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.

"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.

Ladies' Treasury (July 1877)

Let's vist the Victorians again.  On the left we have a "HOME COSTUME of ash-grey cambric or cashmere" and on the right is a "PROMENADE TOILETTE OR HOME TOILETTE" in ancient turquoise blue valencia or cambric.  The Ladies Treasury expands:

This colour is neither blue nor green, but the precise colour of old turquoise injured by damp.  The petticoat is not very long ; and one may mention here that the ladies of highest rank wear untrained dresses when walking.

To modern eyes, "not very long" looks very long indeed!  The Ladies' Treasury continues with a description of the latest fashions, not to mention fads and fancies.  Here are a choice selection:

COLOURED CAMBRICS of almost every hue, pink excepted, and cambrics with patterns on them, also foulards are universal... These are worn principally in the morning; but where etiquette or necessity does not prescribe a more elaborate toilette, they are worn all the day till the evening.

 (I wonder why pink was so definitely out of fashion in 1877?)

POLONAISES AND TUNICS—The square form of the latter is generally adopted for tunics, as it falls upon the petticoat, and is not generally looped, but cut up at the sides, as in the coloured plate of this number.  In polonaises, which are very long, there is a tendency to a great deal of trimming, as individual tastes have to be met; but only very thin figures can wear much trimming.

(An oblique hint to the magazine's readers not to overdo it?)

Ribbon bows or rather loops, are seen in all dresses.  These ribbons are literally "two-faced", the surfaces being of different colour.  They are thus exceedingly dressy-looking.  At one time these ribbons were coldly received in England, but now they reign.  Not only are bows and loops made of this kind, but also two or three colours in ribbons are used in one knot or næud of ribbon...

"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! 

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's repository, April 1823)

 Merriam-Webster defines "morning dress" for women as "a woman's dress suitable for wear around the home; especially: an informal dress for housework".  This dress, made of "Cyprus crepe, of a pale lavender colour" with "nine bands of of gros de Naples, bound with satin" is a far cry from that.   However the "square collar of worked muslin" and the "round cap of sprigged bobbinet" add a domestic touch to the outfit.  

Surviving morning dresses from this era appear to have used much less expensive material and be much simpler in construction.  They run more to printed cotton than crepe and satin.  One suspects that dresses like the one in this print were only ever worn by a minority of the beau monde, if at all!

In this issue, the fashion writers of Ackermann's Repository penned a few observations on the change of seasons:

The heavy garb of winter begins now rapidly to give way to the lighter attire of spring. Cloth pelisses have disappeared; velvet ones are still partially worn, but they are more generally adopted in silk.  Beaver bonnets are seldom seen; Leghorn and silk are very general.  Swans-down muffs and tippets begin to be substituted in carriage dress for ermine and chinchilla.

"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.

La Mode (March 1839)

 

Like many nineteenth century fashion plates, this one was separated from of the magazine where it was originally published.  This means it has no context.  We can hazard a guess that it was published in a French magazine and happily it has a date printed on it, but otherwise we can't know what types of outfits these ladies are wearing (morning dress? promenade dress? afternoon dress?) or what their garments are made of.  Chances were that their garments were made of silk, plain (on the left) and figured (on the right) both being favoured:

Some of the dresses are decorated with fancy trimming, others with folds... but in whatever manner the skirt is trimmed, the sleeves must always be decorated to correspond.  Silks are upon the whole the materials most in request for promenade robes, for though white muslin begins to appear, it is but slowly, and mousselines de laine though enjoying a certain vogue, are not so distingué as silk.

The New Monthly Belle Assemblee, June 1839.

The Court and Ladies' Magazine of March 1839 announces that:

The newest mousselines de laine and de soie, are striped, two, three and four colours... Striped silks and satins are likewise coming in, so that striped dresses will be de rigeur this season.

Court and Ladies' Magazine, March 1839

Nearly two centuries later, what seems most evident is the way in which the fashionable silhouette of the 1830s has almost become that of the 1840s.  Skirts are now bell-shaped and reach the ground, while the full sleeves, modish in the earlier part of the decade, have shrunk and slid down to the lower half of the arm.  The bonnets our models are wearing are not quite as small and enclosing as the "poke" bonnets of the 1840s, but they're getting there.

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, March 1823)

 

Our model from March 1823 is warmly dressed in 

A deep amethyst-colour pelisse... wadded, and lined with pink sarsnet; a little wrapt, and fastened down the front with hooks and eyes...

It was trimmed with velvet.  

A pelisse was a front-fastening, full length coat with sleeves.  As an outdoor garment its main competition was the shawl:

Our fair pedestrians now rarely envelop themselves at once in a shawl and pelisse, though the latter have lost nothing of their attraction; but they present no peculiar novelty at present.  Shawls are confined entirely to high dresses: the Angola shawls begin to decline; but those of India are as fashionable as ever.  Promenade gowns are still principally of tabinet or silk: black is much worn in the latter.

So popular were Indian shawls that an entire industry developed around making cheaper imitations.  The most notable of these were the paisley shawls manufactured in Paisley near Glasgow.   Alas for Paisley, the industry collapsed when shawls fell out of fashion in the late 1860s, though the word "paisley" is still used to describe the kind of patterns that were woven into these shawls!

"Recent Ideas on Dress Reform" (Girl's Own Paper, November 1 1890)

 As socially conscious Victorian women set out to reform the world, some began see a need to reform their own clothes as well.  The "Dress Reform" movement became particularly vigorous in the English speaking world, with middle-class reformers on both sides of the Atlantic and through the British empire trying to find ways to make Victorian fashions healthier, easier to move in and more comfortable.

Alas for all their efforts, most Victorian women stuck to their unhealthy, restrictive and uncomfortable garments, preferring discomfort to attracting ridicule!  As it happened, there was some movement towards more practical and comfortable dress in the forms of tea gowns for leisure and skirt suits for the "New" working woman.  However it took a World War and some quite drastic social changes before the ideas of the dress reformers became fashionable.

Annie Jeuness Miller was an American editor and women's dress reformer. She created her own system of dress, which the Girl's Own Paper reported on in November 1890.

 MRS. JEUNESS MILLER is as equally determined to abolish the corset as our own dress reformers, though she begins more circumspectly.  But I find she has also been obliged to give way to those who desire a bodice of some kind, and has invented a very pretty-looking model bodice with a neck-yoke, the bodice buttoning in front and lacing at the back.  The need felt for a bodice is probably owing to the lack of warmth realised when the stays are left off, and also to the want of support of some kind. 

Our illustrations show the whole of the garments which Mrs Miller suggests.  The first is the ordinary woven "combination", as we call it, which may be of silk, thread, cotton or wool, or, what is nearly as warm, of stout spun-silk.  This garment we can now obtain of every good draper in England; and for India, of gauze, silk, or wool.  The next garment in this system is called the "chemisette" and this is an improved cut of "combinations" or union dress, or the union of the drawers and chemise of old days.  This garment has a yoke at the neck, and fits the figure closely.  The next article of clothing is an improved version of the "divided skirt," which was invented by Lady Harberton, but has a better-fitting yoke, and is, in general aspects, more practical.  These three last-named garments are made in all materials—cotton, flannel, mohair or alpaca, cashmere and silk.  I find that Mrs Miller has much adopted the natural-coloured tussore as a material, and certainly nothing could prove a wiser selection, or wear better.  "It washes like a rag," as the vulgar saying is...

...The chief thing to be noticed is the admirable idea of a dress-form, that is to say, a dress foundation—one on which every dress can be made, the trimmings being made to suit the prevailing styles, so that each may have her own taste unshackled, and wear what suits her best.  This dress-form is accurately fitted, is well boned, and is made of the material of each dress.  Our illustration of it shows exactly what it looks like, and how, by a clever alteration of Mrs Miller's own, the chief defect, so often found in the "Princess dress," is got over—i.e. the cutting across the front, so as to permit the skirt and the bodice being fitted accurately on the wearer...

The dresses we show in our illustrations were all made in this manner; and it can be gathered from them how easy it is to make any style of drapery or ornamentation to suit the foundation.  The greatest freedom of movement is gained by the dress being made in one piece, and for the home dressmaker this seems an immense advance.

Mrs. Jeuness Miller considers that one of the great essentials for a perfectly health-promoting dress is to get rid of bands at the waist, and though the waist is larger, it is more natural in form, more healthy, and more comfortable.  All the garments are made in one piece, and the weight and warmth are equally distributed.  The ordinary dress is always worn, and there is no desire to have anything conspicuous or ugly; nothing revolutionary is intended, and there is nothing to attract attention in the reformed costume but its superior prettiness and grace.

"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!

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, February 1823)

 Before the middle of the twentieth century no respectable person would be seen outdoors without some kind of headgear.  This meant that hats and headdresses were as necessary to a complete outfit as shoes—and much more visible.

1. [Top left]  Bolivar hat of black velvet; the brim, narrow and equal width, is continued from the right side about the satin band of the crown, form a double front, which is finished on the left with a small gold tassel...

(Named for the South American freedom fighter Simon Bolivar, the "Bolivar hat" had a broad brim and a cylindrical crown.  While the Bolivar hat was usually worn by men, this version has been adapted for women.)

2. [Top right] Cap of tulle; the crown covered with three satin tulip leaves...

(Caps were worn indoors by married and older single women.  They performed a double function of proclaiming the wearer's status and concealing thinning and/or greying hair.)

3. [Centre] Circassian turban of silver muslin, with a bird of Paradise, beneath which is a rich ostrich feather falling very low on the left side.

(If caps were worn indoors during the day, turbans were worn with formal evening wear.)

4. [Bottom left]  Bonnet composed of Ponceau velvet...  This bonnet is very fashionable in black velvet and satin, with pomegranate-blossoms.

5. [Bottom right]  Bonnet composed of gros de Naples of two colours: the crown, which is round, and rather low, is of lemon colour; the front is of lavender colour, and very full, but confined by four flat straps, which are continued withinside...

(While hats were worn, bonnets were THE most fashionable head wear for women through most of the nineteenth century.  Like all fashions bonnet styles were in constant flux. The ones depicted here are starting to increase in size, culminating with the very LARGE bonnets worn in the late 1820s and early 1830s.)

200 Years Ago (Ackermann's Repository, January 1823)

 ... Or to give its title in full: Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics.  The "fashions" part of the journal consisted of a pair of fashion plates in each issue, along with descriptions of the plates and articles reporting on the latest fashion news from London and Paris.

To start off 1823 on a suitably festive note, we have a ball dress.

White crèpe lisse dress, worn over a bright pink satin slip; the corsage of white satin, cut bias, and fits the shape: it is ornamented with simple elegance, being separated into narrow straps, nearly two inches deep, and edged with two small folds of pink crèpe lisse set in a narrow band of folded white satin, finished with a tucker of the finest blond lace. The sleeve is short, of very full white crèpe lisse, partly concealed by two rows of white satin diamonds, edged with pink crèpe lisse, and united by half a dozen minute folds of white satin: at the botton of the dress is one row of large full puffs or bouffantes, of white crèpe lisse; between each are eight white satin loops, attached to the bouffantes, and surrounding a cluster of half-blown China roses.  The hair, without ornament, à la Grecque.  Ear-rings, necklace, armlets, and bracelets, of dead gold, with pink topazes and emeralds, interspersed, and fastened by padlock-snaps studded with emeralds. Long white kid gloves.  Pink satin shoes.

From all this verbiage I come away with a two key points.  Firstly, that the "bright pink slip" was meant to be seen under the transparent overskirt (unlike the twentieth century garments of the same name).  Secondly, that the bias cut was not invented by Vionnet in the early twentieth century, though here it is only used to make the bodice.  The engraving informs me that waists were still fairly high and skirts narrow in the early 1820s, though the use of decorations at the hem is a first step in making skirts fuller.

The Repository doesn't name a dressmaker, so I've no idea if this was an actual garment or an artist's  fantasy.   Readers of this detailed description, however, would probably have been able to use it to create a facsimile with the aid of their dressmaker—though they might have used less expensive materials!  

(The Philadelphia Museum of Art has put scans of the complete run of Ackermann's Repository up on the Internet Archive.)

Suits (The Delineator, May 1896)

 suit 

/su:t/

noun

1. a set of outer clothes made of the same fabric and designed to be worn together, typically consisting of a jacket and trousers or a jacket and skirt.

Women had worn matching skirt and bodice combinations before the 1890s (sometimes described by contemporaries as "suits") but it wasn't until the last decade of the nineteenth century that the classic pairing of skirt and jacket came into vogue.  The costumes illustrated below have typically tiny Victorian waists and sweeping skirts—not to mention those fantastic balloon sleeves—but they are undoubtedly plainer and more... businesslike than anything that came before.  Women were gradually moving out of the home and into the wider world, and their clothes reflected that.

Ladies' Jacket and Skirt. "...The jaunty box fronts are lapped and closed in double breasted style with button holes and buttons placed at the throat and below the waist... The collar is in military turn-down style and is inlaid with black velvet."

Ladies' Eton Costume.  "The newest style in the popular Eton costume is here illustrated, brown mixed cheviot being shown in the jacket and skirt and figured red silk in the blouse-waist."

Ladies Basque and Skirt.  "The toilette is here pictured made of cadet gray cloth and stylishly decorated with black braid, gilt buttons and black silk cord."

Ladies' Jacket and Skirt.  "The toilette is a most desirable style for the promenade and general outdoor wear and includes a covert jacket and a stylish skirt.  Light-brown broadcloth was here selected for the jacket which is skillfully shaped to give a long effect to the waist..."

Ladies' Toilette  "This toilette is somewhat severe in style, but is given much distinction by its military air.  It is here shown made up in a Scotch mixture and decorated with braid and buttons."

Gentlemen of Fashion (La Mode, 1832)

 J.C. Flügel called it "the great masculine renunciation", that is, the early nineteenth century abandonment of colour and ornament in men's dress.  That's not to say that men's dress couldn't be stylish —as depicted in these fashion plates from La Mode below.

 

 

Here we have one gentleman on the left wearing an early version of the frock coat, another on the right in a double breasted tail coat.  Both were acceptable forms of daywear in the 1830s.  The man on the right wears his coat flung open to display his patterned waistcoat, also nicely framed by his wide revers.  The outfits are not yet what we'd call suits, as the coats are worn with lighter, not matching trousers.  They are accessorised with high hats, canes, and fancy neckcloths worn over high collars.

This plate depicts two gentlemen in sporting gear.  The man on the left is dressed to go shooting (complete with natty cap and hunting belt), while the gentleman on the right is ready to go riding (as shown by the riding crop he is carrying). 

At first I thought both these gentlemen were wearing dressing gowns, but then I noticed the hat on the mantelpiece, and the buttons on the garment worn by the gentleman on the left, I realised that he was wearing a form of long overcoat ("reddingote" in the French caption, from the English "riding coat").  He's clearly a man-about-town dropping in to visit his friend in the velvet dressing gown on the divan at the right.  The man on the right is also wearing some kind of cap, possibly a smoking cap used to keep the smell of tobacco from permeating the wearer's hair.

All the models have neatly trimmed and styled facial hair, an intermediate step between the clean-shaven faces of the previous generation, and the wild whiskers of the mid-Victorians!

(Images from the Bunka Gakuen University Library.)

Plates from "The New Monthly Belle Assemblee" (December 1843)

 It's the end of the year, and time to start looking at the fashions of Decembers past.  Let's start with these fashion plates from The New Monthly Belle Assemblee" in December 1843:

 

 

 The full length figures depict (on the left) a carriage dress of red velvet, worn under a Cashmere shawl, while on the right is a public promenade dress of grey alpaca ornamented with braiding, worn underneath a cloak of pale brown watered satin.  At top the half length figures show a morning visiting dress, an evening dress in light green satin and a carriage dress.

 

Once again starting with the full length figures: on the left is a public promenade dress in broad pink and narrow black stripes, worn with a dark blue velvet mantle trimmed with sable fur.  On the right is a carriage dress in satin, under a cape in grey Cashmere bound with green satin.

At the top the half length figures depict: a morning dress, a morning visiting dress and a demi-toilette.  "Demi-toilette" (literally, "half-dress") has been variously defined as a "subdued evening dress" and as a dress worn for a daytime party.   As the model here is depicted as wearing a bonnet with her "demi-toilette" I would say that it is intended for day wear.

"Bikes and Bloomers" by Kat Jungnickel

Let's start by quoting Susan B. Anthony:

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”

The invention of the safety bicycle and the subsequent cycling craze of the 1890s enabled many a woman to pedal her way to freedom, but it wasn't a completely smooth ride.  Cycling women not only ran counter to Victorian ideas of Woman's Place (in the home, not gadding around on the roads!) but there was also the problem of what they should wear.  Conventional dress—long skirts and petticoats—was inconvenient, and sometimes downright dangerous, whereas "rational" dress (i.e. bloomers) was considered indecent and apt to get one harassed on the street.

In Bikes and Bloomers, Kat Jungnickel looks at this dilemma and some of the solutions for it arrived at by Victorian women inventors.  She makes a detailed examination of five patents for cycling costumes and the women who took them out: Alice Bygrave, Julia Gill, Frances Henrietta Müller, Mary and Sarah Pease, and Mary Ward. 

 Alice Bygrave created the most commercially successful cycling costume, the "Bygrave" with a skirt that could be raised or lowered with a system of cords, pulleys and weights.  (It is shown on the cover of Bikes and Bloomers as worn by her cousin Rosina Lane, a competitive racing cyclist!)  Julia Gill's invention, on the other hand, was never put into production.  As she was a court dressmaker and as her costume was "daring" by the standards of the day, it's possible that she only created it as a publicity stunt.  Frances Henrietta Müller was a lifelong feminist, one of the first female students at Cambridge and the founder of a women's newspaper.  Her patent was for a three-piece costume including knickerbockers and a skirt that could be folded up for riding and let down for ordinary wear.  Mary and Sarah Pease devised a costume with a garment that could be worn as a cape while cycling, and as a skirt after dismounting from the bike.  Mary Ward's costume was the most conservative— a skirt with a hem that could be raised or lowered as convenient.

As a part of her research, Kat Jungnickel reproduced every one of these costumes, drafting patterns from the original patent specifications and trying out the finished garments on a bike.  (The patterns are included among the illustrations in Bikes and Bloomers, if anyone is game to try them!)  However the book is more than just a costume history—it is a social history exploring the changing lives of Victorian women, the development of technology and invention, popular recreations in the late nineteenth century and much more.    

  

Kat Jungnickel
Bikes and bloomers: Victorian women inventors and their extraordinary cycle wear
9781906897758
London: Goldsmiths Press, 2018.

More Blouses—and a Bodice (Weldons, June 1897)

What is the difference between a bodice and a blouse?  By the 1890s, not much:

"...by 1890 a blouse had become more than the occasional garment of informal wear.  It became so much worn that in part it lost its original difference from the bodice, and many blouses of the 1890s are as rigidly boned as any of the dress bodices."

Anne M. Buck Victorian Costume and Costume Accessories (1961)

In brief, the main difference seems to have been that a blouse could be worn with any contrasting skirt, whereas a bodice was intended to be worn with only one matching skirt.  Most of the patterns illustrated below are described as "blouses", but it's quite easy to imagine a dressmaker making up a matching skirt for some of these and turning them into "bodices".

 The "Phyllis Blouse" designed for two materials "such as chequered, flowered or plain silk or satin, crȇpon, cachemire, &c., combined with plain soft silk or chiffon".    Excess fabric is "gathered" at the waist and the shoulders.

The "Lydia Blouse" is described as a "dressy design, for fancy silk or satin" and is enlivened with lace, tucks, gathers and frills.  A box pleat (lined with muslin) runs down the front, no doubt in order to conceal the fastenings at the front.

The Ellaline Blouse, double breasted and "suited to fancy and plain silk, trimmed with insertion or lace, braid or beads".

Pattern no. 13617—simply described as "a smocked blouse" and appears very much plainer than most of the blouses featured in this issue of Weldon's Ladies' Journal.   There is no detailed description of the pattern in the magazine, the editors claiming they lacked room for it in the issue.

Still plainer (and also without an accompanying description) is this "Russian Blouse".  Based on a traditional moujik's smock, it opens on one side and is belted in at the waist.

The "Nordica" blouse has a plastron (plastron: ornamental front of a woman's bodice or shirt consisting of colourful material with lace or embroidery) of "coarse lace mounted over coloured silk".

"A Fancy Silk Blouse" is described as having a "full plastron of plain silk" hooking invisibly beneath the accordion-pleated frills gathered on the front.

And lastly, a "bodice"—"The Henrietta Bodice"!  The corselet and the "Zouave part" of this design are to be made of coarse lace over coloured silk or satin and the band collar mounted on canvas.  The whole is fastened down the centre with hooks and eyes.

"The New Monthly Belle Assemblee" (October 1843)

Let's take a quick look at what the Early Victorian woman of fashion would have ideally worn, courtesy of some plates from The New Monthly Belle Assemblee.   It should be noted that only a minority of women wore clothes like this made of fine fabrics and intended for very specific occasions.  Even most of the women who read this magazine might have seen them as more to be aspired to than actually worn!

As usual, the person who wrote the original descriptions of these plates interlarded the text with a lot of obscure French fashion jargon.  The words for today are maucheron (an ornament worn on the upper sleeve) and demi toilette (a costume which is formal enough for most social occasions, but not quite as formal as full evening dress).

 

 The main figure to the left of this fashion plate depicts a two-tiered "London Public Promenade Dress" in rose colour striped with cinnamon colour; worn with a mantelet of green and lavender shot satin, lined with lavender sarsenet (a soft silk fabric).  The bonnet is of "pale orange satin" with velvet flowers.  

The colours as described sound as if they should clash, however the fact that only natural vegetable dyes were available in the 1840s means that the effect might have been softer and less startling than we'd expect.

The figure on the right depicts a "Paris Public Promenade Dress" in blue and white Pekin (a striped silk fabric) with two deep flounces and a bonnet of blue.  This costume seems altogether better coordinated than its London counterpart!

The half figures at the top are (from left to right) a Morning Visiting Dress, a Carriage Dress and a Demi Toilette.

The second plate from this magazine depicts at bottom left, a "demi toilette" in "one of the new shades of grey", trimmed with two "very deep flounces" and sleeves of "moderate width at the top, but increasing in size as [they] descend, and finished with a white satin bonnet, trimmed with pink and white ribbons.

On the right is a "carriage dress" in green and white shaded Pekin and trimmed with quilled ribbons down the front.  The bonnet is of pink satin, trimmed with matching folds of tulle (a fine soft silk or cotton used for making veils and dresses).

The half figures at the top depict—from left to right—a Morning Dress (as a rule less formal than anything worn later in the day) in Victoria plaid, an Evening Dress for a Social Party and on the far right, another Morning Dress in "quadrilled Pekin".

Taking all these illustrations together, we can conclude that fashionable dress in 1843 consisted of full, bell-shaped skirts (often flounced), long pointed bodices cut and ornamented to make them appear even longer and more pointed than they actually were, and tight sleeves, set in low under sloping shoulders.

Tea Gowns (1890s and 1900s)

In 1902 Mrs Eric Pritchard wrote in The Cult of Chiffon:

"And now let us seriously consider the question of the tea-gown from its varying aspects, and see how it is misunderstood and how it can form the ideal of all that is best in dress feminine.  For here we can vanish the practical, and let art have her say without a backward glance at utility.  What I mean is, we cannot trail about the London streets in the flowing garments of beauty; but in our drawing-rooms, when the tea-urn sings at five o'clock, we can don these garments of poetical beauty.

"... Fashion you can cast to the wind if you please, and impart meaning and intention in every fold, in every line of this garment of mystery which can be a very complete reflection of the personality of the wearer."

Tea gowns were loose dresses, usually made without a waist seam, and worn without corsets (or with loosened corsets).  They were closely related to wrappers and kimonos, and shared some of the characteristics of "rational" dress and of artistic styles.  As the quotation above indicates, they were primarily worn at home in the afternoon for relaxing and partaking of tea—but they weren't casual wear.  As the descriptions of the tea gowns below indicate, they could be very dressy garments indeed.

The Delineator, November 1890.  "Ladies Japanese Tea Gown" Figure no. 476L

"The Gown is composed of an under-dress of white India silk and a Kimono or Japanese dress of figured India silk.  The underdress has a full, flowing skirt, which depends from the edge of a fanciful body and is trimmed down the center of the front with a handsome jabot of Italian lace."

The Delineator, May 1896.  Ladies Tea Gown, Pattern no. 8333

"LADIES' TEA-GOWN—The tea-gown is especially handsome in the present combination of black peau de soie bearing large figures in subdued coloring, cream satin and figured maize taffeta, with lace net, lace edging, ribbon and insertion for decoration."

The Delineator, September 1898.  "Ladies Watteau Tea Gown", Pattern no. 1851

"LADIES WATTEAU TEA GOWN—Rich dark plain satin, and plain and figured light satin form the handsome combination here pictured in the tea-gown, and the trimming is original and pleasing, consisting of wide ribbon in a novel bow arrangement and narrower ribbon frilled and edged with lace."

McCall's Magazine March 1901. Tea Gown pattern no. 6442

"LADIES TEA GOWN—White challis patterned with pale blue and green made this artistic tea gown or wrapper.  The pattern is cut with a deep pointed yoke back and front, of pale blue silk entirely covered with white lace insertion, joined by beading run with velvet ribbon, and finished with a deep ruffle of lace... Entirely covering the center closing is a full jabot of white lace."

The Lady's Realm, March 1904

 "At this season of the year the tea-gown holds an important place in the society woman's wardrobe—not the picture frock, which is more or less decolleté, but the warm and cosy wrapper, which is yet smart enough for dining in. Some light, soft fabric, accordion-pleated and made very simply with a big collar or fichu, is charming, and this is a useful garment to wear over a separate slip."

Mrs Eric Pritchard, "London and Paris Fashions", The Lady's Realm, (March 1904)

The Delineator, August 1906, Pattern no. 9412

"9412—A tea-gown for mid-Summer combining daintiness and comfort is here portrayed in embroidered wash voile with lace and ribbon, in linon with German Val insertion and edging, and also in French challis with buttonholed edges."

The Delineator, June 1909.  Pattern no. 3083

"A more elaborate lounging -robe is shown in No. 3083, a ladies' tea-gown or wrapper.  The wrapper may be made in the round length or with the medium sweep and with the high, collarless or open neck.  The body of the wrapper is tucked to the fancy-shaped yoke and falls from the bust in graceful folds.  There are two styles of elbow sleeves, those which are left flowing and those which are gathered into the bands, as well as the full-length leg o' mutton sleeves.  The fancy shaped bolero may be omitted if desired..."

According to my reading, tea gowns were first worn in the 1870s by ladies at country house parties.  At first an informal garment, the tea gown became more elaborate as it moved out of the hostess's boudoir into other parts of the house.  Then in the 1880s it moved out of the country house altogether and down the social scale from the aristocracy to the leisured middle classes.

While tea gowns were worn until the early 1920s, they were at their most fashionable in the last years of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth.  As women's clothes became less constricted and their lives more active the tea gown fell out of favour.  Other styles took its place, including lounging pyjamas in the 1920s and 1930s and hostess gowns in the 1950s and 1960s.