Shirt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man's shirt is inscribed for practical reasons. The shirtmaker's client was Samuel Griffin; the shirt was made in May 1880. Both are identified in script at the right side vent, just next to the hand. This writing (normally invisible as this lower portion would be tucked into trousers) constitutes a record-keeping of the wardrobe, assuring ownership, but also registering the shirt's duration. The "6" probably notes that it was Griffin's sixth shirt of May 1880, part of a large order. The thrifty, Thoreauvian accounting, even for a luxurious shirt, suggests the American asperity about clothing.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art