Breeches

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leather breeches were popular with sports-minded English gentlemen for hunting and riding. They were usually made in tan or yellow leather with trouser legs long enough to meet the tops of the boots. Gentlemen bought their breeches from special breeches-makers, who, because of the nature of the material they worked in, organized a separate business. The fashion for English leather breeches spread to the Continent during the anglomania of the 1770s and 1780s. European dandies appreciated the tight fit of these breeches while finding them supple enough to wear while riding.

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