Fashion 1860-1890
Mirroring the social and educational trends distinguishing children as unique individuals as opposed to miniature adults, this
period in fashion displayed a distinction between lady’s attire and children’s clothes. Ladies wore longer skirts and hoops while
children wore shorter skirts over pantalets clearing demarcating the ages.
Dolls were a focus of a young lady’s education as expressed in the 1878 Delineator:
Cloth
Cotton, silk, wool and combinations of these natural fibers remained popular. Toward the end of the 1860s, silks were weighted
with metals to feel more “luxurious”. Unfortunately, those very metals are responsible for much of the damage to cloth fibers
from this period. Notice the silk has been “destroyed” around the arm where it contacted the leather body on this all original
M&S Superior Papier Mache doll.
Manufacture:
The major inprovements in dyes of the time was the extensive variations in aniline dyes available. Note the extensive
development of purple dyes.
Brussels Lace Late 19th C Brussels Needle Lace 1860s Victorian Lace Late !800s
Style
In response to the wide fashions of ladies’ garments in the 1850s and early 1860s, the late 1860s and 1870s shifted to a tall
and slender silhouette. Ladies dresses gradually shifted fullness from all around the dress to just the back forming the first
bustle period. The bustle then lost favor to a more slender silhouette with the non bustled overskirt. The bustle reappeared in
the 1880s.
1850s round dress late 1860s polonaise late 1860s tunic
Types of dresses include the jacket with basque (basque waist begins at the natural waist and dips to a form a slight V shape in
the front) and underskirt, polonaise with petticoat, tunic with underskirt, princess style, and dresses or skirts with trains after
1870. Polonaise was straight in front and gathered to the back, tunic was draped in front and back, and an overskirt was not
draped at all. Princess style dresses, named for Princess Alexandra, wife of the Prince of Wales, were dresses with no
separate bodice and skirt.
basque jacket with underskirt princess dress simple dress with train
Waistlines were somewhat above the natural waistline and gradually fell. Instead of copious amounts of fabric used to make
wide skirts, the skirt became more modest with the fullness to the back and overskirts used as necessary. Ultimately fullness of
the skirt was entirely in back—the bustle. The bustle started at waist level and gradually dropped to hip level by 1875.
fullness to side & back bustle at waist level bustle at hip level
Everyday dresses were two pieces in contrast with the single piece day dress of the previous period. Hem lengths were
variable depending on age: children of four or five have dresses just below knees, girls of ten or twelve wore dresses at midcalf,
and young ladies of sixteen wore dresses down to the ankle. Ladies wore dresses to the floor, often with trains as shown
above.
Preteen girl Teen, young lady Teen, young lady
Several contrasting but harmonious colors were common. If a print was used a second fabric was usually plain. High necklines
were fashionable especially for day wear. Low necklines were for evening or children’s wear. Sleeves were long or three
quarter length. Pockets were common on the overskirt. Stockings could be colored, striped or plaid. Boots were for outside
wear. Common attachments were tassels, rosettes, or fur. Heels were for ladies and flats for girls and children. Slippers were
worn inside. Chemise and drawer combinations became popular after 1870. Corsets were required to create the silhouette of
the time. Dolls often had corsets in the trouseaux byr some bodies had printed corsets.
This Countess Dagmar original body
has a printed corset and socks with attached shoes and heels.
Trousseaux of the time often included:
Two reactionary movements formed. In the 1860s the artistic movement then in the 1880s the aesthetic movement provided a
counterpoint for traditional fashion. Wikipedia notes:
Artistic dress in Regency style resurrected in the 1870s
Children’s Fashion
Both boys and girls wore skirts from the time they could walk until they reached age 5 or 6. Very small girls wore their skirts just
below knee-length over pantalettes. Skirts were longer as girls grew up until they reached floor length at coming-out (in their
later teens). Older girls wore hoops to hold out their skirts. Young girls wore washable pinafores over their dresses for work and
play to keep them clean.
Alice with period pinafore (dress is reproduction)
modeled after drawings in Lewis Carroll’s book
To contrast with grown up fashion, little girls in the 1880s wore dresses with low waistlines and often lots of fullness to the back.
Jumeau low waist chemise low waist dress classic French Bebe dress Bustle "formed" by bow
Kate Greenaway styles were beginning to be popular with their high waisted but free flowing dresses. They were a staple of
the 1890s.
All original Pierotti wax doll with Kate Greenaway style dress
Dolls representing infants wore the long white dress with short puffed sleeves and cap of the time. Down the front of the long
dress was an inserted panel of lace or embroidery. The cap had rubbles around the face. Booties of white cashmere were
found. A layette from Lavallee-Peronne included a long dress, two capelines (hooded capes), douillette (pelisse with a cape),
and a bib.
Boys wore simple jackets and trousers. The trousers could be knee length or longer. White socks and boots were the
preferred footwear. Sailor outfits were popular. Men’s fashion continued to reflect the long tall dark figure in line with the
factories fueling the Industrial Revolution and the burgeoning middle class. Doll house male dolls were dressed according to
their position in the household.
Resources
Coleman, Dorothy, Elizabeth, and Evelyn. Collector's Book of Dolls' Clothes Costumes in Miniature: 1700-1929. New York:
Crown Publishers 1975.
Gosh, Pat. www.dollcostumersguild.com Site for information on making appropriate period costumes for dolls
Maginnis, Tara, http://www.costumes.org. Site is well organized with excellent pictures and links.
Trestain, Eileen. Dating Fabrics A Color Guide 1800-1960. American Quilters Society, Paducah Ky. 1998.
www.vintageconnection.net resource for information on period costumes including fastenings
www.offray.com resource for history of ribbon
www.fashion-era.com
www.hal.ucr.edu Site for information on Regency dress
www.mini-magic.com Resource for silk ribbons and miniature trims
www.spnea.org New England History Museum
www.straw.com Reference for the history of dyes
www.vroma.org Reference regarding dress of the Roman Empire
www.history.com History Channel collection of articles
www.pastpatterns.com Overview of history of fashion and person sized patterns from many fashion periods
www.gallery.vintagehatshop.com Resource with pictures of headware throughout history
www.orignals-by-kay.com Overview of history of fashion and patterns from many periods
www.koshka-the-cat.com Overview of history of fashion and person sized patterns from many fashion periods
www.robinstokes.com 1860s prints from Godeys
www.history.rochester.edu/godeys 1850s prints from Godeys
www.usc.edu/e_resources Complete Godeys Ladies Book 1830-1880. Must be a member of USC to access electronically.
Other colleges also have access to this complete information. Contact your local University library for information.
www.marlamallett.com Exquisite examples of lace from her personal collection
period in fashion displayed a distinction between lady’s attire and children’s clothes. Ladies wore longer skirts and hoops while
children wore shorter skirts over pantalets clearing demarcating the ages.
Dolls were a focus of a young lady’s education as expressed in the 1878 Delineator:
- Dolls…as objects for the development of maternal sentiments, physiological intelligence, industrial testes and the early
unfolding of the small woman’s domestic capabilities, nothing has yet been invented that can equal them.
The Delineator suggests that making dollies wardrobe will prepare a young lady as a leader of style with her acquired
knowledge of “form, color, fabric, and fashioning”.
Cloth
Cotton, silk, wool and combinations of these natural fibers remained popular. Toward the end of the 1860s, silks were weighted
with metals to feel more “luxurious”. Unfortunately, those very metals are responsible for much of the damage to cloth fibers
from this period. Notice the silk has been “destroyed” around the arm where it contacted the leather body on this all original
M&S Superior Papier Mache doll.
Manufacture:
- Traditional thread proved too fragile for the home sewing machinge and was replaced by three double strand threads
twisted together. By the late 1860’s maker’s labels appeared on clothes as a distinguishing feature of the “best”
garments. Such makers as Huret and Lavalle Perrone made doll clothes with their labels. Store bought was “better” than
homemade at this time. This perspective created an antithesis in the aesthetic dress movement in which hand crafted was
“better” than store bought and machine made.
The major inprovements in dyes of the time was the extensive variations in aniline dyes available. Note the extensive
development of purple dyes.
- 1858-59 Magenta (fuchsin) discovered by Verguin the 2nd basic dye and more widely used than Mauve
1861 Methyl violet, basic dye, by Lauth
1862 Hofmann's Violet, Hofmann was one of the great dye chemists of all time
1862 Bismarck Brown developed by Martius and Lightfoot, first soluble azo dye
1863 Aniline Black, developed by Lightfoot, a black produced by oxidation of aniline on the cotton fiber.
1866 Methyl Violet, basic dye
1868 Graebe and Liebermann, German chemists, produced alizarin (synthetic madder). this was the first time a
synthetic substitute for a vegetable dye had been manufactured. W.H.Perkin also synthesized it about the same time,
but independently.
1872 Methyl Green by Lauth and Baubigny, still in use, basic dye
1873 Cachou de Laval, 1st sulphur dye, a brown, by Groissant and Bretonniere, France
1875-76 Caro and Witt prepared Chrysoidine, 1st important member of azo class of dye
1876 Caro, an important dye chemist, discovered Methyl Blue, an important
1877 Malachite Green, basic dye by Dobner and Fisher
1878 Biebrich Scarlet invented, a very pure red acid dye, rivalling cochineal in brightness
1878 von Baeyer synthesized synthetic indigo. It was not marketed until 1897
- Pleating
Ruching
Shirring
Braid
Fringe
Quilling
Velvet ribbon
Lace including samples such as these:
Brussels Lace Late 19th C Brussels Needle Lace 1860s Victorian Lace Late !800s
Point Angleterre Late 1800s
Vandyking
Rosettes
Style
In response to the wide fashions of ladies’ garments in the 1850s and early 1860s, the late 1860s and 1870s shifted to a tall
and slender silhouette. Ladies dresses gradually shifted fullness from all around the dress to just the back forming the first
bustle period. The bustle then lost favor to a more slender silhouette with the non bustled overskirt. The bustle reappeared in
the 1880s.
1850s round dress late 1860s polonaise late 1860s tunic
Types of dresses include the jacket with basque (basque waist begins at the natural waist and dips to a form a slight V shape in
the front) and underskirt, polonaise with petticoat, tunic with underskirt, princess style, and dresses or skirts with trains after
1870. Polonaise was straight in front and gathered to the back, tunic was draped in front and back, and an overskirt was not
draped at all. Princess style dresses, named for Princess Alexandra, wife of the Prince of Wales, were dresses with no
separate bodice and skirt.
basque jacket with underskirt princess dress simple dress with train
Waistlines were somewhat above the natural waistline and gradually fell. Instead of copious amounts of fabric used to make
wide skirts, the skirt became more modest with the fullness to the back and overskirts used as necessary. Ultimately fullness of
the skirt was entirely in back—the bustle. The bustle started at waist level and gradually dropped to hip level by 1875.
fullness to side & back bustle at waist level bustle at hip level
Everyday dresses were two pieces in contrast with the single piece day dress of the previous period. Hem lengths were
variable depending on age: children of four or five have dresses just below knees, girls of ten or twelve wore dresses at midcalf,
and young ladies of sixteen wore dresses down to the ankle. Ladies wore dresses to the floor, often with trains as shown
above.
Preteen girl Teen, young lady Teen, young lady
Several contrasting but harmonious colors were common. If a print was used a second fabric was usually plain. High necklines
were fashionable especially for day wear. Low necklines were for evening or children’s wear. Sleeves were long or three
quarter length. Pockets were common on the overskirt. Stockings could be colored, striped or plaid. Boots were for outside
wear. Common attachments were tassels, rosettes, or fur. Heels were for ladies and flats for girls and children. Slippers were
worn inside. Chemise and drawer combinations became popular after 1870. Corsets were required to create the silhouette of
the time. Dolls often had corsets in the trouseaux byr some bodies had printed corsets.
This Countess Dagmar original body
has a printed corset and socks with attached shoes and heels.
Trousseaux of the time often included:
- 2-10 dresses, some Princess, some jacket and skirts with polonaise, some with Russian tunic, high neck with no
collars, long sleeves with two seams
At least 1 separate bodice and separate skirts some of cotton, some of silk
Jacket for outerwear and a muff
Petticoat with attached bodice, petticoat, drawers
Wrapper and nightgown, pinafore, apron,
Hat often straw, with flowers and ribbons down the back, and bonnet to match dresses
Jewelry my include a necklace, a choker of ribbon, a bracelet
Miscellaneous items might include: sacques, opera cloaks, shawls, fichus, waterproofs, gloves, fans, parasols,
combs, hairbrushes, clothes brushes, tooth brushes, and a toilette box with soap, pomade, cologne, perfume, nail
brush, shoe buttoners, sponge, powder box and cup.
Two reactionary movements formed. In the 1860s the artistic movement then in the 1880s the aesthetic movement provided a
counterpoint for traditional fashion. Wikipedia notes:
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were conscious archaizers, emulating
the work of the "old masters" and choosing romantic, medieval subjects. They dressed their models in long flowing
gowns loosely inspired by styles of the Middle Ages. These styles were then adopted by the painters' wives and
models for everyday dress. Dresses were loosely fitted and comparatively plain, often with long puffed sleeves; they
were made from fabric in muted colors derived from natural dyes, and could be ornamented with embroidery in the art
needlework style. Artistic dress was an extreme contrast to the tight corsets, hoop skirts and bustles, bright synthetic
aniline dyes, and lavish ornamentation seen in the mainstream fashion of the period.
The Aesthetes' belief that the Arts should provide refined sensuous pleasure was a direct rejection of the reverence
for simplicity and handwork propounded by William Morris. Aesthetic dress encompasses a range of modes, from the
Japonnaise gowns and Kate Greenaway-inspired children's smocks of Liberty & Co. to the velvet jackets and knee
breeches of Oscar Wilde's "aesthetic lecturing costume" for his speaking tour of America in 1882.
Artistic dress in Regency style resurrected in the 1870s
Children’s Fashion
Both boys and girls wore skirts from the time they could walk until they reached age 5 or 6. Very small girls wore their skirts just
below knee-length over pantalettes. Skirts were longer as girls grew up until they reached floor length at coming-out (in their
later teens). Older girls wore hoops to hold out their skirts. Young girls wore washable pinafores over their dresses for work and
play to keep them clean.
Alice with period pinafore (dress is reproduction)
modeled after drawings in Lewis Carroll’s book
To contrast with grown up fashion, little girls in the 1880s wore dresses with low waistlines and often lots of fullness to the back.
Jumeau low waist chemise low waist dress classic French Bebe dress Bustle "formed" by bow
Kate Greenaway styles were beginning to be popular with their high waisted but free flowing dresses. They were a staple of
the 1890s.
All original Pierotti wax doll with Kate Greenaway style dress
Dolls representing infants wore the long white dress with short puffed sleeves and cap of the time. Down the front of the long
dress was an inserted panel of lace or embroidery. The cap had rubbles around the face. Booties of white cashmere were
found. A layette from Lavallee-Peronne included a long dress, two capelines (hooded capes), douillette (pelisse with a cape),
and a bib.
Boys wore simple jackets and trousers. The trousers could be knee length or longer. White socks and boots were the
preferred footwear. Sailor outfits were popular. Men’s fashion continued to reflect the long tall dark figure in line with the
factories fueling the Industrial Revolution and the burgeoning middle class. Doll house male dolls were dressed according to
their position in the household.
Resources
Coleman, Dorothy, Elizabeth, and Evelyn. Collector's Book of Dolls' Clothes Costumes in Miniature: 1700-1929. New York:
Crown Publishers 1975.
Gosh, Pat. www.dollcostumersguild.com Site for information on making appropriate period costumes for dolls
Maginnis, Tara, http://www.costumes.org. Site is well organized with excellent pictures and links.
Trestain, Eileen. Dating Fabrics A Color Guide 1800-1960. American Quilters Society, Paducah Ky. 1998.
www.vintageconnection.net resource for information on period costumes including fastenings
www.offray.com resource for history of ribbon
www.fashion-era.com
www.hal.ucr.edu Site for information on Regency dress
www.mini-magic.com Resource for silk ribbons and miniature trims
www.spnea.org New England History Museum
www.straw.com Reference for the history of dyes
www.vroma.org Reference regarding dress of the Roman Empire
www.history.com History Channel collection of articles
www.pastpatterns.com Overview of history of fashion and person sized patterns from many fashion periods
www.gallery.vintagehatshop.com Resource with pictures of headware throughout history
www.orignals-by-kay.com Overview of history of fashion and patterns from many periods
www.koshka-the-cat.com Overview of history of fashion and person sized patterns from many fashion periods
www.robinstokes.com 1860s prints from Godeys
www.history.rochester.edu/godeys 1850s prints from Godeys
www.usc.edu/e_resources Complete Godeys Ladies Book 1830-1880. Must be a member of USC to access electronically.
Other colleges also have access to this complete information. Contact your local University library for information.
www.marlamallett.com Exquisite examples of lace from her personal collection
courtesy Theriaults
courtey Theriaults
