Codes of Manners and Etiquette

• Posted by mgr on February 7th, 2010 filed in HISTORISCHES, Mode
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… Alter French people into French women in the first sentence of this paragraph, and we may admit the plausibility of the claim ; but Frenchmen dress very badly, and never by any chance appear easy in their clothes. Johnson confessed to Mr. Langton that he experienced an unusual feeling of elation when (on the occasion of Irene being brought upon the stage) he put on a scarlet waistcoat with rich gold lace, and a goldlaced hat. A distinguished traveller—who has observed mankind, if not from China to Peru, at least from China to Ispahan—declares that he never saw a Frenchman in a clean shirt, who did not exhibit symptoms of a similar feeling of elation at the circumstance. We have been at some pains to verify this observation, and are now convinced that it is true; but the consciousness is not confined to the shirt. A Parisian exquisite reverses Mr. Brummell’s maxim—that you are not well dressed if people stop to stare at you ; nor can he ever be made to comprehend that dress fails of its object when it attracts attention independently of the man. On the contrary, his aim seems to be to act as a sort of walking advertiser for the tradesmen employed by him—(as Poor Goldy did by Filby of Water-lane, in the case of the plum-coloured coat)—and he evidently longs to tell every body he meets that his coat is by Staub, his hat by Bandoni, that his bootmaker is Evrat or Hasley, and (above all) that Madame Frederic is his washerwoman. Yet he is not likely to trouble her much, if we may judge from such specimens as the following:—

“Those who delight in cleanliness change their linen twice a week, and their pocket-handkerchief still oftener, if they are obliged to blow their noses frequently, especially those who take snuff.”

What would dirty-shirt D**** say to this ? — dirtyshirt D****, who obtained his unenviable and most unmerited nickname amongst contemporary Oxonians from the fact of his putting on avowedly only three clean shirts a day, whilst another man of the same name, as if for the express purpose of spiting and dishonouring him, put on four. We presume it is unnecessary to remind our readers of Mr. Brummell’s celebrated maxim:—”The finest linen ; plenty of it; and country washing.”

The French work last quoted contains a chapter entitled, Du Choix des Habillements, from which the English reader may form his estimate of the modes in request amongst the best-dressed people in the world :—

” If you wish to unite elegance with simplicity, put on for the morning, a blue frock, white trowsers, a black waiatcoat, an azure-coloured cravat fastened with a pin ; or black trowsers, a white waistcoat, and a black cravat.”

Such is a Frenchman’s notion of uniting simplicity and elegance. Let us now turn to the Americans :—

“In the Morning; before eleven o’clock, even if you go out, you should not be dressed. You would be stamped a parvenu if you were seen in any thing better than a respectable old frock-coat. If you remain at home, and are a bachelor, it is permitted to receive visitors in a morninggown. In summer, calico; in winter, figured cloth, faced with fur. At dinner, a coat, of course, is indispensable. The effect of a frock coat, is to conceal the height. If, therefore, you are beneath the ordinary stature, or much above it, you should affect frock-coats on all occasions that etiquette permits.”

The pith of the English opinions is contained in a section of the ” Hints on Etiquette:”—

‘ It is in bad taste to dress in the extreme of fashion ; and, in general, those only do so who have no other claim to distinction,—leave it, in these times, to shopmen and pickpockets. There are certain occasions, however, when you may dress as gaily us you please, observing the maxim of the ancient poet to be “great on great occasions.” Men often think when they wear a fashionable cut coat, an embroidered waistcoat, with a profusion of chains and other trinkets, that they are well dressed, entirely overlooking the less obtrusive, but more certain marks of a refined taste. The grand points are well-made shoes, clean gloves, a white pocket-handkerchief, and, above all, an easy and graceful deportment.”—pp. 39, 40.

This is pretty nearly in accordance with the maxim originally French:—” Un homme bien chausse et bien coiffe peut se presenter partout.” But— “This aphorism,” says the nuthor of the Code Civil, “is false as the voice of Madame Boulanger. The man is not to consider himself well dressed merely because he wears a hat from Bandoni’s and boots by Higgin. The coat by Staub, the waistcoat by Moreau, the cravat and gloves from Walker’s, will be still indispensable. Let it not be thought, however that in citing these celebrated names, we wish to show exclusiveness. The most modest tailor, the most timid bootmaker dress a man of taste with propriety : C’est la tournure, la manière de porter la toilette”, qui en fait tout le prix.” The American author copies this remark with the change of a word. “The maxim,” he says, “is as false as the voice of Mr –, a celebrated English
actor, whose voice does not happen to be false, whatever Madame Boulanger’s may be.

From: “Codes of Manners and Etiquette” In: Museum of foreign literature, science and art. Vol. 32, February 1838.

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