European (esp British) national costumes...?

English national costume. These days found mostly around Dover.

At the entrance to the Channel Tunnel

 

 

 

 

 

Banker/broker/civil service bloker. 

 

How's that for a stereotype?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mice are Luxembourgers (blue tunic, red neckerchief, red trousers). The rest you have to guess

 

 

I was wondering primarily how the suit arose and if the British had any national fashion and if so, what was it and what happened to it.

 

Of course, I knew the suit must have had various countries of origin but wondered why it had subsequently been decided to be English. I also accept that the idea of a national costume is primarily a tourist board construct, but in some countries' cases (again, thinking mostly of Japan and Korea) nobody needs to tell the people to wear these things, and indeed as people have worn them in opposition to perceived over-westernisation as a grassroots movement.

 

So, what I found out was...

 

damn! Time ran out! Back to work! But, like Fu Manchu, I shall return! (Always thought that was classier than Arnie!  )

 

Why can't I find a better picture than this:

 

 

 

Apparently there are three reasons in its evolution that the suit is considered to have come from England.

 

1) The 14th century English version of the doublet was apparently the first tailored garment in Europe, i.e. fitted to and enhancing the body's contours using slits, pleats, tucks, and pads, rather than just straps, cords, belts, sashes and other ties. Apparently this fashion was considered lascivious and lacking in morals by the French who partly attributed it to their loss at Crecy. It certainly contributed to a certain freedom of movement and a new degree of comfort under armour, or on its own. (This is the specific answer to person questioning the waistcoat assumption earlier...?)

 

2) Charles II decided that, after the Puritan clampdown on just about anything, we needed a national costume to cement national unity, enhance a feeling of national identity, present a more unified outward appearance to the rest of Europe, and generally cheer us up with good tailoring...! He decided on what later became the suit as court wear: with some degree of standardisation of shoulder pads, length of coat and cravats (adopted and becoming more and more popular all through Europe after the Croatian mercenaries popularised them in the Thrity Years' War. It must be said that Louis XIV had already done the same in France, so quite how this makes it specifically an English thing, I don't know, unless simply by dint of ours being more successful.

 

3) The word 'suit' comes from medieval (late 13th century) Anglo-Norman, 'suivre' meaning 'to follow' (as its modern French meaning) and thus 'to match', and was used to refer to court clothes which were supposed to match each other, the tops and bottoms. Of course 'suit' has different translations in different languages, but it seems that this English one was the first to be used in any European language to mean a matching set of tailored garments.

 

It is maybe interesting to note (if I'm getting it right...) that, some elements of Japanese national costume, the modern suit seems to derive from underwear to be worn under armour or at least when lounging around!

 

It depends a lot on what you mean by 'suit'. The modern suit, in all its varieties, depends on having a matching jacket and trousers, and trousers were never more than very casual, lower-class wear until the late 18th, early 19th century. Note: I'm distinguishing here between trousers - loose leggings - and hose or breeches which were and are tight fitting. I don't think hose and breeches ever matched whatever top was being worn with them.

 

I'd have thought the French Revolution had more to do with the initial re-introduction of trousers as acceptable dress than fashions in Britain.

 

I've got a copy of Lucy Barton's Historic Costume for the Stage around somewhere but I can't find it offhand. If you're interested in the history of fashion it's worth having.