse, and for women, a conscious reversion to what was called the classical or Grecian style. The neoclassic look based on a high-waisted "Grecian" dress that flowed simply from the bustline remained in fashion until 1820. Gone for a few decades were corsets and panniers or hoops, replaced by the natural look of thin fabrics, high waists, bare arms, and low-cut bodices. The French fashion spread and took hold. Gone also were silks and lace and brocades for men and, for a while, for women also.
Extreme artificiality reappeared in the 1770s in the shape of women's powdered pompadour hairdos, which, rising to heights of more than a foot, were decorated with ribbons and flowers and sometimes even full scenes such as miniature ships in full sail. By the 1780s this was replaced by a fuller, rounded hairstyle topped by and enormous hat or a lace cap. A "pouter pigeon" silhouette was created by a bustle pad in the back of the skirt and by a kerchief worn over the bodice in front.
Additions and corrections are welcome, but must be accompanied by referenced sources to be accepted.
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[Ancient] |
[Classical] |
[Medieval] |
[Renaissance] |
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[18th Century] |
[19th Century] |
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