Dressing the Body of the Poet

Walt Whitman was one of the most photographed American authors of the nineteenth century, and so often sat to have his portrait taken that upon rediscovering images of himself he had forgotten about, remarked, “I meet new Walt Whitmans every day. There are a dozen of me afloat…” The more than one hundred surviving images of Whitman taken throughout his life not only provide a record of the author’s changing physical characteristics, but also constitute a rich record of the clothing he wore. Whitman’s unique sartorial choices are represented in these photographs, from his “sauce-pan” hat and open shirt collar to his wide “bloomer” pants. Whitman often wrote about his clothing in letters to friends and family, and kept his mother in particular informed of the condition of his clothes and told her of new garments he purchased.

Many of Whitman’s acquaintances commented on his unique appearance which in many ways departed from the accepted image of a fashionable nineteenth-century gentleman. Among these comments is a particularly descriptive note written by Bronson Alcott upon visiting Whitman at his home in Brooklyn:

Broad-shouldered, rouge-fleshed, Bacchus-browed, bearded like a satyr, and rank, he wears his man-Bloomer in defiance of everybody, having these as everything else after his own fashion, and for example to all men hereafter. Red flannel undershirt, open-breasted, exposing his brawny neck; striped calico jacket over this, the collar Byroneal, with coarse cloth overalls buttoned to it; cowhide boots; a heavy round-about, with huge outside pockets and buttons to match; and a slouched hat, for house and street alike. Eyes gray, un-imaginative, cautious yet sagacious; his voice deep, sharp, tender sometimes and almost melting…
– Bronson Alcott, 1856

The photographs below were taken in New York between 1848 and 1878 and present Whitman’s easily recognizable image. Upon closer inspection, and when paired with Whitman’s writing about his clothing, these images can provide useful details that help to illuminate how the poet wished to present himself.

Click on Whitman’s garments and accessories below to explore!

Walt clothes

sack coat museum

Fig. 1:
Photograph of Walt Whitman in Brooklyn by G. Frank Pearsall, September 1872. Gay Wilson Allen.

One of the most identifiable aspects of Whitman’s clothing is his often open collar and necktie. Although for formal occasions the fashion was for stiff standing collars (sometimes in the form of fake collars attached to everyday shirts), Whitman was consistently photographed wearing his shirt collars open and loose in a style closer to that of a working man. Nineteenth-century men’s shirts were generally pulled on over the head as buttons at the neck did not yet extend the full length of the garment. In 1873, Whitman gives written instructions for wearing shirts he purchased for his friend Peter Doyle: The blue shirt (did I write?) is to wear over, loose—it is made large for that purpose—I like the looks of them, the blue shirt collar turned down low with a nice black silk neck handkerchief, tied loose—over a clean white shirt without necktie—I think they are very becoming to young working-men…” These instructions probably would have resulted in a similar look to this 1872 photograph (Fig. 1).

sack coat museum

Fig. 1:
Men's sack suit, c. 1885-1900. McCord Museum, Montreal, QC.

Most of the photographs of Whitman after 1855 show him wearing a sack coat, which was the most popular style of outerwear for men in the later half of the century. Whitman wrote in a letter to his mother in 1867 that he was getting a new dark blue sack coat. Meant to hang loosely from the shoulders, the sack coat did not have any horizontal seams as the more tailored, fitted frock coats primarily worn by older men and the wealthy upper classes did. This example of a sack suit in the collection of the McCord Museum (Fig. 1) is similar in style to the coat Whitman wears in this photograph, although it was made slightly later.

pants

J. W. Black of Black and Batchelder, Boston, c. 1860. Bayley Collection, Ohio Wesleyan University.

Unlike the tailored pantaloons or tight knee breeches of the first half of the nineteenth century and earlier, trousers offered men a loose-fitting option for everyday wear and could be purchased ready-made. Whitman favored trousers and wore them quite loose, and sometimes even tucked them into his boots so that, as writer Amos Bronson Alcott noted, they looked like “man-bloomer[s].” Several photographs document Whitman’s preferred style of voluminous, wrinkled pants, such as an example from c. 1860. Later in his life, Whitman admired the suit--a “beautiful misfit, as usual, eh?”--and was impressed with the air of “calm don't-care-a-damnativeness” that his clothes exuded.

walt leaning

Fig. 1:
Leather and wood boots, American, c. 1862. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Harrison Williams, Lady Mendl, and Mrs. Ector Munn, 1946, C.I.46.49.5a, b.

walt leaning

Fig. 2:
J. W. Black or Alexander Gardner, Washington, DC or Boston, c. 1860-1864. Library of Congress.

Footwear choices for men included a wide variety of leather oxfords and boots varying in silhouette and ornamentation, but from photographs and letters, Whitman seems to have preferred ankle-height or higher boots with a rounded toe perhaps not unlike these in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig. 1). More utilitarian than strictly fashionable, Whitman’s boots are clearly visible paired with his full trousers in a photograph taken between 1860 and 1864 (Fig. 2). In an 1863 letter to his mother, Whitman writes of how wearing his “big boots had caused the inside of the legs just above the knee to wear two beautiful round holes right through cloth & partly through the lining, producing a novel effect…" but noted how he still “cut quite a swell.”
As Whitman says in one of the most famous lines from the end of "Song of Myself": "If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles."

hat

William Kurtz, New York, c. 1866-1869. In the collection of the Library of Congress.

Among the most important accessories of a fashionable nineteenth-century man’s outfit was the hat. Men were never without a hat when outdoors, and the many different choices included top hats, fedoras, straw boaters, and Whitman’s preferred style, the so-called “cowboy sombrero.” Though this style with its wide, flat brim was primarily intended for men in hotter climates and was popular among railway workers and farmers, Whitman was photographed throughout his life wearing a sombrero, which he wrote that someone once called his “sauce-pan” hat. Later in life, looking at photographs of himself, Whitman insisted “I never wore a stiff hat,” and near the beginning of "Song of Myself" proclaims, "I wear my hat as I please, indoors or out."

cane2cane1

Walking canes of the second half of the century could be made of plain, highly polished wood or could be more elaborately decorated using precious metals or inlaid stones. In 1842, Whitman wrote of how he often strolled down Broadway to the Battery with his cane, described as “a heavy, dark, beautifully polished, hook ended one,” much like the one pictured in this portrait taken between 1848 and 1854. The silver tip on Whitman’s more elaborate blackthorn cane pictured here reads “AEJ from Walt Whitman” and marks the gift of Whitman’s cane to his close friend, jeweler Albert E. Johnston.

hat

William Kurtz, New York, c. 1866-1869. In the collection of the Library of Congress.

Among the most important accessories of a fashionable nineteenth-century man’s outfit was the hat. Men were never without a hat when outdoors, and the many different choices included top hats, fedoras, straw boaters, and Whitman’s preferred style, the so-called “cowboy sombrero.” Though this style with its wide, flat brim was primarily intended for men in hotter climates and was popular among railway workers and farmers, Whitman was photographed throughout his life wearing a sombrero, which he wrote that someone once called his “sauce-pan” hat. Later in life, looking at photographs of himself, Whitman insisted “I never wore a stiff hat.”

sack coat museum

Men's sack suit, c. 1885-1900. In the collection of the McCord Museum, Montreal, QC.

Most of the photographs of Whitman after 1855 show him wearing a sack coat, which was the most popular style of outerwear for men in the later half of the century. Whitman wrote in a letter to his mother in 1867 that he was getting a new dark blue sack coat. Meant to hang loosely from the shoulders, the sack coat did not have any horizontal seams as the more tailored, fitted frock coats primarily worn by older men and the wealthy upper classes did. This example of a sack suit in the collection of the McCord Museum is similar in style to the coat Whitman wears in this photograph, although it was made slightly later.

sack coat museum

Men's sack suit, c. 1885-1900. In the collection of the McCord Museum, Montreal, QC.

Most of the photographs of Whitman after 1855 show him wearing a sack coat, which was the most popular style of outerwear for men in the later half of the century. Whitman wrote in a letter to his mother in 1867 that he was getting a new dark blue sack coat. Meant to hang loosely from the shoulders, the sack coat did not have any horizontal seams as the more tailored, fitted frock coats primarily worn by older men and the wealthy upper classes did. This example of a sack suit in the collection of the McCord Museum is similar in style to the coat Whitman wears in this photograph, although it was made slightly later.

met dress coat

Fig. 1:
Wool suit, American, 1830-40. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of the estate of Sarah B. Russell, 1956, 2009.300.218a, b.

met frock coat

Fig. 2:
Men's wool frock coat, American, 1840s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of International Business Machines Corporation, 1960, C.I.60.22.6.

A young Whitman wears another style of coat that was popular with men during the second half of the nineteenth century in this photograph: the frock coat. Departing from earlier styles in which a tightly tailored shoulder and chest contrasted with a rounded skirt and cutaway front (Fig. 1), the frock coat was cut looser and squarer and was worn by men for a wide variety of daytime business activities (Fig. 2).

As a printer who worked with Whitman in the early 1840s later described, "Mr. Whitman was at that time, I should think, about 25 years of age, tall and graceful in appearance, neat in attire, and possessed a very pleasing and impressive eye and a cheerful, happy-looking countenance. He usually wore a frock coat and high hat, carried a small cane, and the lapel of his coat was almost invariably ornamented with a boutonniere..."

met dress coat

Fig. 1:
Silk and metal stock, American, c. 1830. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. John King, 1959, 2009.300.3778.

Although tall, stiff neckwear such as this stock (Fig. 1) was popular in the decades before this photograph was taken, Whitman prefered a softer cravate tied loosely around his neck. In this early photograph of the poet, he wears a style that was typical for a mid-nineteenth century gentleman. His style hasn't quite transitioned to the full, open, untied look he would later be known for, as this description from 1887 shows:
The striking feature of his toilet, however, was his shirt. Its wide collar, loose at the throat, and its cuffs, which turned over the ends of his coat sleeves, were trimmed with narrow lace of a pretty pattern. He held in his hand an old cane like a shepherd's crook, from which the polish had been worn. His long white hair and full white beard and mustache, which entirely shaded his lips, and his heavy white eyebrows, characteristic of a man of magnetism, set off his massive face and gave him a look of quiet grandeur which led Mr. Laurence Hutton to remark, "He looks like a god."