FABULOUS! | Expansion Era | 1837-1865

White and ivory were not always usual for wedding gowns, and only became so with the 1840 marriage of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819–1861). Victoria represented not only the vast British Empire, but also the contemporary ideal of virtuous womanhood. Her wedding continues to set the tone for bridal ceremonies today.

Previously, wedding gowns came in a rainbow of hues and they were worn for many years afterwards, periodically updated to keep abreast of fashion. Few women could afford to wear a garment only once and then put it away as a remembrance.

Iridescence in textiles is achieved by weaving warp and weft threads of different colors—in this example, violet and royal blue silk. Known as “shot” or “changeant,” dresses made of these shimmering taffetas were extremely popular in 1845 and 1846.

Equally stylish was the fan-front bodice of diagonal pleats converging in a sharp point below the natural waist, creating an ideal, elongated torso.

Robes à la transformation could be altered from daywear into eveningwear by removing the detachable sleeves.

Accessories complete this ensemble: for evening, a peaked Gothic Revival headdress mimics the deep bodice point, just as its curled ribbons echo the era’s fashionable corkscrew hairstyle.

Human Hair was braided, twisted and woven into sentimental tokens during the nineteenth century. Hair work was a parlor pastime suitable for ladies, who used lace-making bobbins to transform the tresses of family members and friends into jewelry and, occasionally, accessories.

Locks could also be sent to specialty workrooms where they were transformed into articles of one’s choice. Yet this practice was risky, as it was rumored that unscrupulous businessmen sometimes augmented thin or brittle hair with supplements imported from India, or even horse hair. In this example, brunette strands were knitted into a miser’s purse, so called because of the difficulty of removing coins from its narrow center opening. [3] This delicate lady’s bag is more symbolic than utilitarian.

Hair work was thought particularly appropriate as memento mori because it does not degrade. Black enameled gold center rings and tear-shaped droplets confirm that this piece was a mourning keepsake, likely made from the long hair of a recently deceased woman.

Variations in weave structure result in contrasting dye saturation on this printed silk day gown. The patterns are rendered lightly over the gossamer gauze and densely on the vertical twill stripes. Comma-shape botehs are ancient Indian motifs, abstracted representations of shrubbery that were more generally woven into nineteenth-century cashmere shawls.

The bodice showcases the decade’s popular “pagoda” sleeves; their shape emulates the dramatically flared roofs of Chinese temples. The bodice is lined, but its sleeves and skirt are semitransparent, requiring additional clothing layers for decorum’s sake.

Ages five and six were transitional for boys. Many wore skirts and pantalets while under the care of a mother or nursemaid. This three-piece boy’s ensemble is a hybrid, having characteristics of both female and male fashions.

It is made from iridescent silk taffeta, influenced by Queen Victoria’s (1819–1901) fondness for Scottish tartan. The material is unusual for a male child, as it is a type generally used for women’s gowns; perhaps this outfit was made from the re-purposed yardage of a vast skirt.

The two surviving bodices are rare: one is masculine in its tailoring, a waist-length jacket trimmed with buttons in military formation over the little torso, emphasizing a broad chest. The other is feminine in style: cut on the diagonal, the pattern forming a V-shape at center front, optically creating the appearance of a small waist.

Additionally, the hem flounce echoes the skirt ruffles then in fashion for women. Often, young boys wore short pants called breeches. Being “breeched” referred to the exchange of skirts for bifurcated garments. This pair is ankle-length, cut in exactly the same way as adult men’s trousers.

This girl's bonnet is unusual not only for its striking appearance, but because its provenance is fully documented. The bold color combination of sky blue and lemon yellow reveals that not all Victorian era fashions were subdued, or that intensely bright hues were only available after the invention of synthetic dyes in 1856.

The intended owner of this bonnet was Sarah Elizabeth Craft (1841–1852), who lived in Ireland Parish (now Holyoke), Massachusetts.

Women of the mid-nineteenth century had two choices when it came to footwear: flat slippers or ankle boots. These luxurious boots were almost certainly custom made to match a gown. Typical for the period, the leather soles lack left or right definition. Though sturdier leather boots were available for the popular pastime of “pedestrianism,” most female footwear was made of less substantial materials. [5]

An 1853 article in the Philadelphia-based Home Magazine rallied against “satin or paper thin soles when the condition of the streets requires a warmer, stouter, and more impervious covering for the feet.” Delicate silk boots such as these likely did not venture far from a polished or carpeted floor.

Fashion-conscious females of the nineteenth century contended with myriad accessories, many of them specifically designed to be held in the hand: fans, parasols, walking sticks, and muffs, among others. This hybrid object is an innovative combination fan and parasol, which could be transformed according to a lady’s needs.

Probably used while riding in an open carriage, its owner held the fan in front of her face to deflect a breeze, or simply tilted the shade perpendicular for protection on a sunny day.

Like gloves, fans were most often acquired through parfumeries and came pre-doused with the latest scents. The eighteenth century was the height of fan production as an art form. In the mid-nineteenth century, fashion and the decorative arts rediscovered and revived the ornate aesthetic sense of the Baroque, Regency, Rococo, and Neoclassical periods.

This hand-painted fan exemplifies what was often referred to as the “cult of Marie Antoinette.” [6] The pastoral scenes include innocuous images of lounging shepherdesses and courtiers. At center of both the leaf and the sticks, a gentleman kneels to ask for his favorite’s hand, suggesting this fan was made for a wedding.

This transparent jacket— a style called a canezou — is a mix of both hand workmanship and mechanization. Because the textile and trim industries were fully industrialized by the mid-nineteenth century, the centuries-old handmade lace tradition was rapidly disappearing, threatened with extinction by technology. As a result, real lace—which is extremely time consuming to create and expensive to purchase—was often replaced by nearly identical imitation versions.

Yards of real Chantilly and blonde laces were sewn over a base of machine-made net to create this jacket, which also incorporates mass-produced trimmings: velvet ribbon, chenille, and French jet—a black glass that resembles real jet, the gemstone derived from petrified coal that was mined in Whitby, England.

Patented in 1856 by the American inventor W.S. Thomson (active 1850s–1870s), the lightweight, flexible cage crinoline was a welcome relief for women who had suffered under heavy, cumbersome layers of ruffled cotton, starched linen, and quilted wool petticoats. [7]

Crinoline production was directly linked to industrialization: the same machinery used to manufacture steel railways, bridges, and buildings was used to fabricate this undergarment.

Despite commercial success, satirists derided its expanding girth. Though taking up too much room on omnibuses, entangling on fences and balustrades, and, more seriously, catching fire near open hearths, crinolines retained popularity for more than a decade. [8]

These stereograph cards illustrate some of the difficulties women encountered while wearing cage crinolines. They were viewed with hand-held stereoscopes, devices that caused the humorous images to appear three-dimensional.

A dark tailored suit-appropriately accessorized—was the male uniform of civility. Mid-century gentlemen did not leave the house without headwear, the most popular being the top hat, also called a “stovepipe” or “chimney.”

Passing fads helped stylish men avoid homogeneity: gloves came in multiple colors; collars could be straight, curved, or intricately notched; and vests were jubilantly patterned with flowers or geometric shapes.

Menswear was the first clothing to be machine-sewn in the mid-nineteenth century. Standard sized, ready-to-wear suits were much less expensive than bespoke attire, although customers often sacrificed fit for savings. This cutaway coat is the antithesis of mechanized mass-production.

The coat was entirely hand-sewn and must have been an expensive addition to the gentleman’s wardrobe. Its minute and regular stitches are the sign of a well-trained tailor. The felled wool is finely woven; its dense, fray-resistant surface eliminates the need for overcast stitching or binding. Interior pad-stitching is common in high-quality coats from this era. Generally, parallel lines of stitching anchored the silk lining to an underlying layer of cotton wadding that provided warmth, as well as broadened the chest.

In this example (worn by a groom on his wedding day), the technique was used for decorating the interior side panels and tail flaps with flowering vines—symbolic of everlasting devotion. Floral themes were not solely relegated to female dress; menswear often incorporated embroidered, printed, or woven foliage, usually appearing on vests.

"Industrial Revolution" is an apt term for the Western world’s radical transition from an agricultural economy to a technological one in which machines outpaced the production of human labor, providing more commodities at lower cost to a larger percentage of the population.

New inventions were introduced daily; some changed the world while others faded into history. This man’s enameled steel collar and vulcanized rubber bowtie was a substitute for starched linen and silk neckwear. Created by steel refiners Marriott & Atkinson of Sheffield, England, it is a rare survivor among patented fashion articles that did not catch the popular imagination. [9]

Embroidering homewares and fashionable accessories in wool on canvas was a popular pastime for leisured ladies of the mid-Victorian era. Thousands of needlework patterns were exported from Germany to Britain, France, and the United States, where the technique was known as “Berlin wool work.”

Designs consisted of colored squares printed onto gridded paper; each hue corresponded to a matching tent stitch to be worked on meshed canvas. Such patterns were acquired from fancy-goods emporiums or through mail-order advertisements in ladies’ magazines. [13] Popular wool work motifs included flowers, pastoral scenes, and biblical themes, in addition to sentimental phrases. The colors and highly symbolic imagery on these man’s at-home slippers indicate that they were worn for mourning: lavender was appropriate for later stages of grief and white lilies symbolized heavenly purity.

“Remembrance” is spelled out on banners laid across each vamp, partially covering the floral arrangements suggestive of graveside displays. Six colors of glass beads lend a three-dimensional effect to this handwork, causing the banners to appear creased and shadowed.

Pink for girls and blue for boys is a twentieth-century adage; these colors were not always gendered this way. During the nineteenth century, pink was seen as a shade of red: a forceful color aligned with traditional masculinity and thus appropriate for growing boys. Blue was symbolic of the Virgin Mary and conventional femininity, making this dainty shade suitable for little girls.

Colors aside, young girls and boys alike were clad in skirts as a testament to their residency in the nursery, a feminine realm of mothers and nursemaids.