RH201 - 1795-1820 Men's Tailcoat Pattern. This pattern comes with several variations including the standard and M-cut collars. Men's Sizes Medium to XL included. (Chest Sizes 38" to 50"). Yardage 3 ½ yards of 45" fabric or 3 yards of 60" fabric. Lining 2 ½ yards of 45" fabric. Notions: 10 buttons 7/8" to 1", Interfacing 1 1/3 yards. Excellent for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and other Regency era impressions. Beau Brummell wore a Regency period dress coat as daytime dress. The coat is able to close and the tails are knee length. Beau Brummell set the fashion for dandyism in British society from the mid-1790s, which was characterized by immaculate personal cleanliness, immaculate linen shirts with high collars, perfectly tied cravats, and exquisitely tailored plain dark coats (contrasting in many respects with the "maccaroni" of the earlier eighteenth century). Brummell abandoned his wig and cut his hair short in a Roman fashion dubbed ½ la Brutus, echoing the fashion for all things classical seen in women's wear of this period. He also led the move from breeches to snugly-tailored pantaloons or trousers, often light-colored for day and dark for evening, based on working-class clothing adopted by all classes in France in the wake of the Revolution. A tailcoat is a coat with the front of the skirt cut away, so as to leave only the rear section of the skirt, known as the tails. The historical reason coats were cut this way was to make it easier for the wearer to ride a horse, but over the years tailcoats of varying types have evolved into forms of formal dress for both day and evening wear. Although there are several different types of tailcoat, the term tailcoat is popularly taken to be synonymous with the type of dress coat still worn today in the evening with white tie. This dress coat, one of the two main surviving tailcoats, is a dark evening coat with a squarely cut away front. The other one is the morning coat (or cutaway in American English), which is cut away at the front in a gradual taper. (Wikipedia). Regency Period, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Era, Beau Brummell Era, Elizabeth Bennett Costume, Jane Eyre Costume, Napoleanic Costume, Regency Era Living History Costume, Mr. Darcy Costume, Great for Jane Austen or Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, and Pride Prejudice impressions. Fashion in the period 1795½1820 in European and European-influenced countries saw the final triumph of undress or informal styles over the brocades, lace, periwig, and powder of the earlier eighteenth century. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, no one in France wanted to appear to be an aristocrat, while in Britain, Beau Brummell introduced trousers, perfect tailoring, and unadorned, immaculate linen as the ideals of men's fashion. Women's fashions followed classical ideals, and tightly laced corsets were temporarily abandoned in favor of a high-waisted, natural figure In this period, fashionable women's clothing styles were based on the Empire silhouette ½ dresses were closely fitted to the torso just under the bust, falling loosely below. In different contents, such styles are commonly called "Directoire" (referring to the Directory which ran France during the second half of the 1790s), "Empire" (referring to Napoleon's 1804½1814/1815 empire, and often also to his 1800½1804 "consulate"), or "Regency" (most precisely referring to the 1811½1820 period of George IV's formal regency, but often loosely used to refer to various periods between the 18th century and the Victorian). These 1795½1820 fashions were quite different from the styles prevalent during most of the 18th century and the rest of the 19th century, when women's clothes were generally tight against the torso from the natural waist upwards, and heavily full-skirted below (often inflated by means of hoop-skirts, crinolines, panniers, bustles, etc.). The high waistline of 1795½1820 styles took attention away from the natural waist, so that there was then no point to the tight "wasp-waist" corseting often considered fashionable during other periods. Inspired by neoclassical tastes, the short-waisted dresses sported soft, flowing skirts and were often made of white, almost transparent muslin, which was easily washed and draped loosely like the garments on Greek and Roman statues. Thus during the 1795½1820 period, it was often possible for middle- and upper-class women to wear clothes that were not very confining or cumbersome, and still be considered decently and fashionably dressed. Among middle- and upper-class women there was a somewhat basic distinction between "morning dress" (worn at home in the afternoons as well as mornings) and evening attire ½ generally, both men and women changed clothes in preparation for the evening meal and possible entertainments to follow. There were also further gradations such as afternoon dress, walking dress, riding habits, travelling dress, dinner dress, etc.