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Nineteenth
Century
 Introduction
Women's
dress
Costumes
for Men
Introduction
The nineteenth century is the beginning of a revolution in many fields and
one of them is that of dress. Women discarded the hoops, the panniers, the
embroidered skirts, the towing head - dresses of the ancient regime and clothed
themselves in the garments of classical antiquity. In fact, at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, women wear extremely little, for example, a
long white flimsy dress with a high waist. Men had adopted some changes in
fashion too. They had abandoned the embroidered coat for a plain coat of
cloth, exchanged the tricorne for the top-hat and the lace rabat for the
neckcloth. Instead of breeches, with white stockings and buckled shoes,
they wore pantaloons and riding boots. Hence, men adopted a riding costume
in the nineteenth century.
Let us now move on to a specific period in the nineteenth century- the
Romantic Period. Romanticism represented a reaction against the formal classical
styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. Romantics are concerned more with
content and less with form; they preferred to break rules. Romantic life
style included beards, long hair and unusual clothing. Romanticism in the
arts began to appear, especially in women's dress. Many costumes showed
conscious attempts to revive certain elements of historical dress.
Women's dress
With industrialization and the growing movement of business out of the home
and into an external workplace, women's roles were increasingly confined to the
home. Affluent women were severely limited in their activities.
Women are dressed in the most stylish gowns when sleeves were set low on the
shoulder and they would not have been able to raise their arms above their heads
and were virtually incapable of performing any physical labour. Women from
the working class families, from the rural areas and pioneers, did toil at a
wide variety of tasks. Their garments were less hampering, more practical in form and made from less expensive fabrics. Even so, their dresses
followed the basic style lines and silhouette of the period.
1820 - 1836
The period between 1820 and 1825 was a period of transition between the
Empire styles and the newer Romantic mode. A change in the location of the
waistline took place gradually. By 1825, the waistline had moved downward
from just under the bust to several inches above the anatomical location of the
waist. By 1825,along with the changes in waistline placement, women's
dresses had developed large sleeves which continued to grow larger and gored
skirts which were widening and becoming gradually shorter.
Undergarments
Drawers - more and more worn by women of all social classes. No substantive
changes in their construction.
Chemises - still about knee-length, wide, and usually with short sleeves.
Stays - as dress silhouettes placed greater emphasis on a small waist, stays
shortened and laced tightly to pull in the waist.
Petticoats - multiple layers worn to support the ever-wider skirts of
dresses.
Bustles - in the form of small, down or cotton-filled pads tied on around the
waist and located at the back.
Dresses for daytime
Without trains and fastening at the front or at the back.
Necklines - usually high, to the throat and finishing off with a small collar
or ruff; or V-shaped; or draped with cross-over folds arranged in various ways.
Open necklines were generally filled in with white linen or cotton
"chemisettes".
20's and 30's - many bodices had wide, V-shaped revers extending from
shoulder to waist in front and back. Wide, matching or white-work cape-like
collars also popular.
Sleeves - exceptionally diverse. Fashion periodicals gave many different
names to the styles they showed. The following are the major varieties
identified by the Cunningtons.
-Puffed at shoulder then attached to a long sleeve, which was fitted to the
wrist or, alternatively, a small puff covered by a sheer oversleeve. Decorative
epaulettes (mancherons) sometimes placed at the shoulder. Marie sleeve:
full to the wrist, but tied in at intervals with ribbons or bands.
-Demi-gigot: full from shoulder to elbow, then fitted from elbow to wrist,
often with an extension over the wrist.
-Gigot - also called leg-of-mutton sleeves: full at the shoulder, gradually
decreasing in size to the wrist where they ended in a fitted cuff.
-Imbecile or idiot sleeves: extremely full from shoulder to wrist where they
gathered into a fitted cuff.
NOTE: The name "imbecile" derived from the fact that its
construction was similar to that of sleeves used on garments for confining mad
persons - a sort of "strait jacket" of the period.
Waistlines - generally straight until about 1833 when some V-shaped points
were used at the front. Buckled belts or sashes often are seen at the waist.
Skirts - long, ending at the top of the foot until c. 1828 when they
shortened. From the end of the 20's until 1836, skirts were ankle-length or
slightly shorter, then in 1836 they lengthened again, stopping at the instep.
Shaping - from about 1821 to 1828, skirts were fitted through the hips with
gores, gradually flaring out to ever-greater fullness at the hem. About 1828,
skirts were fuller through the hips and this fullness was gathered or pleated
into the waist. Fabrics used included muslins, printed cottons, challis, merino,
batiste.
Pelisse-robe - the name given to a dress for daytime that was adapted from
the pelisse worn out-of-doors. A sort of coat-dress, it closed down the front
with buttons, ribbon ties, or, sometimes, hidden hooks and eyes.
Dresses for evening
These differed from daytime dresses in detail, but not in basic silhouette.
Necklines were lower, sleeves were shorter, skirts were shorter. In the 20's,
necklines tended to be square, round, or eliptical; in the late 20's and 30's,
off the shoulder. Fabrics are silk satins or softer gauzes and organdy held out
by full petticoats.
Neckwear and dress Accessories
In the daytime necklines were filled in with a number of fillers/
cheemisettes/tuckers that were seperate from the dress and could be
varied. Prelerines are wide, cape-like collars extending over the
shoulders and down across the bosom were especially popular. The
fichu-pelerine was a variant that added two wide panels or lappets that extended
down the front of the dress and passed under the belt. Other accessory
items included the santon, a silk cravat worn over a ruff and the canezou.
The latter item illustrates the confusions in terminology. In some fashion
plates the canezou appears as a small, sleeveless spencer worn over a bodice and
in others, as a garment synonymous with the pelerine.
Hair and head dress
he hair is generally parted at the center. In the early 20s, tight
curls around the forehead and temples, with the back arranged in a knot, bun, or
ringlets. After 1824, elaborate loops or plaits of false hair were
added. About 1829, the style known as a la Chinoise was created by pulling
back and side hair into a knot at the top of the head while hair at the forehead
and temples was arranged in curls. Day caps, white and
lace-or-ribbon-trimmed, worn indoors by adult women. Hats are usually
large-brimmed with high, round crowns and large feather and lace decorations or
bonnet styles, one of which, the capote, had a soft fabric crown and a stiff
brim. Hair ornaments included jewels, tortoise shell combs, ribbons,
flowers and feathers. For evening hair ornaments were favored over hats,
although berets and turbans were also worn.
Outdoor garments
Pelisse, followed the general lines of dress and sleeve styles until the
mid-1830s, when it was replaced by a variety of shawls and mantles, worn for the
day and evening out of doors. Until about 1836, full-length mantles were
worn, later they shortened. Evening styles were made in more luxurious,
decorative fabrics such as velvet or satin and trimmed with braid. Mantlet
or shawl-mantle is a short garment rather like a hybrid between a shawl and a
short mantle with points hanging down at either side of the front.
Pelerine mantlet is with a deep cape, coming well over the elbows and having
long, broad front lappets worn over, not under, a belt. Burnous is a large
mantle of about three-quarter length with a hood, the name and style deriving
from a similar arab garment. Paletot , about knee-length and having three
capes and slits for the arms. Pardessus is a term applied to any of a
number of garments for outdoor wear that had a defined waistline and sleeves and
were from one-half to three-quarters in length.
Footwear
Stockings are generally knitted of cotton or silk or worsted wool. For
evening in the 30s and 40s, black silk stockings were fashionable. Shoes
are mostly slipper-type. Toes became more square after the late
1820s. Very small heels are applied in the late 40s. For evening,
black satin slippers seem to predominate until about 1840 when ribbons sandals
and white satin evening boots appeared. For cold weather, leather shoes or
boots with cloth gaiters ( a covering for the upper part of the shoe and the
ankle) in colours matching the shoe. Rubber galoshes or overshoes were
introduced in the late 1840s.
Accessories
Gloves are worn daytime and evenings. Daytime gloves are short and of
cotton, silk or kid. Evening gloves are long to the elbow until the second half
of the 1830s when they shortened. Gloves, cut to cover the fingers were
called mittens or mitts. Hand-carried accessories included reticules, handbags,
purses, fans, muffs and parasols. When hats were very large, parasols were
often carried unopened. Parasols of the 40s were small and included
carriage parasols that had folding handles.
Jewelry
In the e20s and 30s, gold chains with locket scent bottles or crosses
attached, chatelaines (ornamental chains worn at the waist from which were
suspended useful items such as scissors, thimbles, button hooks, penknives),
brooches, bracelets, armlets and drop earrngs. In the 30s, a narrow tress
of hair or piece of velvet ribbon was used to suspend a cross or heart of pearls
around the neck. In the 40s, less jewelry was worn. Watches were
suspended around the neck or placed in a pocket made in the skirt waistband.
Cosmetics and grooming
Rice powder was used to achieve a pale and wan appearance, but obviously
rouge or other kinds of face paint were not considered 'proper'.
Costume
for Men (1820 - 1850)
Undergarments
No major changes from earlier periods. Some men used corsets and
padding to achieve a fashionable silhouette.
Shirts and neckwear
Shirts were cut with deep collars, long enough to fold over a carvat or
neckcloth wrapped around the neck. Daytime shirts had tucked insets at the
front; evening shirts had frilled insets. Sleeves were cuffed, closing
with buttons or studs. Stocks have wide, shaped neckpiece fastening at the
back which were often black. Carvats are square, were folded diagonally
into long strips and tied around the neck, finishing in a bow or knot.
Suits
Variations of the frock coat included 'military' frock coats which had a
rolled or standing collar and no lapel. Riding dress frock coats had
exceptionally large collars and lapels. Waistcoats were worn under the
outer or suit coat. At least one, sometimes more, waistcoats were
worn and these were arranged so as to show off only at the edge of the suit
coat. Basic cuts were sleeveless with either straight, standing collars or
small, rolled collars without a notch between the collar and lapel. The
roll of the collar extended as far as the second or third waistcoat
button. Both single and double breasted waistcoats were worn.
evening waistcoats were black or white or among the ultrafashionable English '
Dandies' of the 20s in colours contrasting with dark, evening dress suits.
Trousers or pantaloons were generally close-fitting, with an ankle strap or slit
that laced to fit the ankle.
Outdoor garments
Much the same as in the Empire Period. After the 20s, the Spencer went
out of fashion. Greatcoats is a general term for overcoats and were
single or double breasted, often to the ankle. Collars had a deep roll;
coats were made with and without lapels. Box coats were large, loose greatcoats
with one or more capes at the shoulder. Paletot is a term first used in
1830s but the styles top which the term was applied vary over time. at
this period, it appears to have been a short greatcoat, either single or double
breasted, with a small flat collar and lapels. Sometimes it had a waist
seam, sometimes not. Chesterfield, a term used first in the 40s and then
applied to a coat with either a single or double-breasted closing, although the
double-breasted closing has since been more closely associated with this
term. the coat had no waistline seam, a short vent in the back, no side
pleats and often had a velvet collar. Mackintosh was a waterproof coat
made of rubber and cut like a short, loose overcoat. Invented at this
time, mackintosh was named after its inventor. Cloaks were especially used
for evening dress. Cut with gores and fitting smoothly at the neck and
shoulder, capes had both large flat collars and semi-standing collars.
Some had multiple capes at the shoulders. Late in the period, evening
cloaks became more elaborate, many with large sleeves with slits in front that
allowed the sleeve to hang behind the arm like a Medieval hanging sleeve.
Lengths varied. In the late 30s and 40s, a short, round, full so-called
Spanish cape lined with silk of a contrasting collar was worn for evening.
Hats and head dress
Hair was worn short to moderate in length; in loose curls or loosely waved;
cut short at the back. Beards, beginning with a small fringe of whiskers,
returned to fashion around 1825 and gradually grew to larger proportions.
The top hat was the predominant form for the day and evening. Different
names were applied to styles, based on subtle differences in shape. The
crown was a cylinder of varying height and shape, ranging from those that looked
like inverted pots to tubes with a slight outward curve at the top. Brims
were small, sometimes turned up at the side. A collapsible top hat for
evening was fitted with a spring so that the hat could be folded flat and
carried under the arm. Derby hats or bowlers began to be worn. These
hats had stiff, round, bowl-shaped crowns with narrow brims. Caps were
favoured for sports.
Footwear
Stockings are generally knitted from worsted, cotton nor silk. Elastic
garters were invented in the 1840s. Shoes were with square toes and low
heels. Shoes lacing up the front through three or four eyelets come into
use in the 1830s. Formal footwear was open over the instep and tied
shut with a ribbon bow. Spatterdashers or spats were made of sturdy cloth
and added to shoes for bad weather or for hunting.
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