Eye catching...

[anteros_lmc]

Earlier today a query from author elin_gregory about early 18th century naval uniform (or lack thereof) sent me off to look up Dudley Jarrett's British Naval Dress. Among lists of 18th century contractors clothing orders, mostly comprised of Shrunck Grey Kersey Jacketts, Wast coats of Welsh Red, shirts of Blew and white chequer'd Linnen and Strip'd Ticken Breeches, Jarrett notes that one contract dating to 1717 also included:

Red flowered shag breeches, the buttonholes stitched with gold thread.
Red flowered shag breeches with gold button holes?! Do you think that's the early eighteenth century equivalent of shag-me-shoes?

Okay, so shag actually refers to "cloth having a velvet nap on one side", but don't let that stop you sniggering ;)

Comments

[latin-cat.livejournal.com]

...don't let that stop you sniggering.

Trust me, it didn't.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Is if you need any encouragement! :P

D'y'think early 18th century sailors put on their shag breeches when they went off on shore leave?

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

"Red flowered shag breeches" sounds very 1970s. A red background with a pattern of flowers designed by Marimekko. :D

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

They do sound very 1970's don't they?! I had to google Marimekko, that is quite possible one of the most gorgeous google image search returns I have ever seen! :D I recognise some of the patterns but I wouldn't have been able to put a name to them.

[elin-gregory.livejournal.com]

Red flowered shag breeches, the buttonholes stitched with gold thread.

Dear me, that adds a new horror to the press.

I think Kit can carry off a red waistcoat, don't you? I was going to reply to your kind reassurance on my blog - thank you very much for it, it is a big help - but decided to do it here because something had occurred to me.

I've seen several references to Golden Age pirate captains wearing red coats in early sources. Now this could be because red is a nice flashy colour. But I wondered if there was more significance to it than that. Nowadays if one referred to someone being dressed all in red white and blue we'd make the assumption that that person was being very patriotic. Possibly then, if high ranking naval officers wore red like Sir George Rooke in this portrait by Michael Dahl, might not Barti Ddu and his ilk worn the red to 'borrow' the authority? On the other hand there are other pictures showing naval officers of the period in brown, grey or blue so I might be talking through my cocked hat :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I think Kit could certainly carry off a red waistcoat, but I suspect someone may try to carry it off him ;)

might not Barti Ddu and his ilk worn the red to 'borrow' the authority?
Sounds highly likely to me! Later in the 18th century, John Paul Joned dressed his crew in blue so that they would be mistaken for naval officers.

I had another look in Dudley and came across this:

"From Wycherley's comedy, The Plain Dealer, written in 1677, it may be gathered that red breeches were as much the hallmark of the sailor as of the soldier."

There's a bit of the The Plain Dealer on google books:

"Marry come up you saucy familiar Jack! You think with us widows it is no more than up and ride. Gad forgive me! Now-a-days every idle young roaring hectoring companion with a pair of turned red breeches, and a broad back, thinks to carry away any widow of the best degree."

So I don't know about red jackets, but red breeches were certainly the sign of a bit of a rake!

[elin-gregory.livejournal.com]

Eeee, love it!!

I also love the quote on page 92:

"O the plague of interruption! worse to the author than the plague of critics!

I've never seen this play before. It looks a hoot. Thank you.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The plague of interruption?? *dies laughing*

I'd never come across this play either. The whole play is available from archive.org here. Think that could make an entertaining addition to my kindle!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_likimeya/]

shag-me-shoes

Well, that's a coincidence! The other day, when I was walking through the park, I wondered what you call them in English. XD I don't remember why. It must have been triggered by some aesthetically challenged woman or other. I didn't remember to look it up on the internet. Now I know!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Well how about that?! Never let it be said that this journal is anything but educational :P

I believe the equivalent expression across the pond is "fuck me pumps" but it doesn't have quite the same ring to it! ;)

[kittycallum.livejournal.com]

Funny, when I read 'red with gold embroidery' I instantly thought 'The Scarlet Letter'! But ... they're probably not adultery breeches ...

Quite a startling colour combination, all the same! :D

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Well now you come to mention it...adultery breeches....shore-leave breeches....same difference perhaps? ;P

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

"Red-flowered", I suppose, to go with all these flowery undies those navyboys liked to wear so much.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Flowery breeches and flowery undies? How extravagant!

[vespican.livejournal.com]

"Shag" doesn't have the same connotation in the US as it does in the UK and elsewhere. Got me to thinking, what do they think of us and our Shag Carpets, which were all the rage a couple of decades ago!
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

We had those carpets here too, they're referred to as "shag-pile carpets" which is even more suggestive! I suspect people just sniggered their way through the seventies and early eighties ;)

[vespican.livejournal.com]

All a matter of how you interpret it... oh just how much of your mind is on those sort of things.
Dave

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Shag carpets, skinned knees... My immediate thought is-- well it was the 1970s.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Your immediate thought was knees? You surprise me my dear! ;)

[vespican.livejournal.com]

Skinned knees... or rug burn on other parts of the anatomy.