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Plenty of time periods evoke groans of regret when it comes to fashion, from the bullet bras of the 1950s to the Hammer pants of the 1990s. However, the towering wigs and frilly outfits of the Macaroni style of the 1760s and 1770s led to so many "what were they thinking" moments, entire industries developed to make fun of its followers. More than 200 years later, Macaronis are still the butt of fashion jokes.
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While the fashion term macaroni may not be recognizable to most people today
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you've probably heard of it if you've ever sung Yankee Doodle. Many assume the odd lyric, stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni
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is referring to pasta. But the song actually refers to this strange old trend
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The rich who embraced the macaroni trend used fashion to show off their wealth
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in an attempt to retain their status. Unfortunately for them, society's views about money and social status limited the trend's lifespan
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And it faded out after continued ridicule. As a result, macaroni fashion is remembered today primarily as a joke
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You look like a badger. Today, we're going to take a look at why macaroni fashion was so ridiculous we still make fun of it centuries later
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Rich people living to show off their wealthy lifestyle goes back to the dawn of human civilization
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And the Macaronis embraced this custom. And through their sense of fashion and behavior, they attempted to craft an image that would display their societal value
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For members of the lower class, however, the image the Macaronis created was an unattainable goal
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as they simply couldn't afford to pull off the look. Macaronis knew this, and instead of being classy about it
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they took every opportunity to dunk their carefully curated images in the faces of the poor
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by making their outfits as elaborate as possible. Their giant wigs and fancy clothing established them as an exclusive group
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while reminding the impoverished that they would never be able to know such luxury or elite status
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Europeans had used wigs to cover baldness and deter lice since the 16th century
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but macaroni followers exaggerated those wigs to ridiculous heights. Some men even wore tiny hats on top of their giant wigs
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and many styles featured curls or pigtails flowing down the sides or back
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Macaroni wigs were often compared to the wigs worn by women, which were decorated with so much ornamentation, people joked the wearers would have to sit on the floor in order to fit inside their carriages
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Others mocked the macaroni wigs through comic illustrations that depicted towering hairdos
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which sometimes needed help to be held upright. Because these wigs were obviously more ornamental than practical
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they gave their wearers an air of arrogance. You'd think that would be a bad thing
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but the wealthy embraced it when comparing themselves to the lower classes
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Just rich jerks being rich jerks. Macaroni adopters needed to make a statement wherever they went, and to do that, they typically
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wore striped stockings, tight-fitting pants, and long-tailed coats that hugged the body
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They embraced fancy expensive materials like lace and silk and they experimented with the use of bright colors which wasn really a thing at the time These men also used excessive powder on their faces
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and carried fancy walking sticks. Not because they needed any help walking
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it was because they thought it looked pretty sweet. On their feet, the men wore stylish yet
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impractical footwear known as winkle picker shoes. Decorated with buckles and shaped to
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have pointed toes, these shoes were considered stylish, despite the fact they made walking pretty difficult
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Maybe they did need that walking stick. While many people of the era thought the look was just plain silly
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the style was intended to show off the wearer's embrace of decadence and his willingness and resources to adopt artificiality for the sake of fashion
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Oh, what fashionable foot bindings. Macaroni culture wasn't just a fashion style
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It was a way of life. Macaronis had money and enjoyed showing it off by spending much of their
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time in fashionable locations and partaking in fashionable activities. How fashionable. Card games and gambling became popular, especially when the activities took place in the most popular
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hotspots around town. For example, the masquerade balls held at London's Pantheon were a popular
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gathering spot for macaronis, since they could mingle with the other members of English High
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Society, who also attended the lavish events. Because they had money and wanted to use it as
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proof of their elitism, macaronis deliberately led carefree lives that mirrored their highfalutin
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fashion sense. While macaroni fashion may have begun as a way for the elite to visually distinguish
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themselves from the lower classes, the trend didn't remain limited to the upper class for long
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However, as the style spread to other classes, people increasingly frowned upon it. Eventually
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like most trends that celebrate uniqueness but then become adopted by the masses
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the macaroni fad got played out. Before its demise, however, a wide variety of people had
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already adopted the trend. This led to subsections of the style in virtually every class and
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profession throughout Europe. Macaroni dancing masters emerged, as did macaroni parsons, turf macaronis, and grub street macaronis, which sounds like a Zydeco cover band. The variety of
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macaroni followers actually sped up the trend's demise, since the variety of macaronis in Europe
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became more comical than their outfits. Like with modern fads and trends, it didn't take long for
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the media to begin making references to macaronis, and an entire industry of publications devoted
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themselves to covering the trend. Some of these magazines were Macaroni Jester, Pantheon of Wit
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Savoir Viv, theatrical magazine, and of course, our favorite, monthly intelligence of the fashions and diversions Unfortunately for the Macaronis many of these publications use their platform like modern late night hosts and just made fun of the trend Writers created sarcastic jokes and artists drew pictures
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that mocked the Macaronis. Although anti-macaroni publications didn't last long and rarely made it past one issue
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articles making fun of Macaronis also appeared in established magazines, some of which included stories about lady friends
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of Macaronis, any of whom could be labeled a Macaroness. Satire has always been good business for creatives
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and entire industries blossomed to make fun of macaronis. Cartoonists and caricature artists jumped at the opportunity
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especially given that the macaroni style provided visuals ripe for comical exaggeration
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In fact, not only did cartoons insulting the macaronis appear in magazines and newspapers
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but they became available for anyone to buy as a print. Cartoonists like Mary Darley even made a career
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out of ridiculing the macaronis. Darley actually created so many popular anti-macaroni images
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people began calling her London shop the Macaroni Print Shop. It's actually believed macaroni caricatures
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were the first cartoons to comment on society to such a wide audience
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There was, of course, no photography at the time. So these caricatures became the go-to reference
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of the macaroni trend, despite their great exaggeration. Some historians have even suggested
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that the fashion wasn't as strange as the cartoon show. But since there aren't really any other visual references
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of the trend, the cartoon images are what became fixed in people's minds
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The macaroni trend was mostly mocked because it was associated with the rich
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and specifically, the pompous rich. However, it also increasingly conflicted with the changing ideas of masculinity
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Most men had begun embracing more modest styles, free of extravagant decoration
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Indeed, the towering wigs and fancy clothing could hardly be more different than the plainly colored
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simple fabrics most men of the period wore. However, the macaronis of the 1770s embraced the idea of wearing more feminine clothing
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and the trend became even more lavishly decorated and effeminate. Whether people associated the style with homosexuality is now debated by historians
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but many believe the trend challenged gender norms in fashion. So where did it all start
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Well, beginning in the 17th century, young men embarked on trips across Europe in order
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to sample the cultures of other countries. These trips came to be known as Grand Tours
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and could last anywhere from a few months to a few years. Members of the upper class were obviously more likely to take these tours
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since they could afford the travel expenses and the servants to carry their belongings
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The grand tour experience was usually undertaken by men, but women who had chaperones sometimes traveled in a similar manner
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Learning about and experiencing the new cultures exposed the travelers to fashion
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music food and art from other countries Like many people throughout history some young men liked what they saw enough to copy it especially the fashions they witnessed in Italy and France
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It was these men and their love of foreign fashions who would sow the seeds of what eventually became macaroni
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Not that macaroni grows from seed, but you know what I mean. Towards the end of the 1770s, people's values began to change
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and they embraced hard work over inheriting their wealth. Clothing also changed as people turned to practical fabrics
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like wool and less flashy colors. This made the macaronis stand out even more
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as they refused to let go of their fancy pants and wigs. They insisted on using materials like silk and lace
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in their wardrobe, both for their association with the upper class and the fact the materials
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had to be imported. Not only did these fabrics use materials from other countries, such as silk from China
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but they were also woven into unusual fabric in foreign countries like Italy and France
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These imported fabrics gave the macaronis the unique appearance they wanted, since only the elite had access to them, as well as enough money to purchase them
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According to the famous rhyme, Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni
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The words can be confusing, because most people, like me, never could understand how a feather
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could look like pasta. But to the enlightened, as you are now, we can see this actually refers to the macaroni fashion trend
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The rhyme originated with the British, who wrote it as a ridicule of Americans
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whom they saw as simpletons that believed they could just stick a feather in their hats
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and pass themselves off as macaronis. However, American revolutionary soldiers decided to embrace the put-down and redefine its meaning
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eventually elevating it to an anthem meant to inspire patriotism. I'm rubber, and you're glue
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This worked so well, American children still learn Yankee Doodle to this very day
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Take that. England. The macaroni is a tasty pasta versus the macaroni is a tasteless fashion
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Use of the word macaroni is confusing. What gives? Well, back in the 1700s, macaroni was not the food item now commonly associated with poor college students
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Rather, it was a pasta exclusive to Italy and little known outside of the country
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During their grand tours, young men traveling through Italy experienced the dish and enjoyed it so greatly, they brought it back home with them
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The name became associated with the style sometime in the 1760s, since the young men who adopted the dress and lifestyle were also fans of the pasta and thought it was the epitome of good taste
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In 1772, Town & Country magazine explained the association with macaroni, writing
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Italians consider this as the summum bonum of all good eating so they figuratively call everything they think elegant and uncommon macaroni
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There you go. Now you know. And I'm hungry
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