Samuel
Pepys: diarist, administrator … budding fashionista
New
analysis of 17th-century diarist’s French fashion engravings shows he was not
only a shrewd political operator but had a keen eye for new trends
Nicola Davis
Science correspondent
Mon 22 Jul
2024 00.01 BST
He may be
best known for his juicy diary, administrative prowess and wandering eye – but
new research has highlighted a different side of Samuel Pepys: that of a
budding fashionista.
A historian
from Cambridge University has conducted a fresh analysis of the diarist’s
collection of French fashion engravings, arguing they not only show Pepys was
keeping up with the scholarly and gentlemanly trend of collecting prints, but
reflect a long-term interest in the latest styles of dress, and the link
between clothes and social status.
“It
demonstrates that Pepys had – to put it in very colloquial terms– a finger in a
lot of pies,” said Marlo Avidon, whose study has been published in the journal
The Seventeenth Century. “[He] was very concerned with appearing a certain way
and cultivating this gentlemanly reputation – both in an intellectual capacity
but simultaneously as a member of fashionable society.”
But Avidon
added while these concerns have previously been considered separately, the
prints show they are not mutually exclusive.
Born in
London in 1633, Pepys was the son of a tailor and a washerwoman, who became an
MP, secretary to the Admiralty, and president of the Royal Society.
But he is
perhaps most famous for the diary he kept for almost a decade during the 1660s.
As well as offering a first-hand account of a number of momentous events such
as the plague and Great Fire of London – during which he buried his wine and
parmesan cheese in the garden for safekeeping – it provides fascinating
insights into more mundane aspects of daily life.
After
Pepys’s death, his diary and other papers were bequeathed to his alma mater,
Magdalene College, Cambridge. Among them were ballads referencing clothing, and
two volumes that contained his collection of French fashion illustrations.
Printed between 1670 and 1696 these depicted the latest styles, as modelled by
the French elite.
While not
the first time the prints have been examined, Avidon said her work considers
them alongside Pepys’s diary to demonstrate that throughout his life he had a
very keen interest in clothing – his own, and that of the people around him.
“Even when
he stopped writing the diary in 1669, what these prints help us see is that
that interest in clothing didn’t necessarily go away, it just manifested in
another form,” she said.
The diary
reveals Pepys could be controlling and overbearing regarding the attire of his
wife, Elisabeth, while reflections on his own wardrobe are also carefully
noted.
Avidon cites
one entry of 1663, in which Pepys records a colleague approving of some of his
new clothes – including a velvet cloak. As a result Pepys writes he is
“resolved to go a little handsomer than I have hitherto”.
But not all
of his clothes struck the right chord. In 1669 Pepys shelved his new summer
suit “because it was too fine with the gold lace at the hands, that I was
afeared to be seen in it”. When he did wear it out and about, a colleague
criticised the cuffs as being too fancy for Pepys’s position. Pepys
subsequently resolved to have the trim removed.
Yet, perhaps
tellingly, he later bought a print depicting an elite Frenchman bedecked in
similar lace cuffs, with ruffles and ribbons.
Avidon said
Pepys’s diary also reveals his eye for new trends, be it the introduction of
periwigs or the emergence of the vest – a precursor to the three-piece suit.
The prints
not only tie into these interests, Avidon suggested, but provide a lens through
which to consider wider social behaviour and cultural attitudes towards French
fashion in the late 17th century – including economic concerns regarding
textile imports, and moral worries arising from the association of French
fashion with vanity and excess.
Yet while
Pepys criticised Frenchified English fops in his diary – describing one as “an
absolute Monsieur” – he also seems to have admired the styles.
The prints
may even provide a link to Pepys’s later life, with Avidon suggesting the
“unsteady, untrained hand” that coloured them could have been that of Mary
Skinner, who became Pepys’s housekeeper and mistress after Elisabeth died.
Robert
Blyth, senior curator of maritime history at the Royal Museums Greenwich, said
Pepys had a fascination about the world around him and a desire to be at the
forefront of knowledge.
“It doesn’t
surprise me that this applies to fashion prints as well,” Blyth said,
describing Pepys as “a man of the now”.
Blyth noted
Pepys would not only have seen the latest trends on the streets, but had access
to the court of King Charles II where he would have seen high-end fashions.
“During the
diary, he is a young man. He’s a man about town,” Blyth said. “So he’s
continuing this interest in fashion into his middle age.”
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