A last blossoming

The last days - the last two decades, specifically - before the French Revolution saw arguably the highest point of refinement in men's dress clothing. During the 1770s and 1780s, the line and embellishment of a man's suit of clothes - the justaucorps (knee-length coat), waistcoat, and breeches (combined, the precursor of the modern three-piece suit) - was at its most beautiful. The elegant proportions of the garments were matched by their sumptuous fabrications and lavish embroidery. But the true marvel of these clothes - like a matador's traje de luces, of which they are a more refined, but not too distant relative - was the cohesiveness of the whole - the remarkably skillful blending of a relatively sober base pattern and an overlay of exquisite, frankly feminine ornamentation - and how well they suited and flattered the male form.

(The same as above. It is said that this fine suit of clothes was worn by the
Swedish Count Axel von Fersen, the beloved of Queen Marie Antoinette.)

(Detail of above.)

(Same as above.)

(Same as above.)

(Detail of above.)

(Same as above.)

(Detail of above.)

(Same as above.)

(Detail of above.)

(Detail of above.)

(Circa 1790, these are certainly the latest of the garments featured here, and are meant for a less formal setting than the other clothes in this post.)