Dressing the Part
A Victorian Genteman's Personal Guide

In the Victorian era, daily dress was much more formal than it is today. Unless they were a workman or laborer, every gentleman was expected to wear a coat, vest, and hat.  To walk around in shirtsleeves without vest or coat would be the modern-day equivalent of traipsing about in one’s underwear.  Very unseemly, and most ungentlemanly!

If you’re developing a Victorian outfit for the first time, consider the vest, coat and hat as your initial purchases, perhaps with a visible accessory or two.  Modern square-toed boots, black trousers, and a modern white tuxedo shirt can suffice to round out an outfit in a pinch.

When building a basic Victorian wardrobe, consider a waistcoat, or vest as the first step. An authentic Victorian vest is the centerpiece of any outfit.  Much like modern ties, vests were used to make a fashion statement either bold or conservative and gentlemen would own several vests to accessorize the same dark suit.

Victorian gentlemen wore a wide variety of vests in almost every combination of cut, color and cloth imaginable.  With the opening of China during the 1840's silk become ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive, therefore men often wore extremely fancy silk vests even during the day. Many men even wore their coats buttoned only with the top button, thereby allowing more of their vest to be seen.

Toward the turn of the century, wool and cotton vests in more conservative colors became more common for daywear as the three piece suit increased in popularity.  Even so, colorful silk vests have persisted as evening wear, to this day.

Victorian Men's Headwear

Like vests, hats were available in a wide variety of styles.  Take a stroll through our Victorian Portrait Gallery and see the breadth of options available to the Victorian gentlemen.

Top Hats were de rigueur for parties and formal events throughout the century, but were also worn as day wear by the established gentleman.

A variety of other hat styles persisted, including the wide-brimmed “wide awake” style and the flat topped “pork pie” which were seen through the period.

Derbies or bowlers, short-brimmed with rounded crowns, became more common as the century progressed and by the mid 1890's outnumbered most other hat styles.

The second half of the nineteenth century was dominated by the frock coat – a man’s coat with full skirt both front and back that reached just above the knee.  It was common for both day and evening wear through the 1880’s, making it the most versatile coat of the Victorian wardrobe

Tailcoats – coats with a knee length skirt in the back contrasted with a short front -  were popular for most of the century, often used for parties and formal events.  Like today, the styling included single and double breasted as well as straight and pointed fronts. 

Please note that with straight cut coats, gentlemen often wore vests that were cut longer, allowing the bottom of the vest to show beneath the coat.

In the 1870’s and beyond the sack suit grew in popularity.  The suit was originally cut as befits its name – with a large box like shape and no middle seam, which allowed the suit to hang loosely on the body.

By the 1880’s it became more common to see the coat with fitted styling and a middle seam directly above the coat pockets. 

Victorian Trousers

The most significant difference between the trousers of today and those of the mid 1800’s is the waistline.  Victorian men wore their pants higher with the top of the trouser at or just below the navel. 

Men wore trousers that had stripes and sometimes checks which they often paired with different patterns, stripes or checks.  These may appear garish to our modern sensibilities, but to the Victorian gentleman would have appeared quite fashionable.

Also note that men did not wear their pants pressed with a crease, but rather with a flat front.  Lengths of pants did vary slightly over the decades, from the shortest cut that caused the pant to hang completely straight to the longest, in which the trouser hung to the bottom of the heel of the boot.

Belts weren’t used, nor did pants even have belt loops.  Rather, suspenders or braces of leather or canvas were common.

Victorian Men's Shirts

Although similar in many ways, Victorian shirts were cut much more fully than modern shirts due to limitations in machining and tailoring techniques. 

Also, since washing machines were not available clothing was washed much more infrequently than today.  As a result men wore band collar shirts and for dress occasions added a separate collar and cuff.  Also, some shirts had a removable bib front, which was reversible to allow a man to hide any unsightly stains. This allowed them to keep a neat appearance without requiring the entire shirt to be laundered.