20/10/2024
Quite often when see period illustrations, engravings as well as original items of uniform, they conflict with the perception of how these garments look by re-enactment group.
So lets take a habit and veste: fairly iniquitous items, but very common in re-enactment. A habit has a specific cut and appearance, based on the THEN period fashion, so the sleeve is set further in than a modern tailored blazer or jacket - yet these modern sleeves are very common in re-enactment. The revers (lapels) at least in the Garde Imperiale, come to just above the bend of the elbow. By the end of the Empire, they are fairly broad, and deeper cut at the centre front than in 1805. The veste (waistcoat_ judging by again iconography, and handling extant items (both in the Musee de l'Armee, private collections, and the Brussels Army Museum) are short. The button stand is often 30cm/12nches or less, and the bottom edge is often 2 or 3cm (an inch) longer than the revers. The veste is not fitted like a modern waistcoat: it sits very high up and does not embrace the hips. In fact it sits above the natural waist. The culottes (breeches) are likewise cut to compensate for the high waisted veste. We see this in contemporary military and civillian fashion.
Yet in re-enactment, for the middle to later Empire representations, we see soldiers and officers alike whose uniforms are fashioned and tailored to the modern idea of fit. If we are to replicate the past, it is beholden of us to copy the way in which items were made, pay attention to the materials used, and above all else, how they were tailored.
We see the period fit of garments from the famous manaquin of Grenadier Simplet in the Musee de l'Armee. The ensemble is what he was issued when he was discharged in September 1809. The next time you are at the museum, look and look again at the proportions of his uniform, where the veste ends in relation to the bend in the elbow. It does not matter if a garment is hand sewn if its proportion, shape and style is not of the period.
