How many times a day would an victorian man change his attire? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497 Wniny So, a character in this thing I am currently writing for another project than NaNo (ugh, I don't want to look at my nano yet) takes place in the victorian times. And I need to know, how many times a day would an victorian gentleman (and in this case an also an earl) change clothes? And to what would he wear, and when? I thought that I knew this, but I can't for the love of me recall ever reading about gentlemen changing clothes, but they do! I know they do. Or don't they? Do men only change clothes at the evening and if they are to travel? I suspect that the must change from his morningdress (did men wear that? I know woman changed after 10 or something like that) to something, but what? I also assume that they must change for dinner or if they are going away. I have searched around the internet, but no answer, so please does anyone know how many times a gentleman changed his clothes? Thank you in advance and please pardon any of my grammatical errors! Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:07:22 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1006219 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1006219 Grand Poobah I think the answer is going to require more information. What does the man do? Is he employed? Is there something going on in the evening? If so, what is it? Like most of us today, changing clothes is done to deal with "work clothes" vs. other clothes, and what's on the agenda. What I might change into after a day working in the butcher shop would depend upon whether I'm staying home or heading to the Opera. The same was true back then, although the circumstances might be different. If he is a man of leasure, what is he doing during the day? If he's going hunting, that's a change. If he's riding to the fox, that's another change? Does he ride for exercise? That's another change. Does he have "an office" in town? He would wear something there that might not be appropriate for dinner later. We need more information. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:33:13 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1006237 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1006237 Wniny Ah yes of course, I didn't think about that. The thing is, he is absolutely new to all of the things of an ordinary nobles life. I am taking my inspiration from a qoute in "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew", where they mentioned that sometimes an unexpected problem with the succession to peerages could mean that John Doe in America could suddenly become 24th Earl of Southwick-on-Kildare. My MC is that John Doe. He does not have any job, he will probably take one later on in the story, and of course the number of times changing his clothes would depend on if he went riding or hunting. I think that my question could be rephrased to: would he had change for lunch, would he had changed for the afternoon, after the dinner to something else before changing into nightwear, if he was just staying home (indoors)? Thank you for your answer it got me a lot of valuable thoughts! :) Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:38:21 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1006352 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1006352 Lady_Indis_Dress I've heard about dressing for dinner but have never heard or seen anything to indicate that a man or woman would change after dinner into more clothing, or dress up for lunch. Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:04:00 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1007350 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1007350 Nike Lennard First: A victorian gentleman isn't a gentleman if he has to work, least of all with his hands. If needet, he could be a medic, a lawyer or a cleric. Even beeing the owner of a factory or a financier would belittle his social prestige. And here is something on the dresscode of the 1860s: http://www.victoriana.com/Mens-Clothing/How_to_Dress_Like_a_Victorian_Man.html&usg=ALkJrhjAncobhITREM-eA7cY9npx36GnGw Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:51:39 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1008586 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1008586 Twilight7fire An earl wouldn't have a job as such, he would earn money from having land (and renting it out to farmers etc). Members of the Peerage were socially very prestigious and could buy a lot of stuff 'on credit'. Even if their income wasn't that high, they would not take on a normal job as this is considered to be non genteel. Now, as for the clothes, it depends on what his day would look like. There are several social occasions that require different sets of clothes. First of all, there are the outdoor sports - hunting, riding, shooting, games (such as tennis, criquet etc). Each sport has his own attire. Riding garments consist of the tight jodphurs (riding trousers), high boots and a jacket. When hunting, the jacket is red, with several marks/badges of sorts (you should look the exact details up). For other sports and games I don't know the attire by heart, but you should be able to find that on the internet (victorianlondon.org is a good place to start looking). Evening parties, dances and soirees demand specific outfits as well. This is very specific to the era, so I can't really tell you what you character would wear and when. For example, from mid-century onwards, a Ball attire resembled old-fashioned white tie dresscode, but earlier in the century, bright colours were the way to do. ;) An official dinner might require a specific dresscode as well. At home, clothes would be changed less frequently, but there are still various variations. The smoking habit is a pretty well-known one: a sort of robe and weird little hat that you would wear whle smoking tobacco in the parlour. For more specific info, try the aforementioned website. Good books on the subject include ''The Victorian House' and 'Consuming Passions' by Judith Flanders. Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:01:23 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1025367 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48497?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1025367