A BRIEF HISTORY OF  FASHION 1800-1920s

Today there's lots of interest in the 1800s. Several companies make dolls and books that tell about life in the past. When I was a girl, I thought that everyone wore hoopskirts in the 19th century. Then, in the 6th grade, I did a project making historical doll clothing. At my local library I found the book 20,000 Years of Fashion. I was surprised at how clothing has changed over time.  From then on, I loved to study historic costume. I went on to be a museum curator with a special interest in 19th century womens and children's costume. Today I'm a mom, but I can still share my interest in costume with you.

To understand the fashions of the 1800s, it helps to know how people dressed in the late 18th century. REMEMBER: the 18th Century was the 1700s. The 19th Century was the 1800s. In the late 1700s, wealthy women wore very elaborate costumes and hairstyles, like the shown here. The picture on the left is of French noblewomen. Some of them are wearing  a romanticized "shepherdess" style of dress. Court dresses, like the one on the right, were often very elaborate. This dress is wide on the sides, but the front and back are flat. Dresses like this were shaped by two basket-like undergarments worn over a woman's hips.

It's clear that very few people could afford to wear clothing like this. The French people, many of whom lived in poverty,  eventually rose up against the nobility and royality. The new leaders executed King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antionette and many other nobles and even common people. No one wanted to look wealthy anymore. In the 1800s, women began to wear dresses that reminded them of the clothes on Greek and Roman statues.

The dresses of the early 1800s were made of thin fabrics and had very high waists. They were often white. These dresses weren't suited to every climate, and sometimes women got very cold. These dresses  also didn't look good on every body type. These dresses are from Braun and Schneider's Historic Costume In Pictures.

By the 1810s, people began to get tired of the very simple Neo-classical look. They began to add different trims to the dresses. Sometimes they looked at clothing in the past for inspiration. Ruffs around the neck and sleeve decorations from the Tudor, Elizabethan, or Italian Renaissance periods were popular. Women also added decoration to the hem of the skirt, to make the skirt stand out more. The coat on the left is from 1819. Notice how high the waistline is. The dress on the right is from the 1820s. You can see that the waistline has dropped a little. The puffing decoration used on the skirt was very popular. Both of these dresses are from Ackermann's Costume Plates.

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