Living History Personas
1770's Civilian
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Men’s civilian fashion of this time period consisted of five main pieces of clothing: shirt, waistcoat, breeches, coat, and hat. The shirt was the base and served as the undergarment. A waistcoat, commonly called a “jacket,” was almost always part of a man’s outfit. Knee breeches were the most common lower garment. A coat of some sort usually covered the waistcoat. To round out the wardrobe, there was the tricorn hat. This combination was typical for men of all levels of society and was common over all of Western Europe and North America. Militia soldiers quite often served in their standard civilian clothing, at times substituting a hunting frock for the coat. *
*This information is only intended to serve as a general recommendation. If you belong to a reenacting group or work for a historic site, we strongly recommend you check with your group first before purchasing this outfit.
HAT
Pictured Left: TH-805 Brown Standard Wool-Felt Tricorn.
Alternatives: Any non-military tricorn or uncocked broad-rimmed hat that we offer.
SHIRT
Pictured Right: SH-124 Cotton Workshirt.
Alternatives: LH-124 Linen Workshirt, or for labor-class civilians and militia, CK-124 Blue-Checked Workshirt, RS-124 Red-Checked Workshirt, or our OH-124 Cotton Osnaburg Workshirt.
NECKWEAR
LS-375 Black Linen Neck Stock.
Alternatives: Any of the Cravats or Neck Stocks we offer will work, though we would recommend you avoid the RS-373 Ruffled Neck Stock for this persona.
WAISTCOAT
1770’s Waistcoat in either SW-130C Cotton Canvas, SW-130L Linen, or SW-130W Wool.
Alternative: For labor-class civilians and militia, try the WJ-155 Woolen Short Jacket. With this option, an outer coat is not needed. Also, for economy sake, consider
CW-195 Unlined Cotton-Canvas Costume Waistcoat.
COAT
Pictured Right: MC-150 Civilian Coat.
Alternatives: If you have chosen the Short Jacket as suggested above, no outer coat is necessary. In some settings, another alternative outer layer for labor-class civilians and militia is the Hunting Frock, LN-123 Linen Work Smock, or the OS-123 Osnaburg Work Smock which, if used in your persona, should generally be worn over a shirt and waistcoat.
BREECHES
Pictured Left: CP-128 Cotton Canvas Fall-Front Breeches.
Alternative: Fall-Front Breeches of any fabric option. Fall-Front Trousers in any fabric option are also an option for lower-class civilians and militia.
STOCKINGS
SP-754 Cotton Stockings of any color.
Alternatives: Any Cotton or Wool Stocking. Avoid striped stockings. Silk and Clocked Stockings may be appropriate for higher class civilians.
SHOES
Pictured Right: CS-925 Men's 18th Century Buckle Shoes.
Alternatives: MK-976 Center-Seam Moccassins are a very appropriate alternative. These can be worn with or without SB-984 Splatterdashes. Also, some events or units will allow for simple modern leather shoes as long as they are mostly covered with Splaterdashes (ask your unit).
BUCKLES
SB-929 Shoe Buckles.
Alternatives: Any of our men’s shoe buckles we offer, or the tabs on our Straight-Last Shoes can be folded back or trimmed, then punched with two holes on each side for lacing.