1889’s Fashionable Carriages and More

The Brougham Carriage... Beautiful, but sadly out of fashion in this color by 1889 — The people who ride in chaises, and who have plenty of money to keep the right sort of trap, have become conscious that the red and black, green and gold and black and yellow that have formerly been the colors liked for carriages are superannuated, and must give way to a blue that is not “deeply, darkly beautiful,” but very decidedly light. 

 — Public Domain photo, source Wikipedia 

Gentility’s Carriage

The people who ride in chaises, and who have plenty of money to keep the right sort of trap, have become conscious that the red and black, green and gold and black and yellow that have formerly been the colors liked for carriages are superannuated, and must give way to a blue that is not “deeply, darkly beautiful,” but very decidedly light. That the silver mountings are no longer correct, and that wherever a piece of metal is put, it must be brass. 

The fashionable brougham (never make a mistake and pronounce it any thing else but as if it were spelled “broom”) looks very much like an idealized sedan chair. The great glass window that used to be in front, as well as the somewhat large ones at the sides, have been succeeded by very small ones, and the brougham itself is much higher than before, thus permitting my lady to drive in absolute seclusion, for, once she leans back, no inquisitive passerby can see who the occupant is. 

The satin-lined coach of our grandfathers is decidedly bad form, and nothing but leather obtains and makes the inside of a traveling residence look like a bonbonniere. The handsomest trap of the day—it belongs to the Baroness Blanc—is of the favorite blue shade, the received shape, lined with leather, and having daintily placed in it a box for the hand-glass, an ebony case for visiting cards, a crystal clock so that one may time just how long one may stay even at the most fascinating tea, while the horses are a very light chestnut, closely clipped and kept in wondrous order. 

The harness is brass mounted and has brass chains, but they are pulled so tight they do not do that most vulgar of all things jangle. The flank covers are of leather, with the monogram and a crest in brass upon them, while the coachman and footman have blue liveries with brass buttons showing similar decoration. The etiquette of liveries is most carefully considered, and a smart tailor has told me the latest, which is worn, by the by, on this blue brougham. 

The men will wear their breeches, white tops and white gloves; the top coats, of course, hide the rest of their get-up, so that it is necessary for them to be very erect; they are double-breasted, have velvet cuffs, and the footman’s coat is not only much longer than that worn by the coachman, but it has no pocket-flaps, which are omitted to make him look taller. Eighteen buttons are required to each coat, sixteen being down the front and two at the back. 

Only on very cold days are the furs permissible, but then they should be of black bearskin, the capes having very high collars, while the rug must be sufficiently large to cover the men very well. A skilled footman can manage the furs to perfection, and does not need to make the people who are driving feel that a household is being turned upside down every time he opens the door and arrange for them to get out. The folly of cockades on servants’ hats stamps itself as the result not only of folly, but of ignorance; the cockade is permitted to those holding commissions in the Army and Navy, to Ministers of State, and, of course, to the President; but on anybody else’s turnout it suggests ignorance and pretense combined. 

A big single horse may he driven in a brougham, but my lady will insist upon having two men on the box, and after all one can not blame her for this, as pleasing recollections of watches and purses stolen from carriages when no footmen were about has made either their existence a necessity, or the great truth that woman is always careless needs to be told a few more times every day. — St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1889

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