Clothing & Fashion

The most popular clothing in any period has always been of the type that distorts the figure the most. This statement could not more accurately describe the women's clothing of the 19th century.

The years from about 1835 to 1860 were certainly some of the worst 35 years in the history of women's clothes. There was a general movement in this period towards a more bell shaped figure. In order to achieve this, the waistline moved more towards it's anatomical location, skirts became fuller with thick petticoats piled on beneath, and the corset was invented. Dress material became heavier as rich silks and velvets came into style, and a good deal of ornament such as feathers and jewelry was worn with such dresses.

The most common colors were deep reds, greens, and mostly blues. The richness and bluish hue common to dresses of this period seem extreme to the modern eye unless it is seen by contemporary lighting (gas in towns, otherwise candles) which was dim at best.

The 1850's and 60's saw rise to one of the century's greatest gifts to cartoonists, the crinoline. Women had to abandon 5 or 6 layers of petticoats in favor of this stiff horsehair fabric in order to support the new, heavier dresses. Because of the huge wooden trellis which held it up, it was now difficult to get through doorways, nearly impossible to sit down, and truly embarrassing if the wind caught you underneath!

If you were in the upper class, you might have as many as 8 dresses, and wear and many as 5 in one day!

The lower classes were usually better off in terms of clothing. They didn't trail their skirts on the floor and ruin their constitution by the popular 'wasp-waisting' with the tight corsets. The fashions ruled less and changed less often, but all the underclothes were unhygenic because they were not changed often and the bathing was infrequent.

Like women, men revolted at the end of the 18th century against the mannered clothing associated with the royal court. Modeled after the riding costume, the new dress was to be more natural and un-artificial.

This consisted of a linen shirt, a stiff neck band (a stock) or a piece of cloth folded into a triangle (a cravat). Upper and middle class men wore tights, a vest (or waistcoat, pronounced 'weskit'), a cutaway coat, and a shirt.

By the 1840's, the colors grew darker for coats and pants, and by the 60's the standard color would be black. Meanwhile, the dresscoat became less and less everyday wear. It moved to the evening and became today's white tie and tails.

During the day, men now wore the frock coat, a long, almost to the knee garment of black that was cut to a uniform length all around. This was the coat which prime ministers and all sober folk appeared in until the end of the period.