Only For Now

A pair of mock cut-steel knee-buckles by George Bower, Birmingham 1816.

They go on breeches.

reblogged from oldbookillustrations:

Mr Nicodemus Dumps… cross, cadaverous, odd and ill-natured.
Illustration by Fred Barnard, from Scenes and characters from the works of Charles Dickens, London, Toronto (not dated).Via archive.org.

But look at the clothes. Very high waisted flat fronted trousers, designed to emphasise and lengthen the legs - which was THE focus for men in early nineteenth century Europe. Later, trousers became looser and baggier, and so the shape and length of men’s legs disappeared from view altogether, except when riding.
The coat rounds the shoulders, with its high collar rolling down to the lapels, and a slight puff at the top of the sleeve where it joins the body of the jacket. The thickness of the coat, and waistcoat, and their darkness, obscure everything except the cravat, which is held with some sort of diamond or similar pin - this flash of clean linen and luxury conveys wealth and status.
Mr Dumps is an old and miserable man, and his clothes are, no doubt, old fashioned for his time. But the style is now SO old that we can see it, not as dowdy and out of date, but as a style wholly new and interesting to us, which both contains the germ of the modern business suit and tie, and retains the long lost styles of the Regency.
The character is from Sketches by Boz

Mr Nicodemus Dumps… cross, cadaverous, odd and ill-natured.

Illustration by Fred Barnard, from Scenes and characters from the works of Charles Dickens, London, Toronto (not dated).
Via archive.org.

But look at the clothes. Very high waisted flat fronted trousers, designed to emphasise and lengthen the legs - which was THE focus for men in early nineteenth century Europe. Later, trousers became looser and baggier, and so the shape and length of men’s legs disappeared from view altogether, except when riding.

The coat rounds the shoulders, with its high collar rolling down to the lapels, and a slight puff at the top of the sleeve where it joins the body of the jacket. The thickness of the coat, and waistcoat, and their darkness, obscure everything except the cravat, which is held with some sort of diamond or similar pin - this flash of clean linen and luxury conveys wealth and status.

Mr Dumps is an old and miserable man, and his clothes are, no doubt, old fashioned for his time. But the style is now SO old that we can see it, not as dowdy and out of date, but as a style wholly new and interesting to us, which both contains the germ of the modern business suit and tie, and retains the long lost styles of the Regency.

The character is from Sketches by Boz