18th Century Cravats

This form of men’s neckwear consisting of a length of white fabric, generally linen, knotted around the neck. Several were decorated with lace; in many cases, the examples linked below are just the lace end panels from cravats.

The lace cravat is a bit of a holdover from late 17th century fashion. The Steinkirk cravat, fashionable around 1690-1730, was a longer cravat with simpler decoration (such as fringe), knotted loosely around the neck, with the long end pulled through a buttonhole on the waistcoat or coat.

Cravats were becoming unfashionable by the middle of the 18th century, replaced by the stock, as noted in a Laurence Whyte poem published in 1740:

It has some aesthetic similarities to simpler 18th century handkerchiefs worn around the neck (sometimes in white linen, though patterned fabrics were also seen, especially for the working class). The lace texture has some visual echoes in the fine ruffles on later men’s shirts.

Met 2009.300.3413, a linen needle lace cravat end, France, fourth quarter of the 17th century

V&A T.158-1992, muslin, with needle lace ends, Italy, 1690s

LACMA AC1993.202.1, fragment of a man's cravat, Venetian-type needle lace made in France or Italy in the late 17th century

Met 30.135.143, linen needle lace (point de France) cravat end, France, late 17th century

Met 09.68.158, needle lace cravat end, France, late 17th century

Met 09.68.159, needle lace cravat end, France, late 17th century

Met 34.143.1, needle lace cravat, Italy, late 17th century

V&A 796-1890, a needle lace cravat end, France, c. 1700

Met 06.664a/06.664b, pair of cravat ends, bobbin lace, Flanders, c. 1700

Met 2009.300.3467, a bobbin lace cravat end, Flanders, early 18th century

Met 09.68.200, bobbin lace cravat end, Milan, early 18th century

Met 09.68.210, bobbin lace cravat end, Flanders, early 18th century

Met 34.119.2/34.119.3, pair of bobbin lace cravat ends, early 18th century

Met 19.79.2, needle lace cravat, France, 18th century

Met 35.80.46, needle lace cravat, France, 18th century

Met 34.43.3/34.143.4, pair of bobbin lace cravats, France, 18th century

Philadelphia Museum of Art 1990-1-2, a cravat end in Brussels bobbin lace with “many allusions to Louis XIV and his military victories,” c. 1700-1715

MAK T 3708/1884, linen bobbin lace, Brussels, first quarter of the 18th century

V&A 154-1893, a bobbin lace cravat end, Brussels, 1720s

Met 2009.300.3500, a lace cravat end, Flanders, 1720-1740

Met 2009.300.6235, linen, Belgium, 2nd quarter of the 18th century

Cooper-Hewitt 1962-50-17, cravat end in bobbin lace with Minerva in a tulip garden, mid-18th century

Met 26.283, cravat end or rabat made in Flanders in the mid-18th century in bobbin lace (point d'Angleterre)

Met 48.41.1, cravat end in bobbin lace, Flanders, mid-18th century

LACMA M.63.15.3, linen lace, France, c. 1795

Portraits of men wearing cravats

(This section is in draft mode. I’m not sure if I want to deal with analyzing exactly which neckwear aligns with which trend. Here are some examples; they’ll help you understand who was wearing cravats, and how they were styled.)

Portrait of a young man, c. 1685

Georg August Samuel von Nassau-Idstein, c. 1690

William III in Garter Robes by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c. 1695-1700

Portrait of a man by Michael Dahl, c. 1700

Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia-Carignano

Samuel Jenner by Johannes Dünz, 1704

Sir Thomas Hopsonn by Michael Dahl, c. 1705-1708

Fernando de Alencastre Noroña y Silva by Juan Rodríguez Juárez, c. 1710-1716

Charles Townsend, c. 1715-1720

Isaac Newton by Charles Jervas, 1717