From the late 17th century, men wore a three-piece suit for formal dress, comprising a coat (in French, <i>justaucorps</i>or in later 18th century <i>habit</i>), waistcoat (<i>veste</i>) and breeches (<i>culottes)</i>. In France, the whole ensemble was known as the <i>habit à la française.</i> Both England and France had a good reputation for men’s tailoring in the 18th century. In France, this skill was learned through a seven-year apprenticeship, at the end of which the apprentice had to produce a ‘masterpiece’ which proved his competence in the necessary skills of his trade.
This suit is cut and constructed in exactly the same way as a full-sized adult suit. It is however too small to fit a child’s body, which suggests that it was made half-size on purpose so that a tailor could demonstrate his skills and show the model to a client. A miniature suit would presumably have been easier to circulate than a full-sized model and would have been less costly in materials: silks and buttons of this type were expensive commodities in this period.