Suit

Status

Not on view

Label Text

During the presidency, George Washington maintained a wardrobe with a variety of suits for different occasions, including several brown suits. This brown broadcloth suit owned by Washington, with its double-breasted coat, was likely worn by him for informal occassions.

Date1790-1800

Geography Made - IrelandMade - United States

Medium/TechniqueWool, linen, cotton-linen

DimensionsOverall (Coat): 46 5/8 in. × 41 in. (118.43 cm × 104.14 cm) Overall (Breeches): 27 1/2 in. × 22 in. (69.85 cm × 55.88 cm)

Credit LineGift of John Murray Forbes, with appreciation to William D. McGregor, 1877

Object numberW-574/A-B

DescriptionBrown broadcloth suit composed of a double-breasted coat and breeches. The double-breasted coat has cut-across fronts and a very high, turn-down collar, lined with a partial lining of self fabric. The buttonholes are on both sides to button over either direction.

The breeches match the coat fabric and feature a fall front with two pockets on either side, buttoned at the upper hip, one welt pocket set into waistband, and one long narrow hip pocket on right side, fastened with a vertical buttoned welt. There are knee bands for buckles, with the placket buttoning with 5 small buttons. Four cloth-covered suspender buttons, with very little wear, are present. There is a cotton waistband lining and "watch" pocket, a coarse linen waistband inner lining, and linen pockets.
Published ReferencesLinzy A. Brekke, "Fashioning America: Clothing, Consumerism, and the Politics of Appearance in the Early Republic" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2007), 23-36.

Linzy A. Brekke, " 'To Make a Figure': Clothing and the Politics of Male Identity in Eighteenth-Century America," in Gender, Taste, and Material Culture in Britain and North America 1700-1830, ed. by John Styles and Amanda Vickery (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 2006), 225-246.

Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 230-231.

Kate R. Forbes Witchen, "Washington's Suit of Clothes," The American Historical Register and Monthly Gazette of the Patriotic-Hereditary Societies of the United States of America, ed. Charles H. Browning, vol. III (Sept. 1895-Feb. 1896): 280-281.

MarkingsStamped on PL sleeve lining, on reverse of linen, in an oval frame: "RF [illegible] AC [illegible] BROOK ARMAGH" Stamped in red, perpendicular to above, just under fold at edge of cuff slit: "25" and an arrow pointed upward.

Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.