View source for 1850s in Western fashion

[[Image:1859-Gazette-Fashions-plate-seabathing-bkd.JPG|thumb|250px|right|1859 fashion plate of both men's and women's daywear, with seabathing in background. He wears the new leisure fashion, the ''sack coat''.]]

'''1850s fashion''' in [[Western culture|Western]] and Western-influenced [[clothing]] is characterized by an increase in the width of women's [[skirt]]s supported by [[crinoline]]s or [[hoop skirt|hoops]], and the beginnings of [[Victorian dress reform|dress reform]].

==Women's fashion==

===Gowns===
[[Image:Jean auguste dominique ingres princesse albert de broglie.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Princess Albert de Broglie wears a blue silk evening gown with delicate lace and ribbon trim. Her hair is covered with a sheer frill trimmed with matching blue ribbon knots. She wears a necklace, tasseled earrings, and bracelets on each wrist.]]
[[Image:1853 outerwear.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Fashions of 1853: Flounced skirts, cape-like jackets, and heavily trimmed bonnets.]]

In the 1850s, the domed skirts of the [[1840s in fashion|1840s]] continued to expand.  Skirts were made fuller by means of [[flounce]]s (deep [[ruffle]]s), usually in tiers of three, [[gather (sewing)|gather]]ed tightly at the top and stiffened with [[horsehair braid]] at the bottom.

Early in the decade, bodices of morning dresses featured panels over the shoulder that were gathered into a blunt point at the slightly dropped waist.  These bodices generally fastened in back by means of hooks and eyes, but a new fashion for a [jacket] bodice appeared as well, [[button]]ed in front and worn over a [[chemisette]].  Wider bell-shaped or ''pagoda'' sleeves were worn over false undersleeves or [[engageante]]s of cotton or linen, trimmed in lace, ''[[broderie anglaise]]'', or other fancy-work.  Separate small collars of lace, [[tatting]], or [[crochet]]-work were worn with morning dresses, sometimes with a ribbon bow.

Evening gowns were very low-necked, falling off the shoulders, and had short sleeves.

The introduction of the steel cage crinoline in 1856 provided a means for expanding the skirt still further, and flounces gradually disappeared in favor of a skirt lying more smoothly over the [[petticoat]] and hoops.  [[Pantalettes]] were essential under this new fashion for modesty's sake.

===Fabrics===
Special dress fabric's were printed ''à la disposition'' with a small figured print over most of the fabric and an elaborate coordinating border print down one [[selvage]].  Dresses were made up so the border print decorated the flounces and parts of the bodice or sleeves.

===Outerwear===
Cape-like [[Coat (clothing)|jackets]] were worn over the very wide skirts. Another fashionable outer garment was an [[India]]n [[shawl]]  or one woven in  [[Paisley, Renfrewshire]] in a [[Paisley (design)|paisley pattern]] in imitation of Indian styles.  Hooded [[cloak]]s were also worn. 

[[Riding habit]]s had fitted jackets with tight sleeves, worn over a collared shirt or (more often) chemisette.  They were worn with long skirts and mannish top hats.
''''''''Ruffled jackets/coats worn in paisley patterns.'''''''''

===Hairstyles and headgear===
[[Hair]] was dressed simply, middle parted and in a [[bun]] or wound braid at the back, with the sides puffed out over the ears or with clusters of curls to either side in imitation of early [[1600–1650 in fashion|17th century fashions]].

The indoor [[cap]] became little more than a lace and ribbon frill worn on the back of the head.

===Beginnings of dress reform===
1851 marked the birth of the [[Victorian dress reform]] movement, when [[New England]] [[Temperance movement|temperance]] activist [[Elizabeth Smith Miller|Libby Miller]] adopted what she considered a more rational costume: loose [[trousers]] gathered at the ankles, topped by a short dress or skirt and vest. The style was promoted by editor [[Amelia Bloomer]] and was immediately christened a [[Bloomers (clothing)|''Bloomer suit'']] by the press.  Despite its practicality,<ref>http://xrboads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/domwest/mcauley.html</ref> the Bloomer suit was the subject of much ridicule in the press and had little impact on mainstream fashion.

===Style gallery 1850–1855===
<gallery>
Image:Bloomer.gif|1 – 1850s
Image:Lovers-Morning-Recreation-Sarony-Major-1850.jpg|2 – 1850
Image:LesMode parisiennes1851.jpg|3 – 1851
Image:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres 011.jpg|4 – 1851
Image:Millais Mrs Coventry Patmore.jpg|5 – 1851
Image:Francesco Hayez 037.jpg|6 – 1851
Image:Antonio Maria Esquivel 001.jpg|7 – 1852
Image:Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz 001.jpg|8 – 1853
Image:HealtBeautyMadameCaplin45Hebe.png|9 – 1854
</gallery>
#The [[:Image:Bloomer.gif|Bloomer suit]], a short dress worn over full trousers gathered at the ankle, briefly adopted by dress reformers in the [[United States]] in the 1850s.
#[[:Image:Lovers-Morning-Recreation-Sarony-Major-1850.jpg|Male outdoors attire and female riding-habit]] of 1850 (New York).
#[[:Image:LesMode parisiennes1851.jpg|1851 Parisian fashion plate]] shows the fashionable use of fabrics printed ''â la disposition'' (with border-prints) on skirt flounces and for bodices and sleeves.
#[[:Image:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres 011.jpg|Madame Moitessier]] wears a black off-the-shoulder evening gown with ruffles.  She wears a brooch and bracelets on both wrists. France, 1851.
#[[:Image:Millais Mrs Coventry Patmore.jpg|Mrs. Coventry Patmore]] wears a small fancy-work collar and a ribbon at her throat.  Her thick, wavy hair is parted in the center and poufed over her ears, 1851.
#[[:Image:Francesco Hayez 037.jpg|Matilde Juva-Branca]] wears a dark morning dress with a lace blouse or chemisette and cuffs and short leather gloves.  Her hair is parted and worn in long sausage curls, 1851.
#[[:Image:Antonio Maria Esquivel 001.jpg|Doña Josefa García Solis]] wears a simple green satin dress with laced short sleeves over a linen chemise or chemisette.  Her lace cap is trimmed with rose-colored tassels and ribbons, and she carries an elaborate fan, 1852.
#[[:Image:Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz 001.jpg|Doña Amalie de Llano y Dotres, Condesa de Vilches]] wears a bright blue dress with a tiered skirt.  The long pointed bodice is trimmed with horizontal bands of ruching over a chemise or chemisette (or an underlayer styled to look like a chemise), 1853.
#[[:Image:HealtBeautyMadameCaplin45Hebe.png|A reform corset from Madame Caplin.]] This corset was adjusted to the body, not to the dress as before.

===Style gallery 1855–1859===
<gallery>
Image:Winterhalter Franz Xavier The Empress Eugenie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting.jpg|1 – 1855
File:Woman's plaid silk taffeta dress c. 1855.jpg|2 - c. 1855
Image:Dominique Ingres - Mme Moitessier.jpg|3 – 1856
Image:Cushman, Charlotte (1816-1876) - 1857 - pic by Mathew Brady (1822-1896).gif|4 – 1857
Image:Bathing suit 1858.png|5 – 1858 bathing
Image:1859-Godeys-Magazine.gif|6 – 1859
Image:Franz Xaver Winterhalter Countess Alexander Nikolaevitch Lamsdorff.jpg|7 – 1859
Image:Zouave godey dec 1859.jpg|8 – 1859
</gallery>

#[[:Image:Winterhalter Franz Xavier The Empress Eugenie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting.jpg|Empress Eugenie and her Ladies in Waiting]] wear formal dress (despite the outdoor setting).  The hair styled with ringlets or curls on the sides and a small bun in back is typical. 1855.
#[[:File:Woman's plaid silk taffeta dress c. 1855.jpg|French]] plaid silk taffeta morning dress has wide sleeves with box-pleated frills. c. 1855. [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], M.2007.211.767.
#[[:Image:Dominique Ingres - Mme Moitessier.jpg|Mme Moitessier]] wears a floral morning dress with ribbon streamers.  Her lace cap is little more than a frill trimmed in red ribbons. 1856.
#[[:Image:Cushman, Charlotte (1816-1876) - 1857 - pic by Mathew Brady (1822-1896).gif|Charlotte Cushman]] wears her hair parted in the center and brushed into puffs over each ear. Her morning dress has wide pagoda sleeves and is worn over undersleeves or [[engageante]]s.  The high neckline is set off with a white collar. American, 1857.
#[[:Image:Bathing suit 1858.png|"Going Swimming Fully Dressed"]] or [[swimsuit]] of 1858 is styled like a Bloomer suit (acceptable in the context of beachwear), and includes a cap to confine the hair.
#[[:Image:1859-Godeys-Magazine.gif|Fashion plate]] from ''Godey's Magazine'', with full-blown little girl's crinoline.
#[[:Image:Franz Xaver Winterhalter Countess Alexander Nikolaevitch Lamsdorff.jpg|Countess Alexander Nikolaevitch Lamsdorff]] wears a morning dress with ruched violet ribbon trim and an elaborate lace collar, 1859.  The violet trim and black cap may indicate the later stages of [[mourning]].
#[[:Image:Zouave godey dec 1859.jpg|Jacket]] from ''[[Godey's Lady's Book]]'', December 1859.  Colorful, braid-trimmed [[Zouave jacket]]s based on military styles became fashionable in the late 1850s and remained so well into the 1860s.

===Caricature gallery===
The crinoline style gave wide scope to satirists, and many cartoons and comic odes to the crinoline appeared.
<gallery>
Image:1850-g-cruikshank-crinoline-parody.png|1 – 1850
Image:1856crnl.gif|2 – 1856
Image:1857-regency-fashion-crinoline-comparison-joke.png|3 – 1857

</gallery>

#[[:Image:1850-g-cruikshank-crinoline-parody.png|"A Splendid Spread]]", satire on an early inflatable (air tube) version of the crinoline by [[George Cruikshank]], from ''The Comic Almanack'', 1850.  (Crinolines did not actually come into wide use until about 1854.)
#[[:Image:1856crnl.gif|Cutaway view]] of a flounced skirt over a crinoline, [[Punch magazine|''Punch'']] magazine, August 1856.
#[[:Image:1857-regency-fashion-crinoline-comparison-joke.png|A satirical cartoon]] from the July 11th 1857 issue of ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', contrasting the supposedly becoming styles of the time with the supposedly ugly Grecian-influenced [[1795–1820 in fashion|Empire/Regency]] styles of an earlier generation...
See also: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/patterns/largeversion.asp?imagename=belles-lg.gif
The Comparative Sizes of Bell(e)s

==Men's fashion==
[[Image:Millais Ruskin Detail.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[John Ruskin]] wears a dark frock coat over lighter trousers and low-heeled shoes.  He carries a soft-crowned brown hat.  Detail of a portrait by [[John Everett Millais]], 1853–54.]]
[[Shirt]]s of linen or cotton featured high upstanding or turnover [[collar (clothing)|collars]]. The newly fashionable [[necktie#Four-in-hand|four-in-hand necktie]]s were square or rectangular, folded into a narrow strip and tied in a bow, or folded on the diagonal and tied in a knot with the pointed ends sticking out to form "wings". Heavy padded and fitted [[frock coat]]s (in French [[redingote]]s), now usually single-breasted, were worn for business occasions, over waistcoats or vests with lapels and notched collars.  Waistcoats were still cut straight across at the waist in front in 1850, but gradually became longer; the fashion for wearing the bottom button undone for ease when sitting lead to the pointed-hemmed waistcoat later in the century.

A new style, the ''sack coat'', loosely fitted and reaching to mid-thigh, was fashionable for leisure activities; it would gradually replace the frock coat over the next forty years and become the modern [[suit (clothes)|suit coat]].

The slightly cutaway [[morning coat]] was worn for formal day occasions.  The most formal [[Formal wear|evening dress]] remained a dark tail coat and trousers, with a white cravat; this costume was well on its way to crystallizing into the modern "white tie and tails".

Full-length [[trousers]] were worn for day. Breeches remained a requirement for formal functions at the British court (as they would be throughout the century). Breeches continued to be worn for horseback riding and other country pursuits, especially in Britain, with tall fitted boots.

Costumes consisting of a coat, waistcoat and trousers of the same fabric were a novelty of this period.

Starting in the 1850s and surviving until about the early 1900s (decade), facial hair became extremely popular, featuring a vast array of styles. This is well documented in famous photography of the era.

Tall [[top hat]]s were worn with formal dress and grew taller on the way to the true stovepipe shape, but a variety of other hat shapes were popular.  Soft-crowned hats, some with wide brims, were worn for country pursuits.  The [[bowler hat]] was invented in 1850 but remained a working-class accessory.

===Style gallery===
<gallery>
Image:GPA Healy.jpg|1 – c. 1850
Image:James Fenimore Cooper by Brady.jpg|2 – c.1850
Image:Mens fashion 1856.jpg|3 – 1856
Image:1857 Mens Fashions.jpg|4 – 1857
Image:Samuel houston.jpg|5 – 1858
Image:Félix Nadar 1820-1910 portraits Eugène Delacroix.jpg|6 – 1858
Image:Edward James Roye.jpg|7 – 1858
Image:Henri Fantin-Latour 001.jpg|8 – 1859
</gallery>
#[[:Image:GPA Healy.jpg|Painter G.P.A. Healy]] wears a shirt with a round-cornered collar and a pleated front.  His necktie is tied in a small bow. America, c. 1850.
#[[:Image:James Fenimore Cooper by Brady.jpg|James Fennimore Cooper]] wears a standing collar with a necktie folded on the diagonal and tied into wide "wings".  His coat has wide lapels and a contrasting (perhaps velvet) collar.  His contrasting waistcoat has lapels.  United States, c. 1850 ([[James Fennimore Cooper|Cooper]] died in 1851).
#[[:Image:Mens fashion 1856.jpg|Fashions of 1856]] show an idealized rounded chest over a low waist.  The cutaway morning coat (left) is worn with trousers trimmed with braid down the outer seam.  Shirts have short straight collars and are worn with narrow neckties tied in wide bows. Half-boots have short heels. Coat sleeves are cut long, showing very little shirt cuff.
#[[:Image:1857 Mens Fashions.jpg|1857 fashion plate]] shows formal evening wear, informal day wear, top coats, and a dressing gown.
#[[:Image:Samuel houston.jpg|Sam Houston]], 1858, wears the wide-brimmed hat common on the American frontier.
#[[:Image:Eugene Delacroix-Nadar.jpg|Artist Eugène Delacroix]] wears a stiff tie over a tall standing collar.  His double-breasted waistcoat is cut straight across.  His frock coat, waistcoat and trousers are all of different fabrics. France, 1858.
#[[:Image:Edward James Roye.jpg|Liberian politician Edward James Roye]] wears a frock coat with a wide collar and lapels over a waistcoat with lapels and eight buttons.
#[[:Image:Henri Fantin-Latour 001.jpg|Artist Henri Fantin-Latour]] wears a shirt with a turnover collar and a black necktie.

===Caricature gallery===
[[:Image:cravats1859.jpg|Vicissitudes of the Cravat]] compares "The Fast Man's Neckerchief in 1809" and "The Fast Man's Neck-Tie in 1859".

==Children's fashion==
<gallery>
Image:Governess.jpg|1 – 1851
Image:PatternForBoysDress1854.png|Boy in skirt – 1854
Image:HealtBeautyMadameCaplin34b.png|Boy in corset – 1854
File:Ferdinand von Rayski - Bildnis des Grafen Haubold von Einsiedel - Google Art Project.jpg|2 – 1855
Image:James Abbot McNeill Whistler 001.jpg|3 – 1858–59
Image:Pantalettes godeys 1855.jpg|4–  1855
</gallery>
#[[:Image:Governess.jpg|This young boy]] wears a belted tunic over [[pantalettes]].  His [[governess]] wears the modest, dark dress appropriate to her occupation.
#[[:Image:Louis Ferdinand von Rayski 001.jpg|Hans Haubold, Graf von Einsiedel]] wears a three-piece suit with rounded collar and lapel peaks, and the round, frilled open collar favored for children, 1855.
#[[:Image:James Abbot McNeill Whistler 001.jpg|Young girl]] wears a knee-length skirt with [[crinoline]] petticoat, 1858–59.
#[[:Image:Pantalettes godeys 1855.jpg|A girl]] in a dress and [[Pantalettes]], 1855

==See also==
{{commons category|1850s fashion}}
*[[Victorian fashion]]
*[[Corset controversy]]
*[[Crinoline]]
*[[Artistic Dress movement]]
*[[Victorian dress reform]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Ashelford, Jane: ''The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914'', Abrams, 1996. ISBN 0-8109-6317-5
* Goldthorpe, Caroline: ''[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/69547 From Queen to Empress: Victorian Dress 1837–1877]'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, ISBN 0-87099-535-9 (full text available online from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Collections)
*Payne, Blanche: ''History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century'', Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS
*Tozer, Jane, and Sarah Levitt: ''Fabric of Society: A Century of People and Their Clothes 1770–1870'', Laura Ashley Ltd., 1983; ISBN 0-9508913-0-4
* [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/domwest/mcauley.html Eliza Ann McAuley describes wearing a Bloomer on the road to the goldfields, 1852]

==External links==
*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/p15324coll12/searchterm/185*/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/order/nosort/page/1 1850s Fashion Plates of men, women and children's fashion] from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
*[http://www.tudorlinks.com/treasury/articles/view185060.html 1850s and 1860s Fashion]
*[http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/patterns/1857promenadeinfo.html Promenade dress, 1857]
*[http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/1850-victorian-photo-gallery.php 1850s Men's Fashions] – c. 1850 Men's Fashion Photos with Annotations
*[http://statenisland.pastperfect-online.com/00039cgi/mweb.exe?request=advanced;_tkeyword=fashion;_t1101=;_t1102=;_t1103=;_t1104=;_t1105=;_t1106=;_t1107=;_t1108=;_t1109=;_t1110=;_t1111=;_t1112=;_%3E1091=1851;_%3C1092=1859;dtype=d 1850s Fashions in the Staten Island Historical Society Online Collections Database]

{{Historical clothing|state=uncollapsed}}

[[Category:1850s fashion]]
[[Category:History of clothing (Western fashion)]]