During this period, the fit of a man's clothes became all consuming. The tails of dress-coats were now cut separately and then sewn to the body of the coat, allowing a tighter and more fluid fit to the body. Both the hips and chest were padded to exaggerate the figure, and with the sloping shoulders of the coat, produced an almost feminine-like figure. Coat collars were rolled high across the neckback, and the sleeves were usually long, leg-of-mutton in design. The sleeves were often times fastened by buttons with a small flare of sleeve left over the hand. Buttons on the coat front were usually double-rowed, but were rarely worn fastened. Trousers ended well above the ankles or were left long to strap underneath the boots (as in this case).

"If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men’s failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal’s natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?"

~ William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863), British author.