Outerwear

Trending for December 1890- Outerwear

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Even in Southern California (and Southern Arizona, for that matter), December can get cold and when it does, our thoughts rapidly turn to outerwear.  🙂 Today we turn to the December 1890 issue of Demorest’s Family Magazine:

Decidedly the most popular outdoor garment this season is the jacket, which is worn by ladies of all ages, whether of petite or portly figure. All styles agree in having the fitted back, differing only in the use or omission of plaits or lap at the side-form and back seams, and the majority have tight-fitting fronts, either single or double-breasted, the loose fronted “Reefer,” and the open, rolling fronts displaying a vest, being the exceptions.

Here’s some examples of styles pictured in Demorest’s:

One of the more interesting and eminently practical is the “Reefer” Jacket:


Here’s another view of the jacket style as part of a complete outfit from the December issue of Peterson’s Magazine:

Finally, just to round things off here are some pictures of extant originals:

Jacket, c. 1891; Auction in AntiqueDress.com

Skirt Suit Jacket, c. 1895; Victoria & Albert Museum (T.173&A-1969)

Afternoon Jacket, Emile Pingat, c. 1885 – 1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.76)

Jackets were an integral part of any wardrobe of the period, ranging from the purely functional to the extremely fashionable, and there’s a wide range of possibilities for those recreating historical fashions.


And For The Winter Season From Maison Worth

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Norbert Goeneutte, “The Boulevard de Clichy under Snow 1876”

Winter is here and with it, outerwear takes on a whole new importance. Here’s one spectacular design from Maison Worth from the late 1890s to help keep the winter cold at bay… 🙂

Worth, Evening Mantle, c. Late 1890s; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.51.69.2)

This mantle/coat is a stunner with silk velvet (most likely) floral pattern fashion fabric combined with sleeves lined with black silk velvet and collar and upper capelet also of the same black silk velvet. As a counterpoint, the facings are a cream/ivory colored silk satin edged in lace filigree. Finally, trimming the neck are cream/ivory feathers. Below is a close-up of the upper front:

Close-Up of Front

Side Profile

The sides and back really show off the floral pattern fashion fabric nicely.

And below is a close-up of the fashion fabric:

Close-up of fashion fabric.

From the above photo, it appears that the fashion fabric’s floral pattern is either created from burned out velvet or the black floral elements are velvet appliques. It’s hard to tell without examining it in person. And finally, we have the characteristic Maison Worth label:

Label

As with many of Maison Worth’s creations that we’ve viewed online, mere photos don’t tell the whole story and it’s too bad that we aren’t able to view this coat in person because we’re sure it would have a lot more to tell. But in spite of this, it’s still a marvelous example of the designs that Maison Worth produced during the 1880s and 90s. 🙂

 


And We’re Moving Towards Winter (Slowly)

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It’s actually a little cold here in Southern California so we immediately thought of coats so here’s an evening coat from Maison Worth, circa 1902:

Maison Worth, Evening Coat; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.308)

This coat is constructed from a silk brocade with a large floral design and trimmed along the front opening edges and cuffs with an ivory lace. The collar is in the Medici style and also trimmed in ivory lace with two large ivory-colored tulle bows. Finally, the sleeves are wide Mandarin sleeves. It’s interesting to note that the floral pattern has been matched so it’s symmetrical on the front and matches perfectly in the back, as can been seen in the picture below:

And for a view of a live model wearing the coat:

One thing that we found striking is that on initial viewing, it appears to be more of a tea gown with it’s lace and tulle trimming than a coat. It’s an interesting style effect giving both the appearance of something worn only at home while at the same time something that could be worn to a formal public event. This is a garment that we would love to be able examine in person. 🙂 This is definitely something we would love to recreate and it could even be worn today.


And Something For Fall From Maison Worth

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To us, one of our most favorite things about Fall is going out to plays, concerts, and the like. Unfortunately, recent events have eliminated this option but we can still dream and to celebrate Fall, we decided to feature this circa circa 1900 evening coat from Maison Worth:

Worth, Evening Coat, c. 1900; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.94)

Unfortunately, details as to specific fabrics was not readily available but we believe it’s safe to say that the sleeves and upper part of this coat are constructed from a silk velvet. As for the main body of the coat, it’s hard to say without viewing it in person. But nevertheless, the Tudor-inspired black floral pattern provides an interesting counterpoint to the black velvet. The flat floral design motif has a very contemporary feel and while it’s a clean design, it’s still complex at the same time. It definitely catches the eye. Here’s a close-up of the coat (unfortunately the resolution of the available pictures from the MET Museum website are not the best):

Below is a close-up of the floral design. It’s hard to tell whether it was printed or a brocade but knowing Maison Worth, we suspect the latter. 🙂

This is a fascinating coat and bears further examination, especially in how the floral decorated portions integrate with the black velvet portions. We’re sure that the answer is a simple one but unfortunately, the lack of high resolution pictures hampers this.1We really wish that the MET would revised their picture policies. But, nevertheless, we’re still left with a nice Fall feeling and that’s what counts! 🙂


Some More 1880s Outerwear…

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n a previous post, we discussed 1880s outerwear of a more practical outerwear nature and illustrated it with some examples. Today, we focus in just a bit more with this one particular 1880s coat style as illustrated in the November 7, 1886 issue of La Mode de Illustree:

Manteau et toque en peluche garnis de fourrure – Coat and hat trimmed in plush and fur.

This is a very practical style, to say the least and here’s an extant coat from circa 1885 that replicates this design to a great degree:

Coat, c. 1885; Chicago History Museum (1960.592)

This coat is made from a light brown silk velvet plush and trimmed on the opening edges and hem with an ivory lambs wool.  The coat is also lined in the same ivory lambs wool and there are interior ties to help create a snug fit. The center back has an opening to accommodate the bustle/train. This example is probably a bit more on the high end. But just to show that coat styles were not limited to high-end clientele, below are some sample pages from the Strawbridge & Clothier Quarterly Catalog for Spring 18831Strawbridge & Clothier was a department store located in Philadelphia that catered to a mostly middle-class market.:

While a coat may not be necessary for a recreated wardrobe, it’s still good to know about the range of garments that were available back in the 1880s and if nothing else, it’s interesting to see how outerwear was constructed to accommodate what was worn underneath.