Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Photograph, ca. 1889-1890


This is a carte de visite sized photograph I picked up on my visit to Melbourne.  The photographer's information on the back reads:

JAMES DOHERTY,

PHOTOGRAPHER,

CARLISLE ROAD,

LONDONDERRY,

I put the date of the picture around 1889-1890 because the female sitter's clothes have features typical of both decades.   The cut of her bodice is typical of the 1880s, as is the draped "apron" effect of her skirt, but she is clearly not wearing a bustle and her sleeves are gathered at the shoulders in a way prefiguring the "leg o' mutton" sleeves of the early 1890s.  These transitional styles were fashionable briefly for a couple of  years in 1889 and 1890. 

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