Enjoying one last moment of the AC before the heat and humidity of Allen street.
Walking Dress
And For Some More Mauve…
Pleating takes time, but it’s the understitching to the foundation skirt that takes even longer! 🙂
And For A Little More Early 1880s Style…
Edouard Alexandre Sain, The Red Parasol, Private Collection
Today we continue our exploration of early 1880s style with a special emphasis on bodices. To illustrate the variety of bodice styles that were out there, here’s a small sample from the April 1880 issue of Peterson’s Magazine, starting with, what is described as a “walking costume of blue-stripe serge:”
Here’s some more detail from Peterson’s:
The demi-long train is kilt plaited, and the round tunic which ends in a point is caught up at the back, and finished with several rows of machine stitching. The deep basque bodice has a pointed waistcoat and revers, and is ornamented with buttons.
As befitting a walking dress, this dress is very simple and unadorned, consisting of an over/underskirt combination combined with a basque bodice. As with many bodices of this period, the bodice is one piece that mimics a coat and vest combination. The skirt is plain with a little fullness to the rear that creates a thin train of sorts that’s continued with a pleated demi-train on the underskirt. Overall, the effect is that of a woman’s tailored suit.
Next up are are visiting and house dresses, also featured in the April edition of Peterson’s:
And here’s the accompanying description of the two dresses:
[Left] Visiting dress of almond-colored Camel’s hair: The skirt has four plaited flounces edged with brown cashmere, shot with gold color. The over-dress opens part way down the front, is very plain, and slightly draped at the back; it is of almond-colored camel’s hair; the jacket with the added basque is of the brown cashmere, threaded with gold color. A brown straw bonnet trimmed with almond or with gold color would be very appropriate with this costume.
[RIght] House dress of gray bunting, trimmed with very gay plaid bandanna, or cotton material; the skirt is l:ilt-plaited to the knee, and the kilting is trimmed with two bands of cotton bandanna; the full tunic forms two points at the sides, and a draped breadth at the back. Bodice with a simulated waistcoat. Cuffs and collar of the bandanna.
As with the walking dress, both of the above dresses have basque bodices that have been cut as jackets. The bodice on the visiting dress on the left is long, extending past the hips and is reminiscent of the Louis XV style. On the other hand, the bodice on the house dress is much shorter, just covering the hips and follows relatively more sculpted lines. For skirts, both feature outer/underskirts; the outerskirt on the visiting dress is draped, falling open to feature rows of pleating on the underskirt. For the house dress, the skirts are both closed and lay directly on top of one another with the outerskirt falling away in an open “v” towards the bottom, revealing rows of pleating on the underskirt.
The polonaise was another popular style and like the basque, it could appear in a variety of styles as see with these illustrations from the February and March 1880 issues of Demorest’s Family Journal:
As can be seen from the above sampling, there were a wide variety of polonaise styles available on the market, all aimed at a mass market in pattern form. In our next post, we’ll be looking at some extant dresses from the early 1880s that illustrate the wide variety of basque and polonaise bodice styles.
Modes Robe De Jour Vers 1895
Fashion in the 1890s saw an explosion in dress styles and especially when it came to skirt and jacket combinations. Here’s just one interesting example of a circa 1895 day dress (In some instances, “day dress” and “jacket/skirt combinations” are used somewhat interchangeably.) from the Musée de arts decoratifs Paris :
Day Dress, c. 1895; Musée des Arts Décoratifs (26009 AB)
This dress has an interesting color palette consisting of a light gray silk taffeta bodice combined with darker gray silk velvet sleeves for bodice/jacket; and the same light gray taffeta for the outerskirt and train combined with a red and gold silk brocade underskirt. Even more striking is that the lapels on the bodice/jacket are also in the same red and gold silk brocade- the effect is stunning. Below is a close-up of the bodice:
Here, one can make out the stylized pockets surrounded by gold embroidery. Also, the top of a faux vest in the same red brocade can also be seen with a waist underneath. It’s very likely that it’s all one unit giving the effect of multiple layers. Here’s a close up of the brocade:
Below are a couple of profile pictures:
Judging from the pictures, it would appear that the outer and inner skirts are really of one unit and represent an interesting evolution of the over/underskirt combination found on later 19th Century styles. Also, while the bustle style had mostly disappeared by the 1890-91, it still lingered on a bit in a more muted form with padding. Finally, here’s a three-quarter rear view that shows off the train:
This is an interesting dress in that it takes the basic walking suit of the 1890s and then takes it a bit further with using contrasting colors to create an over/underskirt style that’s reminiscent of what was more common in the 1880s. Colorwise, we seen the use of analogous colors with the two shades of gray (although they’re technically neutral) and the use of red as a contrast. It’s not a combination that one normally encounters and it definitely stands out. But what’s more interesting is that the dark gray is on a velvet which absorbs light thereby creating a dull luster while the light gray silk taffeta does the opposite. We hope to come across more interesting examples of this style so stay tuned. 🙂
Late 1880s Walking Dress Style
One of the more interesting late Bustle Era fashion styles was the walking dress and especially when it incorporated the jacket-bodice style. Below is just one interesting example of this style from the late 1880s (the museum lists it as being circa 1885-1890):
Walking Dress, c. 1885-1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1980.126.5
Silhouette-wise, this dress is definitely late 1880s with a somewhat moderate bustle (at least with the museum staging employed) and consists of a jacket-bodice and two skirts. The jacket-bodice is constructed of a black silk velvet which opens to reveal a faux waist that appears to be a light brown silk organza or similar. The front edges, collar, and hem of the outer jacket are trimmed with appliques made from gold bullion and brown and gold embroidery arranged in a floral pattern. The outer “skirt” consists of panels of black velvet decorated in larger versions of the appliques found on the bodice and the inner skirt an embroidered silk brocade. Below is a close-up of the bodice:
The side profile picture below gives a good view of the velvet panels that have been decorated with the large floral appliques:
The picture below gives a good view of the train:
The jacket-bodice walking dress was an extremely versatile style that could be worked in a variety of fabrics , trims, and cuts and was available in paper patterns for the home sewer with these styles that were available through Demorest’s Family Magazine:
The walking dress is an interesting late 1880s style in that it provided a foundation for the more practical walking suit that later developed during the 1890s.