Journal des Dames et des Modes, Paris, January 10, 1802.
“Habit à Revers Boutonnés. Col depassant la Cravate.”
This is the dress of a very young man obviously influenced by the Incroyables, the punks of their day, known for eccentricity in fashion, who emerged after the Reign of Terror in France. Everything about their style was exaggerated, often outlandish, and incredible, or incroyable.
His dark blue coat is said to have buttoned lapels (Habit à Revers Boutonnés), though it looks more like a double-breasted coat without lapels. His shirt collar is set ridiculously high, almost covering his ears, and the cravat swaddles his throat in goiters of cloth, all in keeping with the Incroyables style that became popular in the late 1790s.
He wears breeches, white stockings, and pumps, all of which are appropriate for evening wear, and yet he carries a rustic walking stick.
The Incroyables were the first to wear black top hats. Though the one this young man holds is not as high-crowned as some, it is a type seen in prints of Incroyables.
The haircut definitely suggests the French punks of the 1790s. The long hair hanging in front of the ears was a style known as “dog ears.” But the crown of his head is cropped quite short.
