Power dressing: clothing and masculinity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

The history of dress tells us a great deal about society. In particular, this article will focus on masculinity in order to shed light on power relations in society and politics, at a time in history when men’s clothing styles were undergoing big changes. Why did gentlemen’s clothes shift from the colourful flamboyance of the Georgian period, to the monochrome seriousness of the Victorians, and what implications did this have?