A market trait of Washington’s character was his particularity about his clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a good deal of a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never quite left him.  When he was about sixteen years old he wrote in his journal, “Memorandum to have my Coat made by the following Directions to be made a Frock with a Lapel Breast the Lapel to Contain on each side six Button Holes and to be about 5 or 6 Inches wide all the way equal and to turn as the Breast on the Coat does to have it made very long Waisted and in Length to come down to or below the bent of the knee the Waist from the armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or Longer than from thence to the Bottom not to have more than one fold in the Skirt and the top to be made just to turn in and three Button Holes the Lapel at the top to turn as the Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come Parallel with the Button Holes the Last Button hole in the Breast to be right opposite to the Button on the Hip.”

In 1754 he bought “a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver Trimmings,” “a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac’d,” and a quantity of “silver lace for a Hatt,” and from another source it is learned that at this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts.  A little later he ordered from London “As much of the best superfine blue Cotton Velvet as will make a Coat, Waistcoat and Breeches for a Tall Man, with a fine silk button to suit it, and all other necessary trimmings and linings, together with garters for the Breeches,” and other orders at different times were for “6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes,” “A riding waistcoat of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace,” “2 prs. of fashionable mix’d or marble Color’d Silk Hose,” “1 piece of finest and fashionable Stock Tape,” “1 Suit of the finest Cloth & fashionable colour,” “a New Market Great Coat with a loose hood to it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth, with straps before according to the present taste,” “3 gold and scarlet sword-knots, 3 silver and blue do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat.”

As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the fashion.  In 1755 he wrote his brother, “as wearing boots is quite the mode, and mine are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to procure me a pair that is good and neat.”  “Whatever goods you may send me,” he wrote his London agent, “let them be fashionable, neat and good of their several kinds.”  It was a great trial to him that his clothes did not fit him.  “I should have enclosed you my measure,” he wrote to London, “but in a general way they are so badly taken here, that I am convinced that it would be of very little service.”  “I have hitherto had my clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street,” he wrote his English factor.  “But whether it be the fault of the tailor, or the measure sent, I can’t say, but, certain it is, my clothes have never fitted me well.”