"Correct Clothing and How it Should Be Made" (Girl's Own Paper, March 31, 1883)

Let's venture back to the early 1880s.  As you can see, the "second bustle" era is getting under way, though at this stage the Girl's Own Paper is only talking about skirts being "fuller" at the back and not about the adoption of "bustles" or "dress improvers". 

 All skirts are decidedly fuller in the back-breadths, and short skirts are worn on all occasions, save very state ones; elderly ladies should wear them touching the ground indoors, and just clearing the ground when walking...

The other thing to note about this era in fashion are the "short" skirts.  From the late 1860s all through the 1870s, fashionable skirts trailed on the ground.  Even the shortest walk out of doors must have left wearers with filthy hems! In the 1880s, skirts would either just touch the ground or just clear it.  The 1890s and 1900s would see long trained skirts return, only to disappear forever in the 1910s.

Waistcoats are used with every style of dress, both for morning and evening. 

In the young girl's walking-dress for the spring the most useful and sensible form is given that I have seen.  It is a kilted skirt, finishing in a flounce, and where the flounce begins there is a gathered puffing.  The overskirt is quite plain, and gathered like a shawl from the left side.  The Breton vest and jacket are intended for walking in, and are so simply braided and made, that it is within the power of any of our girls who have tried to make their own dresses to manage it...

The child's coat is made of a broché cloth... edged with velvet, and the hat is of felt with two silk tassels and a silk cord for its sole trimming.

"Dress in Season..." (Girl's Own Paper, August 1885)

 At first glance, the dresses below seem completely unsuitable for wearing on a beach—especially if the wearer is planning on walking on wet sand and exploring tide-pools.  A second look shows that the models' dresses clear the ground—just—and that their bodices and hats are comparatively un-ornamented.  This is probably as close to casual wear as it was possible to get in Victorian times.

The "Lady Dressmaker" who wrote the text accompanying these illustrations, had a lot of advice for her young lady readers who wanted to be well-dressed and up-to-date.

The French style of making dresses at present is anything but pretty; it reminds one of the farthingales of Queen Elizabeth's day, as the skirts are full and the hips are much padded out with an immense dress improver.  The bodice is quite Elizabethan, for it is long-waisted, very tight, and the front darts are placed very high up...

The high neckband is still the principal feature of the dress, and if the dressmaker be not successful in that the effect of the front of the dress at least is spoilt.  They are called straight, but they are in reality curved and cut on the cross.  This is a most useful idea in one way... for the high band is quite protection enough from sunburn and that heated air which is almost worse in its tanning effect...

Bodices are made in several different ways—waistcoats, belted bodices with pleats like the Norfolk jackets, and many bodices trimmed to represent the Zouave jacket.  Many Jersey bodices are worn both with and without waistcoat fronts, and they seem likely to be made up for the autumn with light woollens...

All the varieties of bibs, plastrons and blouse-fronts are as much used as ever just now; white ones are in fashion and are generally pinned on over the bodice front, not fastened in; when really fastened in as a portion of the dress they frequently have straps across of the bodice material buttoned over the fronts.

Stripes continue very popular, and a few dresses have been made of them, but as a rule they are reserved for trimmings and waistcoats, and are sometimes even used horizontally.  Striped and plain materials mixed need great care in the making-up as the stripes must be joined so very accurately, and where the bodice is of the stripes they must neither be too straight nor too much slanted.  I have often noticed in striped materials that they proved most unbecoming to some figures, and wondered why so.  The reason, I find, is that the material has been wrongly used in unskillful hands...

The parasols of unlined lace now seen are the most idiotic of introductions, for they do not give shade, and they do not conduce to the beauty of the tout ensemble...

"Correct Clothing, and How it Should Be Made" (Girl's Own Paper, August 1883)

 It's 1883, and we're well into the "second bustle" era.  Or, as the Girl's Own Paper prefers to call them, "dress-improvers":

So far as "dress-improvers" are concerned, they are extremely moderate in size and generally consist of a few steels run into the back of the dress, which is then tied back with strings... In fact, in the present style of dress there seems nothing exaggerated or immoderate; and both faults, if any such appear, arise from the bad taste of the wearer, not the fashion.

All the newest bodices are cut with much shorter basques than they were in the spring, and all have a waistcoat as a general rule, or else a full chemisette which bags over below. The soft gathered plastrons, often added to cotton morning-gowns, are called Molière, and the first figure of our illustration, dressed in a sateen of the deepest “ crushed strawberry ” hue, wears a basque-bodice, with a Molière front. The lace at neck and sleeves matches the dress. This figure represents the probable style of making-up thicker dresses for young girls, for the autumn, with six or seven narrow flounces, and no extra trimming. Sleeves do not appear to be worn quite so much puffed into the armhole as they were, nor so high at the top of the shoulder, but it is impossible to say whether this change will last.

"What to Wear in June" (Cassell's Family Magazine, June 1888)

It has been a while since we last looked at Cassell's Family Magazine, so let's dive into its pages again and see what the well-dressed woman was wearing in June 1888.

First from Cassell's Paris correspondent:

 Parisiennes have adopted the blouse belted bodice for ordinary gowns, which is good news for the home dressmaker, as they are easily carried out, but to set well they require a foundation beneath that really fits; and any fulness should be drawn into as small a space as possible—consistent with comfort—at the waist...

... Millinery is undergoing a radical change.  The bonnet shapes are smaller, but the trimmings are placed so as to give them exceeding height...

And illustrated are two women wearing these "highly" decorated bonnets.

Our little group show's a child's frock simply made in brown and fawn striped woollen, trimmed with brown velvet... The hat has all the trimmings placed at the back.  Her mother is entirely clothed in the new blue nun's-veiling, made with the full pointed bodice, having revers and the basque outlined by an applied band... Her friend has a handsome grey cloth coat laced with gilt cord, and opening over a white cloth waistcoat... Both ladies wear bonnets which form a point above the face.

Our London correspondent informs her readers that "Braiding is universal, as well as fabrics woven to resemble braiding" and that

Smocking is finding general favour, and is not confined, as it once was, to the few who dressed in aesthetic styles.  A great many gowns have smocked yokes, and full sleeves,  smocked below the shoulders at at the wrists.

Our illustration shows a new mode of combining lace and silk.  The skirt has perpendicular folds of lace insertion laid over a colour, the back arranged with a graceful drapery of lace, the vest composed of lace laid over the same colour.  The accompanying figure is clothed in a striped woollen gown, with the fashionable cascade of pinked-out silk forming the panel.  The mantelette is made of black silk and has bell sleeves attached... The hat has a high crown and is turned up high in front, with feathers peeping over the brim...

"Seasonable Clothing and How It Should Be Made" (Girl's Own Annual March 1882)

 Time to dip into my copies of The Girl's Own Annual again.

First up is "the new petticoat".  Readers familiar with the Victorian era will recognise it as the dawn of the "second bustle era".  For the moment, back fullness is achieved by sewing flounces onto a  petticoat; as the decade progresses more substantial bustles will take its place.

The illustration below is of three up-to-the-minute fashions for March 1882, comprising of (from left to right) a walking costume, a dress made of black satin and silk trimmed with black Spanish lace, and a princesse costume with puffy sleeves and a striped scarf.  The Girl's Own Paper advised that a "drapery at the back" could be substituted for the train worn by the second figure.

This column had much to say on the topic of dress reform, which apparently had been a hot topic in the press recently.  Firstly they strike a patriotic note:

Having read thus far, I paused to think the subject over, and was not long in coming to the conclusion that, not only do English women make use of the woollen fabrics of their own country, but they have been singularly happy originating fashions where they can be used.  The waterproof first, and the ulster afterwards, bear witness to this fact, and in both of these garments the Englishwoman has set the fashion to the world.  For their manufacture no cloth but the English is good, and no makers are so highly thought of.  The same is the case with regard to tailor-made jackets and dresses, and the much maligned Englishwoman was undoubted the original inventor of the famous "Jersey", which gave employment and brought wealth to so many within the last few years.

  

However, they also advise English women to take a leaf out of the Americans' book:

As to the desire for "perpetual change," of which we all stand accused, I think in this perhaps we have something to learn from the Americans, who are singularly conservative in many ways; and when a shape or material has been found to be really good, they use it for years, without ever changing. 

For the rest, The Girl's Own Paper suggest that the dress reform measures that are really needed are the abolition of tight-lacing and the simplification of underwear.  All of which would eventuate in time, but not as the reformers imagined it! 

"New Clothing and How It Should Be Made" (Girl's Own Paper, December 31, 1881)

 The important news for the would-be fashionable young lady of 1881 is that dresses are getting shorter:

It is a great pleasure to believe that the fashion for wearing short dresses, morning, noon and night, will not alter, and long trains show no signs of coming in again, and are not worn except on very special occasions, by elderly matrons, who prefer not to cut up a very handsome dress.  Short skirts are wider and though equally tight in the front, the advent of the tournure has made the sides and back much wider and more graceful for slight figures, because not so tight and clinging.

Enter "the second bustle"!  It's interesting in this context that "short" means "without a train", though skirts still trail on the floor.

The latest winter furs are discussed:

The lighter-coloured furs seem to have slipped out of fashion this winter, and the taste leans to dark browns and black.  The principal furs are—stone marten, seal, musquash, skunk, coney, opossum, black fox, and what is called Russian cat.  These are all moderate in price, and our illustration, "On the Ice", will show how they are worn.  The first figure wears a brown poke bonnet, a mantle of plush, trimmed with black fox, brown cashmere dress, brown velvet and fur muff, and a bunch of yellow crocuses.  The central figure wears a skating costume of plum-coloured, with a fur or feather border.  A wide lining of velvet on the tunic, which is caught up on one side.

"Correct Clothing and How It Should Be Made" (Girl's Own Paper, February 24th 1883)

 Real Life™ has got in the way of me posting to this blog for a while.  Happily, Real Life has also provided some blog fodder, in the form of two volumes of The Girl's Own Annual from 1882 and 1883.

It's interesting that this very Victorian column should be called "Correct Clothing", not "attractive" clothing or "stylish" clothing.  However, when you dig down into the piece you discover that "Correct" in this context means becoming and currently fashionable.  I'm going to quote at length from it.  Some of the advice is still applicable, though modern writers would phrase things differently!

"Dress," says a famous London doctor in a recent lecture, "should be to the body what language is to the mind."

"And how," at once some of my readers, "is this knowledge to be gained?"  To this I answer, by the study of two branches of art—i.e. form and colour; form as regards question of height and breadth in the people you see around you, and colour in reference to complexion and size.

As regards the former, there are a few rules by which you may also be guided.  Thus, the very stout should avoid perpendicular stripes in dress, as although they give height, they increase fulness; and horizontal should be avoided by short people and very stout ones.  Large patterns should be avoided by short people, and left to the tall ones, who can manage to carry them off gracefully.  The former should also beware of wearing double skirts or tunics short and bunchy in shape, and also of lines made across the figure by flounces or trimmings which cut it in the centre.  The short and stout must also dress the hair high—at least, as much so as the fashion of the time will allow.

A dress cut high behind, or high on the shoulders, gives the benefit of the whole height of the figure, and a horizontal line of trimming across the neck, bust or shoulders decreases the apparent height of the wearer.    Full and puffed sleeves are an improvement to every figure, except to a very stout one, to which the plain coat-sleeve, not cut too tight, is more suitable.  Very light colours should be avoided by those who are stout, as their size is very much increased, whereas by wearing black materials it is diminished.  Any attempt to increase the height by a very high or large head-dress should be avoided as such an enlargement of the head dwarfs the figure.

A person with a prominent or large nose should beware of wearing a small bonnet, and no one over thirty years of age can afford to have a shadow thrown on her face from too large a hat or bonnet, as that increases the apparent age.

In making dresses for young girls when they happen to be very thin, great attention should be paid to the fact, and every endeavor made to hide deficiencies by means of extra fulness of trimming in the bodice and skirt.  They are often made fun of for this as they are for a little extra stoutness, which is very cruel and foolish, especially if it be family fun.  I have known a young girls mind and character permanently warped by such "chaff", and when the nerves are delicate and the temper consequently irritable it should be immediately checked by the heads of the family.

Good advice!

And now some insight into the fashions of February 1883:

Braiding continues to be the great feature of walking and thick dress of all kinds, and nothing could be more useful, as well as pretty, than the blue serges with black braidings, which some of the shops have brought out.  When woollen skirts are box-pleated, the braiding is placed on either the face or the pleat or else in the spaces.  Another method of braiding is shown on the extreme right-hand figure of our month's illustration, where it appears on the plain underskirt and on the bodice, but not on the overskirt, which is very fully draped, but has no ornament.  The centre figure wears a skirt with two flounces, and a scarf overskirt, the front being a braided piece with a pointed end hanging down each side.  The bodice is braided down each seam à la militaire.   Braided dresses will, I think, preserve preserve their popularity through the coming spring and summer; so any of our readers who like the work may safely begin to prepare a dress for themselves...

All kinds of lace collars are much worn, and are copied from the numberless portraits of ancient days.  Rubens and Holbein are especially rich in their examples of them...

Very fanciful broaches are still the rage, and the most extraordinary combination of objects, the most unsuitable, apparently, to the position in which they are placed, are often to be seen.  Ducks, parrots, spiders, crocodiles, tambourines, "Punch and Judy", bull-dogs and a host of other things are now brought over from Paris in that light imitation jewellery that suits ephemeral fancies like these.

Collectors of costume jewellery might like to take note!

"Dress in Season and In Reason" (Girl's Own Paper, October 27 1888)

"Our long and wintry summer has come to an end," writes "The Lady Dressmaker" in her October column for The Girl's Own Paper,

..."and we can only hope we may not be beginning a long and cold winter.  Very few people have had the courage to wear their summer dresses this season, and the things most generally seen have been thin woollens in their almost endless variety."

In spite of her wishes for a milder winter the author takes care to illustrate the "new" long cloaks,

.."as they are the latest idea, [but] I cannot be sure they will take the place of others; they are excellent wrap cloaks, most comfortable and warm.  Short jackets are being made in black and blue pilot cloth, and black and brown plush is being made into covert jackets, with large buttons covered in plush also."

(Covert jackets were originally designed for outdoor pursuits in the country: since the ones the "Lady Dressmaker" describes are made of plush, I suspect they weren't intended to be worn for field sports!)

For additional warmth she recommends gaiters, "already much worn... by women who are obliged to walk or prefer it to driving... I see," she continues

"that one of the most sensible of our writers, considers that in the gaiter lies the true solution of the "Dress Reform" question; for were these comfortable articles of dress once adopted, the need for divided skirts would be obviated, as both feet and legs could be protected to any extent..."

Well that's a relief!

The second illustration to this column is of what The Lady Dressmaker describes as "Empire dresses" (i.e. dresses of the Napoleonic era).  To modern eyes, there is no resemblance between these Victorian fashions and the original Empire styles:

As always in fashion columns of this era, some space is dedicated to the materials used to make up the styles described.  (After all, the readers would not be buying their clothes ready-made!)

"I must give a few words now to the new colours prepared for the winter season.  I think the generality of the cloths and materials seem to be either brown or green, but the tones are all rather mild, indeed, almost dull.  Stripes are again the ruling idea everywhere, the prettiest perhaps being those about two inches wide of two quiet contrasting colours.  Dark slate, black current, opium seed, as, stone colour, and lively drab are among the names I hear most frequently.  Virginia and Etruscan are the only two reds; the former is the dark shade of the Virginia creeper when turning in autumn; the latter is a kind of terra cotta."

Imagine a modern fashion writer describing the colours of the moment as "almost dull"!  As the article is illustrated only in black and white this detailed description is a boon to modern readers as well as its intended audience.  It not only enables us to visualise what these late 1880s costumes would have looked like, it also provides a useful guide for anyone wishing to date a garment from around this time.

Cassell's Family Magazine (October 1888)

Cassell's Family Magazine wasn't a fashion magazines: it was a "general interest" magazine, mostly full of fiction.  However, it ran a monthly fashion column probably aimed at middle-class women who weren't particularly fashionable, but wanted to keep abreast of current styles.

This column was split into two halves, the first "From our London correspondent" and the second "From our Paris correspondent."  

 

"It is not often that cheapness and fashion go hand in hand.  We have to congratulate ourselves that this is the case now.  Wool is very inexpensive, and there is no material as universally worn.  Moreover, the patterns are good, the colours becoming and pretty, and the cloths well woven."

"Our London Correspondent" has decided to concentrate on the latest materials available rather than the latest styles.  This is perhaps not surprising given her readers would have been planning their winter wardrobes, a process that involved buying material and having it made up rather than choosing a garment off the rack in a shop.

And what colourful materials were fashionable in the autumn of 1888!  "Our London Correspondent" does her best to convey the vivid nature of these colours within the confines of a black and white magazine:

  

Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Ladies' cloth, in the best quality, is a fabric which is likely to last for years, and the tones this year are particularly tempting.  There is a rich and beautiful chesnut, which might be made up plain or embroidered, and nothing shows off silver, gold or black embroidery better than this particular tone.  The red, of the exact tint of soldiers' coats, is employed for pipings and vests; there are prunes, greys, browns, greens; and an enormous quanity of this cloth has been sold all over the country to the wholesale houses early in the autumn, and promises to be universally worn..."

"Ladies' cloth" is defined as a lightweight broadcloth used for making dresses.

"Plaids in green, red, blue and yellow, and all kinds of mixtures, are quite new; they are invariably fancy plaids and not those appertaining to the clans, and are very varied; checks run through them sometimes, and knickerbocker effects, as well as shaded stripes."

Perhaps the plaids looked something like this dress, worn in 1888 by the bride of Andrew Carnegie.

"Our Paris Correspondent" on the other hand, pays more attention to the latest styles, though she does inform us

"Some new and charming materials have been brought out this autumn, which are as costly as silk, although they are merely silk stripes on wool...

"...The new colours have all much warmth in them.  Women of fashion seem to care for bright tones, and to relieve the more sombre greys and browns with touches of some brilliant hue becoming to the complexion."

 

The picture reproduced above illustrates some of the latest styles as observed by Our Paris Correspondent:

"The Directoire still gives the inspirations as to style.  Our second illustration shows a modified coat of the fashionable cut, which would be a good manner of making up the new stripes of silk on wool, with plain material... If you examine the cut of the coat closely, you will see that it is in fact a Directoire jacket, which here and there has lengthened basques, forming panels...

"The accompanying figure wears a simpler coat, well suited to the plain and striped woolllens.  It has revers in the front, which turn back to show a short striped vest just draped in loose folds... The sleeve at the top is after the old leg of mutton shape to the elbow... This style is guaranteed to diminish the apparent size of the waist.  This costume is made of silver-grey cloth, stripes of silver being laid on the vest; beige-colour with gold is also suited to this new make..."

Stripes were obviously the flavour of the month in October 1888!  As for the "leg of mutton sleeves", they would grow and grow through the early 1890s until they became the enormous "balloon" sleeves of the middle of the next decade.

"Dress: In Season and In Reason" (April 1889)

The Girl's Own Paper started life in 1880 as a weekly magazine for middle-class young women—teenagers, really, to use a word coined at a later date.  True to its time it was full of piety and tales of good works—and a monthly fashion column.  Written by "A Lady Dressmaker", this column described what was "in" for its readers, and suggested ways they could reproduce them (on a low budget, if necessary).  Unlike many other fashion columns, then and later, the writer was not afraid to criticise what was in fashion, either on moral or aesthetic grounds.  Since The Girl's Own Paper wasn't interested in pushing every latest fad in order to please its advertisers it's an invaluable resource for those interested in

The column appearing in the Girl's Own Paper of April 27 1889 begins by noting that a fashion revival is in progress—of the "Directory" (i.e. Directoire) style of the 1790s:

In the sketch of "The Newest Gowns at the Private View", I have done my best gather together everything that is now known of the future spring styles in dress.  The cold and inclement February kept every idea of spring in the background, and so there is perhaps rather less of novelty than usually to be observed at this time.  Although there are many dresses of the "Directory" style still being produced, I do not imagine that we shall have quite as much of it as during the winter.  The long coats can be so well imitated by the skirts with large pockets and kilted backs and bodices that they will, I think, fall out of favour; while the more simple "Empire" costume, will, very probably, be more worn than anything else.

In the "Private View" we show the new method of making up the striped materials on the left-hand side.  Next to that is the Directoire jacket, and in the front, the new sleeved mantle in plain black velvet.  Of the two gowns at the back, the one is a Directoire jacket, with embroidery, and the other a tailor-made gown, with white panel and waistcoat.  The different shapes and trimmings of the hats and bonnets are also represented.

Of mantles and jackets the "Lady Dressmaker" writes:

1880s mantle, via Pinterest

In the way of spring mantles there seems to be nothing novel, but all the old shapes with modifications will be worn.  Nearly all are short at the back and have long ends in front.  The new jackets have wonderfully embroidered fronts, with a long, straight-cut revers at either side, the linings being of moiré silk.  The latest models appear to be in plain black cloth, with plain black moiré facings in front.  But there are plenty of dark stone, brown, grey, twine and cinnamon colours.  

... There are some novel redingotes with a wide revers in front and a triple "Garrick cape" on the shoulders at the back.  On of the novel wys of putting on braid is to lay it on in stripes that follow the seams of jacket, and finish it off in loops, arranged like trefoil at the edge.  This style will add length to the figure, and become short people.

The bustle was going "out"—but emphasis still lingered on the back of the skirt:

The newest skirts are those with small tucks in front, or are gathered for several inches down.  The backs of these are laid in folds.  The "Empire skirt" does not need with steels or a mattress; but the folds of the dress itself is  are slightly wadded, either underneath or in the folds themselves, to make them stand out.

 Hats were transitioning from the high-crowned styles that were fashionable in the 1880s to the flatter shapes fashionable in the 1890s:


... There are many styles of hats, both large and small.  The smaller shapes have the brim very often turned up at the back, and not in front.  And there is a very ugly hat which has a round brim, caught up to the crown in several places at equal distances all round.  The crowns and brims are often of different materials in various colours, and the ribbons for trimming hats are as wide as those used for bonnets. 

Though few of their readers were likely to go to Court (that is, the Royal Court, rather than to a court of law) The Girl's Own Paper included a sketch of the latest styles:

I am sure that many of my readers will like to see the new Court bodices which the Queen has lately authorised, as a protection to those who cannot wear the ordinary round Court bodice, that has been worn during Her Majesty's reign.  The bodice represented as open can be filled in with white tulle or net, quite up to the throat, if preferred, and transparent sleeves can be used instead of thick ones.  It is reported that they were not very generally adopted at the first Drawing Room held this year; but they are new, and are, moreover, intended for invalids and those advancing in life; for though a doctor's certificate is no longer needed, the permission of  the Lord Chamberlain has to be asked.  

(Well into the twentieth century the official dress for women being presented at court included a low-cut bodice and short sleeves.)


For people wanting to see more of this publication: I've searched online for scans of The Girl's Own Paper, but have been unable to find any freely accessible copies.  However, anyone who is a member of a library which subscribes to Gale Cengage resources might be able to find it: they have all the issues between 1880 and 1900 scanned and available through their "Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals" database.

"What to Wear: Chit-Chat on Dress" (Cassell's Family Magazine, December 1887)

As luck would have it, I found a bound volume of Cassell's Family Magazine at a charity book fair last week.  Magazines like this were the television of their age: chock full of fiction, "how-to" articles, items of general and scientific interest and for the ladies... a monthly fashion column.

So come with me and explore what the fashion-conscious middle class woman was wearing in 1887.

"Short skirts show the feet; and shoes are so much worn, that stockings become a consideration; they continue to be very elaborately embroidered and woven in a variety of patterns in open-work.  Moreover, they are dyed to match every tone of colour..."

Stockings ca. 1880-99, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

(As you can see from the illustrations accompanying this article "short skirts" just skimmed the floor!  They were, however, short compared to the dresses of the 1870s and early 1880s, which trailled on the ground.

Women's stockings were surprisingly colourful and ornamental in the nineteenth century.  Decoration included stripes (very popular) and patterns, open-work, embroidery and lace insertions.  They could cost up to 5 guineas a pair—very much above the price the average reader of Cassell's Family Magazine could afford to pay.   Thrifty women who still wanted to be in fashion would buy stockings that had plain tops and decorated bottoms.  In other words, they would only spend money on decoration where it was likely to be seen!)

"Jerseys have become an institution for winter wear; they have been brought out in a thicker make of material, and there is plenty of variety in the make.  Yokes, belts, piped runnings, Norfolk pleats, revers and military braidings ring many changes, and there is plenty of choice in colours.  A new material—stockingnette and crape lisse combined—makes acceptable jerseys for evening wear. "

(I'm not sure if the writer is referring here to "jerseys" as in the knitted upper garment, or "jerseys" as in a type of finely knitted cloth (usually made of silk or wool in the nineteenth century).  Either way it meant their garments had a certainly amount of "give", while still retaining their shapes.  Since bodices were extremely tight and and molded to the figure throughout the decade this would give women some freedom of movement, while still allowing them to be fashionable.

Incidentally, many fashion historians attribute the introduction of jersey as outerwear to Coco Chanel in the 1920s—clearly not the truth as this article shows!  Perhaps this is a problem with treating fashion history as the story of the Great Designers, without looking at what people actually wore.)

Jersey jacket ca. 1880, V&A

There is a large choice in all these durable sorts of collars and cuffs, and many are made of silk covered with black lace, with a bow in front, in form like a linen collar... At some of the milliners' and drapers' ready-made bows are sold, which almost trim a bonnet or form a head-dress in themselves.

(Cassell's suggested that women who were "clever with the needle" save money by making their own.)

"Our Paris Correspondent" chimes in to tell her readers about the latest trends in France:

....There is no doubt that the one leading idea just now is the Incroyable period in Paris—square double collars, double-breasted gowns cut in one with the skirt, are introduced in the redingote for out-door wear, and on the tea-gowns for in-doors.

(In other words, a nostalgic harking back to the 1790s!  She goes into some detail about the latest styles, no doubt for her readers wishing to reproduce them at home.)

"Quite works of art and very beautiful are the trimmings of the season... Very pretty floral trimmings are to be seen on evening dresses ; the square and V-shaped bodices are outlined with ruches of of rose-leaves, of poppies, or laburnum, a tuft of flowers on the side ; these are continued to the point of the gown in front like a stomacher.

"... A great many women in France would seem to be wearing the coloured and printed percale underclothing, but there is nothing new in the making to chronicle.   A very objectionable folly is gaining ground, viz, the wearing the minimum of clothes in order to reduce the bulk of the figure, with the result of laying the foundations of all sorts of illnesses and weaknesses.

"The petticoats for winter are made in pretty checks of silk or wool, as well as in the old stripes.  The flannel petticoats, too, are of striped soft woolly materials with broad lace flounces."

La Mode Illustrée (1880)

It's December and the festive season has begun—which means parties, parties and more parties!  In the spirit of the season I'm going to spend the month posting pictures of evening and party dress.  To kick things off, here is an engraving from La Mode Illustrée of November the 21st 1880.   It depicts three young ladies dressed for a ball, though I must confess their outfits look uncomfortably tight for dancing to me!

Bustle Dresses (from "Mode Pour Tous", 1888)

Fashion historians call the 1880s the "second bustle era" (as opposed to the "first bustle era" which was the 1870s).  The distinguishing feature of the 1880s bustle was the way it stuck out the wearer's lower back at a 90° angle—and, oh, have you ever seen any fashion so ridiculous?

No, seriously, it's a bizarre style.  And how was it created?  Well let's take a look:

Here we have a contemporary advertisement for a "dress improver" from Myra's Journal of Fashion.  This contraption was buckled around the wearer's waist, and it looks like a fiendishly uncomfortable Victorian torture device.  Notice the springs on the back: presumably they made it possible to push the bustle aside when the wearer wanted to do complicated things like sitting down.

Looking slightly less like a mad scientist's nightmare, is this "muslin skirt" offered for sale in an Altman's catalogue from 1886.  The "steels" holding it out could be removed for washing, which must have been a tedious washday chore.

Lastly, from Strawbridge and Clothier in 1885: another bustle.  This one is made of hair cloth.  It doesn't specify what species the hair came from (probably horse hair), but at least the article in question looks well padded and comfortable to sit on!

Carte de visite photograph, circa 1883

Dating these old photographs usually takes some detective work.  In this case it was easy.  On the back of this carte de visite was the name of the photographer's studio:

FROM THE STUDIO OF
Lamartiniere & Kerry
Artists
Photographers
306 George Street
SYDNEY

Lamartiniere took Kerry into partnership in 1883, absconding shortly afterwards and taking all of Kerry's capital with him.  (Kerry, however, was left with the business, which he expanded from a small portrait studio to a large photography business specialising in news pictures and landscapes.)  This picture can safely be dated between 1883, when Lamartiniere and Kerry became partners, to 1884 when Lamartiniere took off.

I'm inclined to give it the earlier date because the sitter's clothes, though smart, are slightly old-fashioned even for 1883.  Her hair is worn down which indicates she was still an adolescent when this picture was taken—not an adult who would have worn her hair up.  Perhaps her clothes were hand-me-downs from an older sister?

Photograph, 1889

Though this small photograph is spotted with age, it has one unusual gift for the fashion historian - an exact date!  According to the information printed on the back it was taken by Thomas Forrest of the Cambrian Studio in Pontypridd on March the 22nd 1889.  The sitter's costume is slightly old fashioned for the era, illustrating the way styles lagged between the centres of fashion and the provinces.

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. 

Photograph, ca. 1880

This elegant lady - clearly dressed in velvet - had her picture taken by an anonymous photographer at the East Kent Photographic Company in Canterbury (England).  The narrow lines of her costume are typical of the late 1870s and early 1880s, as is the train she is holding up.  The hat she is wearing, however, was fashionable in the early 1880s, which would put this picture in the latter decade.

Another reason for tentatively dating this photograph to 1880 is the number "221180" written on the back, which could quite possible represent the date it was taken!

Girl's Own Paper, September 1884

In our large sketch by the seaside our artist has taken a portion of the beach at Ramsgate as a background for his figures, and everyone looks thoroughly comfortable, as if their holiday was a real one, not a sham.

The fashion column in The Girl's Own Paper was called "Dress: In Season and In Reason", but to modern eyes these dresses look neither reasonable nor comfortable wear for the beach!  From left to right the main figures are wearing a "coloured batiste with Venetian embroidery", "a black lace dress, made up over grey silk" and "one of the new tunics with a puffed front".