CHAPTER V. The Evolution of Coats and Waistcoats

THE EVOLUTION OF COATS AND WAISTCOATS

This day the King began to put on his vest; and I did see several persons of the House of Lords and Commons too, great courtiers who are in it, being a long cassock close to the body, of long cloth, pinked with white silk under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with white ribbon like a pigeon’s leg; and upon the whole I wish the King may keep it, for it is a very fine and handsome garment.

—“Diary,” SAMUEL PEPYS, October 8, 1666.

Fashion then was counted a disease and horses died of it.

—“The Gulls Hornbook,” ANDREW DEKKER, 1609.