#^ the half tucked half out shirt & half nerd half jock style as well

[yeonban]

I'm so normal I'm definitely not considering writing a body language meta for Nikolai based on the new Bones art

[cinemaocd]

Victorian undergarments: a guide for Terror fans

AKA the truth about men’s corsets, leather gear, garters, over the knee stockings, drop front versus front fly trousers and More Terror Shit Shirt Posting

My hot mess of a shirt post continues to get notes. I continue to get lovely asks and pms, so I’m going to bring you more shirt information as well as more info about other articles of historic clothing worn in the Terror. My hope is that this will be useful for fic writers and artists as well as giving fans a deep dive into one of my favorite obsessions: historical dress.

The style of shirt that Francis wears was an all purpose undergarment. It was almost always white, or unbleached linen (though cotton was used for shirts at that point in the 19th century). It was cut with a very full sleeve (up to twenty inches) to allow ease of movement and long tails which were tucked under the groin to form a protective layer between the body and trousers. The shirt was not a button down as we know it, but had a pullover V-neck with two buttons at the throat as on this extant example:

One of the things that interesting about this shirt was how little it changed over the years. This cut of shirt had a 150+ year reign. It was a practical design that provided a washable layer next to the body. The generous sleeve allowed for a variety of clothing to be worn with it. It had the downside of requiring a lot of fabric (more than 3 yards of linen for each shirt) and as such patterns could be a complex patchwork of sewn together squares that helped avoid waste.

By the 1840s men’s shirts were changing. The front was often decorated with pintucking, the fabric was lighter weight cotton, rather than linen, but the full sleeves and long tails were still in evidence.

Those would gradually be lost over the next decades as the popularity of knitted drawers, union suits and other types of underwear came into being and as sewing machines made mass production of shirts possible.

But obviously our Francis cares nothing for these modern shirts and wears his old favorite that he has owned forever, possibly made by a family member, as was common in the period especially for officers in the military. Mind you, it doesn’t really matter most of the time that his shirt is very old as it was never meant to be seen. One of the worst costume fantasies that has been perpetrated in so many period films is the gentleman walking around in his shirt. At least Andrew Davies Mr. Darcy had the good sense to be embarrassed to be caught in his shirt. Joe Wright’s Darcy actually goes a courtin half dressed...but I digress. We only see Crozier in his shirt sleeves after they’ve left the ship, have been hauling for a few days and during the mutiny. I like to think that Crozier realizes that wearing his old shirt will help the men identify with him more. 

If you were an officer in the military you would be provided with a steward or valet to assist in your dressing. This man would also help to keep your uniform clean and and in good repair. (Honestly one of the best relationships in all of fiction is the one between Captain Jack Aubrey and his steward, Killick, who lives in a state of constant paranoia about Aubrey’s uniforms.) An officer would have several shirts so that they could have a clean one at all times and they would probably keep a best one for dress. (Maybe Francis has a cotton shirt with pintucking, folded away in a trunk somewhere, guarded feverishly by Jopson) The sailors who had no access to regular laundry would have a few as well, though they might be made of cheaper, rougher cloth, with ticking or striped patterns on them, like the one Hickey wears during his trail.

Again, Francis appearing hauling alongside the men in his shirt is his way of signaling to them that he is one of them. Mr. Goodsir, also appears in his shirtsleeves after the mutiny, a sign that his civilized veneer is scraped away along with his outer uniform.

Drops and drawers

Well into the 19th century both men and women had no such thing as drawers, pants, underpants, knickers etc. as a rule. For men, the long shirt tails were tucked under the groin, front and back and created a little, er..nest for their equipage. For women, the shift, just a long shirt really, provided a layer of protection between menstrual blood and valuable gowns and stays, as well as protecting less washable layers from sweat and grime.

But for the men of the Terror, there was layer of knitted wool underwear, that may have been either two pieces or one suit, with buttons running the length of the body. There are very few examples of these garments, but we do know they existed thanks to the Maritime Museum saving Lord Nelson’s stuff.:

Interesting that this shirt has the long tails for tucking. But by the time of Franklin expedition, knitted long drawers would have been available as well. The full long underwear suit wasn’t patented until the 1860s in America (where it’s use by soldiers in the Civil War earned it the moniker “union suit.”) However that doesn’t mean some kind of full suit of long underwear wasn’t available in England at the time of the expedition. My guess is that Francis has a separate shirt, the top of which is visible during the crisis over Mr. Morfin, and woolen or cotton “drawers” which he mentions to Jopson on the morning after Morfin’s death like these from 1840s made by John Smedley:

Hickey is shown in his underwear after Irving’s murder and then after the mutiny he adopts it as a sort of uniform (complete with stolen boots and great coat) of the new regime. It’s such a wonderful little detail that this BASE creature is wearing only a BASE layer.

Garters, Stockings, Corsets and other Kinkwear from Military history

Men’s and women’s stocking differed very little in the 19th century. Over the knee stockings of embroidered silk would have been kept for dress, but every day socks of cotton and wool with embroidery near the top or “clocking” (because the pattern was often of a clock) were worn by all.

Lord Nelson’s stockings had a crown insignia instead of a clock, which I just think is neat. (His undershirt has the same insignia at the neck...whether it was Emma Hamilton or Lady Nelson doing this embroidery, we’ll leave to Terrence Rattigan to decide...)

Officers would have had dress socks that were held up by sock garters (elastic garters for men and women were patented in the 1820s.) Given that their shirt tails were cut to mid thigh and their socks were over the knee, it’s fairly plausible that they used a double ended garter which clipped at one end to the shirt tail and the other to the top of the stocking. If all of this is sounding like some of the racier James Fitzjames fanart that is not my fault. Blame history!

Speaking of which, did you know that men sometimes wore corsets to make their uniforms fit better?  This 1830s Royal Marines uniform at the Maritime Museum is specified to have required a corset for proper fit. Sadly the corset didn’t survive! (If anyone wants to draw Tozier, Pilkington or Hedges in a corset, I would very much like to see that.)

As if all of that weren’t kinky enough, there is this leather and rope jock strap, which was attached to a corset, also from the very naughty nautical museum in slutty, slutty Greenwich. The less said about the white crust on the jock strap the better.

Waistcoat Discourse

Well this will probably be a bit pedestrian after that section, but I think it’s worth talking about waistcoats as well. In the flashback scenes Francis wears a fancy silk waistcoat that has the same cut as the other wool one he wears.

Again this is Francis’ practical nature. Navy uniform patterns were sent out in 1843 with changes to the uniform, including a different waistcoat, so he’s having his man make the waistcoat off the same pattern, saving him money. An interesting footnote was that the Lieutenants uniform in 1843 had a bunch of additional gold braiding and there were many complaints to the admiralty about the cost of these additions. There was also a thriving second hand market in used uniform jackets.

Fitzjames has a white waistcoat cut from the same pattern.

Which is based off of the portrait of real life Fitzjames.

Wool flannel would have been the fabric of choice for arctic explorers. It’s a nice little detail, that The Real Mr. Hickey had a plaid flannel waistcoat in the flashback scene:

That striped shirt looks familiar! I wonder if the imposter Hickey took his clothes after he dabbed him?!

And finally: STOCKS

In the 18th and 19th centuries men went so far as to cover the collar of the shirt with a stock (think of it as a cumberbund for the neck) so that their collar wasn’t peaking out from their tie. It also helped to make for the appearance of a long, graceful neck. I mean scroll back up and check out the giraffe neck on historical JFJ. Stocks have generally fallen into the vast pit of forgotten fashion and it’s the rare historical costume nerd that even knows what they are, yet for almost 200 years they were considered essential kit for men. Officers in the military HAD to wear a stock as part of their uniform, and it was often uncomfortable (the base of the stock was made of leather, horsehair or WOOD) and covered with fabric. It buckled in the back, requiring a servant to help put it on. Here is a 1845 silk and leather stock from the Maritime Museum:

Though it isn’t exactly undergear, trouser fronts were in flux during this period. Here is the 1843 uniform with the fall front trouser opening. But in the world outside the navy, fly front trousers are starting to pop up around 1840ish.You are welcome to my JFJ has newfangled fly front trousers head canon...

[softgrungeprophet]

someone go through agent venom and every time flash is wearing a boring plain t-shirt edit it into a crop top or paste a vintage cartoon character onto it and also tuck it into his pants. also give him high waisted pants.

flash thompson

fashion icon

i have no idea what comics any of these pics are from so don’t ask, i’m pretty sure i saved half of them off of twitter

i think everyone’s seen this pic by now but it really is a classic. nothing like chugging orange juice in tight pink shorts and a tight.... white/blue/gray crop top while you tell your hot friend that he kinda sucks

also remember when peter used to wear sweaters constantly and push his hair back? i miss that. bring back sexy grandpa peter.

gumby t-shirt tucked into his mom jeans, extremely iconic, i love it

also i’m laughing at the punk dude.... his hair is nuts... i fucking love the way artists in the like, 80s and 90s drew punk and goth background characters cause they always look ridiculous. this guy looks like he stuck an ostrich’s wing on his head.

hideous. iconic. i can’t help but wonder if the original colors were maybe a little better coordinated... are his sweatpants tucked into his socks or is the white part just the top of his boots? what???? the colorist (recolor presumably) made peter’s hair the wrong color in the first panel? but also look at his fucking popped collar and baby mullet with the skinny jeans. what a bad boy. peter’s massive eyebrows almost make up for how much i don’t like this artist

oldschool flash. this is a sixteen or seventeen year old boy wearing a bright yellow sweater with his last initial emblazoned HUGE across his chest, over a black button-down... is this like the precursor of his letter jacket? and this is supposed to be the Cool Jock Kid and not a nerd. wow. i think i saw a version of this on google where the sweater was red? comics colors from before the late 90s are a nightmare because unless you can see the fucking ink from the scans it’s almost impossible to tell if this was the original color or not, cause sometimes the recolors are accurate, and sometimes they are completely different from the original. always down for redheaded flash though.

i’m choosing to ignore peter (no, he’s adorable)

if you haven’t seen this picture i don’t think you’ve ever been on the spider-man adjacent internet.

need i say anything?

i love every outfit on this page.

3 out of 4 of these characters are one mishap away from a nip slip and flash is gonna be the first

christ

i think this is from the 90s or something....? i really love it, i think it’s super cute. cartoon character: check. t-shirt tucked into mom jeans: check. rolled up sleeves??? check. i assume he’s wearing either converse or combat boots with this getup and i wouldn’t have it any other way tbh. well maybe nikes. the only thing that’s wrong with this is that flash’s flat ass was drawn by a coward.

but also this makes at least two examples of flash wearing high waisted jeans with a graphic t-shirt tucked into the waistband and honestly.... i love that... i’m gonna start only drawing flash in outfits like that....

WAIT I HAVE ONE MORE I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT

look at this fucking shirt. this is a fucking hoodie i guarantee it. flash took a sweatshirt and a pair of scissors and cut off the entire hood and the sleeves himself and paired it with a necklace and that hair. i think he’s wearing it with black sweatpants but it’s not worth showing cause it’s like a tiny picture in the background.

this is the gayest outfit i’ve ever seen (okay it’s not even the gayest outfit in this post but it’s still pretty gay) this is like one of those outfits you see in those gay mags about different gay street fashions and this is what you get on the spread about jocks. the only thing that would make this gayer would be if that necklace had a cock ring on it but flash, as we know, is buried three closets deep reading homoerotic poetry about greek statuary and meticulously styling his hair and eyebrows in the mirror while he listens to lionel ritchie.

this ended up longer than i intended but man i love all these outfits

i will say there are a FEW outfits in newer comics that are okay, mostly off the top of my head i think of the teal button-down and green slacks he wore to work in bunn’s run with the art by shalvey, and then.... a few issues later pepe larraz i think gave him that orange popped-collar like.... north face jacket.... that was alright... more interesting than cargo shorts or army t-shirts..... nothing lives up to tiny spider-man nip slip tank top though.....