Dress design $b: an account of costume for artists & dressmakersHughes, Talbot
History
Dress design $b: an account of costume for artists & dressmakers
Hughes, Talbot
Clothing and dress; Clothing and dress -- Great Britain
At the commencement in 1837 the huge sleeves gathered at the wrist were
still in evidence, especially as a gauze oversleeve to evening attire,
and they continued thus to the fifties, but very large sleeves were
really dying out and the usual reaction was setting in; the
full-shouldered sleeve had turned a somersault and was neatly gathered
tight from the shoulder to the elbow, the fullness falling on the
forearm, and this was gathered into a tight setting or wristband. The
=V=-shaped front to the bodice was kept in many dresses by a collar or two
tapering from the shoulders to the waist, the fullness of the breast
often being tightly gathered at the shoulders, besides a few inches in
the front point of the bodice. A very plain tight-fitting sleeve became
fashionable, and on most of these we find a small upper sleeve or a
double one as shown in A, Plate XXX (see p. 266); this was sometimes
opened at the outer side. These sleeves continued till about 1852. In
1853 a bell-shaped sleeve is noticed in ordinary dress, and this
continued in various sizes till 1875, reaching its fuller shape about
1864. These types of sleeves were usually worn over a tight one or a
full lawn sleeve gathered at the wrist; most bodices with this sleeve
were closely fitted and high in the neck, the waist often being cut into
small tabs. We also notice for a few years in the early fifties the
deeper part of the bell curved to the front of the arm, giving a very
ugly appearance. A close-fitting jacket also came into evidence till
about 1865 with tight sleeves and cuffs, sometimes with a little
turn-down collar and a longer skirt as in Fig. C, Plate XXXIII (see p.
282). This particularly fine embroidered specimen, in imitation of the
18th-century style, is interestingly cut away short at the back to allow
for better setting on the crinoline. There is another type of sleeve
seen about 1848, of a plain, full, square cut; these became varied in
shape, being opened up the side and generally trimmed with wide braids.
This clumsy character is seen up to 1878, the later ones being fuller in
cut. Zouave jackets were occasionally worn in the forties and later in
the early sixties, when the wide corselet belt was again favoured.
Skirts at the beginning of the reign were fully set out on drill
petticoats, stiff flounces, and even whalebone, so it was hardly "a
great effect" when the crinoline appeared about 1855, though a furious
attack was made against it at first; this undersetting developed to its
fullest extent between 1857 and 1864, and many dresses in the early
sixties were also worn short, showing the high boots of this period.
At first the crinoline was slightly held back from the front by ties,
and again in the sixties it was often kept with a straight front, the
fullness being held to the back, till the appearance of the bustle
brought in another shape. The skirts were now pulled in tight to the
front of the figure and bunched up at the back, with a train or shaped
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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