Eighteen-Forties Friday: A Wiener Scene
First of all, I didn't make up the title of this print (which you can clearly see); and secondly, what else does one call a scene taking place in Wien, the beautiful city of Vienna?
Two ridiculous 1840s men arguing about who is wearing the latest fashions: very on-brand for this blog. Both of them have loudly striped trousers (staring trousers as Albert Smith would say), scarf neckties, and brown overcoats. Chesterfields, Taglionis, Codringtons, Top Frocks, Paletots, English Wraps, who even knows! Even the same named style of coat could have many different forms.
The tall gentleman with his hat tapering to a narrow crown has a style of hat like what 1830's The Whole Art of Dress! calls "The Turf," and I have only noticed this style in 1830s fashion plates (more examples: one, two, three). Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century also describes the fashionable man's top hat of the 1840s as having "the crown tending to curve out very slightly towards the top but not as markedly as in the 1820's."
So in other words, Mr. Short on the left is wearing the latest fashions, not Mr. Tall. The short man's huge coat buttons are also the trendy look mocked by The Natural History of the Gent (published 1847, one year after this print).
Women's dress is not my forte so I don't really know what to make of the huge birthday cake standing between the two men, but my best guess is that she might be wearing a burnous?














