Men's fashion of autumn 1828 and wide trousers adopted from sailors' dress

Men's styles for autumn 1828 are rather varied, and the solicitous editor of the fashion journal explains that before us are sporting dress, a water costume and a festive suit. The sporting one is for riding, the festive one for an evening outing. And the "water" style? It is connected with navigation and is interesting in that it shows the arrival of the fashion for wide trousers, borrowed from the sailor's costume, which called for clothing that did not hamper movement, made of versatile, light materials. The second look is the most modern and may serve as a good example of elements of utilitarian and working dress entering fashion. This happens when sailing ceases to be the lot of destitute seamen and men sentenced to shipboard service, and acquires prestige and passes into the category of sport, precisely at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Accordingly, a well-dressed man of means can now appreciate the sailor's attire at its true worth without provoking public censure. In much the same way, knitted jumpers and pea jackets came into fashion in their day.