The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine (1870)

The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine was launched in 1856 by Samuel and Isabella Beeton (of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management fame).  It was one of the earliest "women's service magazines", publishing a soon-to-be standard mixture of domestic advice, fiction and fashion.

July 1870

The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine was published in two editions—a shilling edition which came with a colour fashion plate, and a sixpenny one which came without.  It was also one of the earliest magazines to include paper dressmaking patterns with each issue.

September 1870

Here we see depicted the fashions of the early 1870s, an era when more was definitely more.  Each model is depicted wearing elaborate confections of bustles, bows, flounces and trimmings in situations (on a beach, travelling) where you'd expect simpler outfits to prevail.  The whole effect is rather upholstered: our pretty models remind me of nothing so much as a pair of ottomans that have somehow managed to escape from a Victorian parlour to roam the streets.