Pretty gentlemen : macaroni men and the eighteenth-century fashion world / Peter McNeil.

  • McNeil, Peter, 1966-
Date:
2018
  • Books

About this work

Description

The term "macaroni" was once as familiar a label as "punk" or "hipster" is today. In this handsomely illustrated book devoted to notable 18th-century British male fashion, award-winning author and fashion historian Peter McNeil brings together dress, biography, and historical events with the broader visual and material culture of the late 18th century. For thirty years, macaroni was a highly topical word, yielding a complex set of social, sexual, and cultural associations. Pretty Gentlemen is grounded in surviving dress, archival documents, and art spanning hierarchies and genres, from scurrilous caricature to respectful portrait painting. Celebrities hailed and mocked as macaroni include politician Charles James Fox, painter Richard Cosway, freed slave Julius "Soubise," and criminal parson Reverend Dodd. The style also rapidly spread to neighboring countries in cross-cultural exchange, while Horace Walpole, George III, and Queen Charlotte were active critics and observers of these foppish men.--Publisher's website.

Publication/Creation

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2018.

Physical description

255 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 27 cm

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-250) and index.

Contents

Introduction: 'The vulgar tongue' -- Observing the macaroni -- Fact and fiction: the macaroni caricature, personality and portraiture -- 'French knavery' and fashion: the macaroni and nationhood -- 'Pretty gentlemen': macaroni dress and male sexualities -- 'Thing of a particular species': the macaroni and English theatre -- Conclusion: 'Fashion victims'; or macaroni relinquishing finery.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    JKN.AA7
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9780300217469
  • 0300217463