[The men in the two portraits overlooking this scene seem so complacent to me. Do you suppose they see themselves as above (literally!) all these extremes of feminine fripperies? ]

Actually, the ladies were not alone in this mode of 'undress' and the fashion hit the gentlemen long before the ladies. And the picture shown can just as easily be replaced by men. Here is a passage in a book which can explain this better than I:

'The rediscovery of antiquity had an important impact on attitudes towards art and clothes. A serious campaign of archeological investigation was undertaken to hunt for Roman treasures. In 1738 King Charles of Naples ordered tunnelling to begin at Herculaneum, and in 1748 at Pompeii. In 1760 Duke Phillip of Parma founded a museum of antiquities and ordered the excavation of Velleia to stock it. Collecting ancient statuary became a craze among wealthy, with European aristocrats competing to build up celebrated ensembles of marble. Antique art was the only true art, declared the critics, the only correct form, so it should be followed by contemporary artists instead of continuing with Rococo trivialties. Ancient art was nature: an eternal ideal unaffected by fashions and imperfections. When the sculpture Canova saw the Elgin marbles for the first time he exclaimed, 'The truth of nature!' because they seemed perfect. They were not, of course, true to imperfections as warts, varicose veins or flabby flesh. They were a Greek interpretation of the human body into an impossible perfection, but after 2,000 years they seemed endowed with eternal qualities. The new interest in statuary had an impact on men's wear, for it meant that bodies were back in fashion. Consequently clothes were made more revealing. Coats were cut right back with only two flaps in the skirts. The vests and waistcoats which for a hundred years during the effete Baroque and Rococo eras had modestly concealed the male sexual organs completely, were now shortened and rose at a rapid rate until they only reached the hips or lower waist. The breeches and the flies were revealed, and given the admiration for classical limbs, breeches became tighter and even tighter, moulding the male thighs and making the sexual bulge an unavoidably presence. Masculinity at its most blatant was making a comeback. And what style of clothes could best dress this natural man if not the British country look? The English cutaway riding coat and simple frock with its collar, the buckskin breeches for riding, and the riding boots, all became town wear at last, even finding their way into court receptions. So well did the British country look satisfy the new quest for nature that it spread all over Europe, with Russian and Italian princes sporting riding boots for everything except court balls, where of course shoes must be worn. An unadorned simplicity was now important, for it showed the perfection of the natural look, so that velvet coasts were replaced by honest wollen cloth, while skin color became the tone for waistcoats and breeches. This did give an impression of nakedness at a distance. Taste now required ladies not to blush but to admire the perfect sculpture of the male limbs.'

Fashion for Men by Diana de Marly

Patricia