House Dresses (Peterson's Magazine, October 1862)

 By the beginning of the 20th century a 'house dress' was a simple dress in washable fabrics, designed to be worn while doing housework.  These dresses, made in silk and trimmed with velvet, are obviously very different.

Fig. 1—HOUSE DRESS OF AZULINE-BLUE SILK—Around the bottom is a fluting of black ribbon.  The body and sleeves are trimmed to correspond with the skirt.  Head-dress of black velvet and lace.

Fig. 2—HOUSE-DRESS OF GRAY SILK, SPOTTED WITH BLACK—A heavy black cording passes down the two breadths on each side, as well as around the bottom.  The sleeves are also corded with black velvet, and, like the body, are trimmed with narrow black velvet bows, with a steel buckle in the center of each bow.

On the other hand, these dresses look comparatively simple (by Victorian standards).  It's entirely possible that the readers of Peterson's Magazine could have adapted the designs in cheaper and sturdier fabrics for everyday wear.

"Charming Bonnets" (The Ladies' Friend, January 1868)

 I've decided to let fashion go to my head again this week, with a look back to a time when respectable women (and not-so respectable women) felt obliged to wear some kind of head covering on nearly every occasion.

The magazine doesn't have a description of the bonnets (or the hats) illustrated, but it does have some general remarks on fashionable headgear:

The bonnet called in Paris the chapeau-capuchon is popular for the winter season.  It encases the hair at the back instead of leaving it uncovered.  The front of the bonnet is a fanchon¹ of colored velvet; the capuchon² is of tulle, and is tied below the chignon with a satin bow which matches the fanchon..

Charming bonnets are now made entirely of velvet flowers and velvet foliage.  A bonnet composed of small vine leaves, in either green or violet velvet, is very ladylike and distinguished.

Velvet bonnets of any color to correspond with the toilet, are trimmed with a gold or silver aigrette laid upon the edge of the border.

For dinner coiffures, lace lappets are added to the flowers and fruit, but these lappets do not form a cap; sometimes they fall over the chignon, sometimes they they are crossed and fastened there by a spray of flowers...

Young ladies almost uniformly wear the flat toquet.³  This somewhat singular headgear, placed on the top of a high chignon, comes sloping over the forehead, and to it is attached a masque voilette⁴ of black lace, coming down just to the lips, and tied in lappets at the back.

This last appears to be illustrated by the figure at the bottom left of the plate, and the dinner coiffure with its lace lappets, appears to be depicted at the top right.  These black and white drawings hardly seem to do the subject justice when you consider how rich and vibrant the bonnets must have been in real life!

(1. Kerchief

2. Hood

3.  The writer probably meant a "toque"

4. Literally "mask veil")

Found Online: Jay's Manual of Fashion (1858 & 1861)

 Rites of passage have always been opportunities to show off wealth and status.  In the 21st century weddings are our favourite occasions for display, but in Victorian times spending money on funerals and mourning dress were equally popular ways of showing off.  And given that in the 19th century life expectancy was lower, infant mortality higher, and families larger, there were many (too many) opportunities for wearing mourning.  

Not that people necessarily donned mourning only for their nearest and dearest, however.  There were carefully regulated graduations of mourning (first mourning, second mourning, half mourning) worn to commemorate everyone from a newly deceased husband to a distant cousin by marriage.  At one extreme, a new widow would wear the heaviest mourning with clothes covered in crape (a silk fabric treated to make it lusterless and stiff).  At the other the "mourner" would wear fashionable dress in sombre shades.

With all this, it was not surprising that an entire industry sprung up to cater for the mourning needs of the upper and aspiring middle classes.  One of the firms which rose to meet this demand was Jay's Mourning Warehouse which was established in 1841 in three large houses on London's Regent Street.

1858

Jay's introduces its 1858 catalogue, thus:

At the return of the present period, we submit to the public a series of ENGRAVINGS, embodying the Fashions of the Season.    It will be observed, that although there is considerable variety of form in the MANTLES here illustrated, they nevertheless preserve that unity for which Parisian invention is remarkable; and it is also well worthy of remark, that in Paris, at the present time, Black and White enjoy a decided favouritism.

In agreement with the requisitions of our Patrons, we have afixed Prices to the costumes, although it will be obvious that these must ultimately depend on the materials employed and the making up.  The price, therefore, may be lower, if it be so desired; or it may be higher than that which is given.  It is necessary to explain that the subject of the Illustrations are made up in various materials, suitable either for Ladies who adopt Mourning, or for those who wear Black in accordance with the taste of the day.

(The picture above depicts a mantle of cloth trimmed with velvet, a dress of poplin and a bonnet of terry and silk.)

1861

Equally fashionable are these dresses from Jay's 1861 catalogue, with only the descriptions to remind readers that they were made up in black and white (and hence suitable for mourning).  In the back of the pamphlet Jay's gives us "A Detailed List of Mourning As Usually Supplied by Messrs. Jay".  It's worthh quoting, if only in part, to see what was expected of respectable middle-class mourners in Victorian England—and their servants:

MOURNING FOR A WIDOW

PARAMATTA DRESS, deeply trimmed to the waist with crape.
RADZ-DE-MORT SILK MANTLE, trimmed with crape.
CRAPE BONNET, with deep veil.
TARLATAN CAP, COLLAR AND CUFFS, white.
DINNER DRESS of Radz-de-mort Silk, deeply trimmed with crape.
WHITE LISSE cap.

MOURNING FOR A PARENT
MORNING DRESS of Paramatta, trimmed with two deep tucks of crepe.
CRAPE COLLAR AND CUFFS, OR SLEEVES.
WALKING DRESS of Gros Royal Silk, trimmed deeply with crape.  MANTLE to correspond.
CRAPE BONNET, with Black Cap.  JET ORNAMENTS.

MOURNING FOR A BROTHER OR SISTER.
MORNING DRESS of French Twill, or Paramatta, with three or five tucks of crape.
BLACK COLLARS AND SLEEVES.
WALKING DRESS of Gros Royal or Berlin Silk, with Mantle to match.
SILK AND CRAPE BONNET.
NET VEIL, with crape hem.  JET ORNAMENTS.

SERVANTS' MOURNING
BLACK, OR GREY AND BLACK, GLACE DRESS.
GLACE MANTLE, or GRENADINE SHAWL
WHITE CRAPE OR CHIP BONNET, trimmed with Black.
WHITE NET COLLARS AND SLEEVES.

The complete catalogues are available on the Internet Archive.  You can find the 1858 catalogue here, and the 1861 catalogue here.

Two Photographs from the Early 1860s

 I found these two little cartes de visite on eBay.  Neither of them are dated, but the clothes the sitters are wearing belong to the early 1860s.  Cartes de visite were photographs printed on thin paper and pasted onto thicker cardboard (the size of visiting cards, hence the name).  They were very much cheaper than earlier forms of photography, making it possible for less wealthy people to get their pictures taken.  It also makes it possible for us to see what ordinary Victorians were wearing more than 150 years later!

Both these photographs were taken in Great Britain but were bought in Australia—hinting that they might have been taken as momentoes for emigrating friends or family.

Wormald, Leeds

This sitter from Leeds is clearly dressed in her best, but just as clearly, her best isn't very expensive.  However she is wearing a fashionable hooped skirt.  The crinoline was one of the first mass produced fashions.  Retailing as low as a few shillings each almost anybody could afford them—much to the consternation of middle class critics and the delight of middle class cartoonists!

Norton & Iris, Islington

More obviously prosperous, this sitter from Islington looks at the camera with a confident expression.  The braid trim on her sleeves appears in fashion plates from around 1861 to 1863, so I can date this photograph to around then.  Of course she is also wearing the ubiquitous crinoline!

"Les Modes Parisiennes" (in "Peterson's Magazine", March 1862)

The plates in Peterson's Magazine weren't original—they were mostly copied from a French weekly called Les Modes Parisiennes Illustrées.  Peterson's colour plates usually appeared a few months behind the originals, and were often adapted to suit American tastes and social conditions.  (They were also printed on narrower paper, so the images sometimes appear cropped as in the example below.)

FASHIONS FOR MARCH

FIG. 1—WALKING DRESS OF STONE-COLORED WATERED SILK.—There is a quilling of black ribbon down the front of the dress and around the bottom.  Large black silk buttons also ornament the front.  The body is made open a short way down the front, with lappels also trimmed with black ribbon, turned back.  A plaited chemisette and worked collar are worn with this dress.  Sleeves shaped to the arm and trimmed to match the rest of the dress.  Bonnet of stone-colored and white straw, striped, and trimmed with black ribbon and pink flowers.

FIG. 2—HOUSE DRESS OF LILAC DELAINE—The skirt as well as the Zouave jacket are braided in black, and a white cashmere vest is worn under the jacket, with a cashmere collar.  Cape of guipure lace, trimmed with bows of lilac ribbon.

(More on the topic of "Americanizing" fashion plates can be found here: "Americanizing French fashion plates: Godey's and Peterson's cultural and socio-economic translation of Les Modes Parisiennes" / by Karin J. Bohleke, in American Periodicals: A Journal of History and Criticism, Volume 20, Number 2, 2010.)

Fashion in Photographs, 1860-1880 by Miles Lambert

This book was published in 1991, and alas is no longer in print.  (One of the few problems I have with Batsford is that their publications never seem to stay in print for long.)  However if you can find a copy of it secondhand, I would recommend it.

Its contents are as stated on the cover - fashions as they appear in photographs from 1860 to 1880.  The book draws on the National Portrait Gallery in London as its source, so the pictures are heavily biased toward the rich and the famous - but then again, so are most histories of fashion.  This one at least gives the reader some idea how the clothes of the era actually looked when worn, rather than how they appeared in idealised fashion plates.  (But watch out for re-touched photographs - people tampered with images long before the invention of Photoshop!)

The book is divided by decade, and further subdivided into "Men", "Women" and "Groups".  Each photograph has a lengthy caption that tells you something about the sitters, and describes the clothes they are wearing.  The author quotes extensively from contemporary periodicals in order to demonstrate how the fashion advice of the era translated into actual garments.

I've just one bone to pick - the book seems to be slanted toward the 1860s, with much more space and many more examples being given to the former decade than the latter.  Either this bias is built into the National Portrait Gallery's collections, or Mr Lambert was more interested in the 1860s than the 1870s.  Whatever the reason, it gives Fashion in Photographs a lopsided feel, and under-represents an interesting era in dress.

Published: London: Batsford, 1991.
ISBN 07134 6392 9

Photograph, ca. 1867-1868

This is another photograph from the second half of the 1860s.  It was taken by "W. Clayton, Artist & Photographer" at the Albert Portrait Rooms in Nottingham.   From what I can gather he was one of a family of photographers working in Nottingham in the 19th century.

I put this photograph at around 1867 or 1868 because the sitter's dress, while still obviously supported by some kind of cage, is cone-shaped rather than bell-shaped as it would have been during the hey-day of the crinoline.  The shape of the sleeves and the yoke are also very characteristic of the later half of the 1860s.  While the sitter is obviously not well-to-do, she appears to be able to keep up with the main trends of fashion.

Photograph, ca. 1866

I've been missing in action the last week because I've been in Melbourne - where I discovered a shop in East Kew that sold lots of wonderful collectibles, including this Victorian carte de visite sized photograph.  From the information printed on the back it was taken by C. Hawkins at the Brighton School of Photography, and I put the date at around 1866.  The sitter's skirt, while still full, has lost the bell-shaped crinoline which supported the fashionable shape earlier in the decade.  Her waist is cinched by a belt made in the same material as her dress with an ornamental buckle.

A little research on the net indicates that the photographer moved to the address on the card (38 Preston Street) in 1865.  The chair and the table in the picture are props, and appear in other portraits taken at the Brighton School of Photography around the same time.