Wedding stock

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is an elegant example of a stock, the standard neckwear for men in the early 19th century, to be worn over the high stand collar of the shirt. The styles of the 1830s were prescribed by fashionable dandies, such as Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay (1801-1852), a French emigrant who had relocated to England in 1829, and influenced artists and writers in wit and dress. The crisp and complete stock with a tailored bow was essential in fashionable formal dress.

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