I have a quote/note on my desktop from the Fashion in Penury book. It starts by saying that contemporary sources often mention that the social signifiers that indicate status weren’t always obvious. —it was exceedingly troubling to see ‘ordinary people in very glossy coats’ who were actually socially significant and to see distinguished-looking men who…

Here’s an idea to develop: “Class differentiation, one of the primary functions served by dress, was not always clear. A confusion about dress and its signals commenced that continued throughout the nineteenth century.” (Fashioned From Penury: dress as cultural practice in colonial Australia, Margaret Maynard.) I guess it’s easy if you’re writing historical fiction the…