Important changes in fashion were seen in August of 1881. First, one of the most important changes was women’s taste in semi-masculine attire. The desire for it had apparently died out. According to one writer, “No lady now thinks dressing, even for the country, in such a style that she might be mistaken for her younger brother.” This change also meant jackets disappeared and were replaced by “elegant feminine Mantles and Mantelets.” There were also no more skirts that were so tightly tied in the back that it “prevent[ed] all freedom of locomotion.” Skirts were also becoming wider and fuller, but only in the back because the front and sides of skirts remained plain, which rendered “it necessary to adopt a modified form of tournure to keep the drapery and fulness [sic] of skirt in…place.” When it came to dress bodices, one of the principal features was the increase in gathers and full pleats, which were particularly popular during cold weather as it increased the warmth of the dress. Additionally, with gathered bodices, sleeves were “always puffed, fulled, or gathered” and also had fullness at the shoulder. Continue reading →

New fashions for 1881 were paying tribute to older fashions. For instance, the fuller back in skirt fashions was said to be “presaging a return to the old crinoline, but the progress…towards that once favorite style, is a slow one, and it is more probably the English ladies, with their usual good taste, will rest content with a full and gracefully-draped bouffant, supported in its place by a small crinolette.” Dresses also continued to be worn short and have trains that were considered “vogue for ceremonious indoor toilettes.”

Gathered bodies remained in favor at this time and the pointed and round basque were both equally popular and fashionable. Polonaises were worn and, to a certain extent, were fashionable because they were seen as convenient. Sleeves varied, but they were fuller and more roomy at the shoulder part of the armhole than they had previously been. Additionally, mantles and jackets were extremely popular for fall. They were created from “rich materials, such as broths, brocaded satins and velvets…[and] trimmed in an equally rich manner with passementerie, rich lace, chenille, and heavy silk embroideries.” Continue reading →

France was prosperous by 1881, and it was shown in the well-dressed people strolling the boulevards and by the fact women no longer worn the somber colors that had prevailed for so long. Besides the change in color, there were other changes. Hoods had been replaced by deep collars that were pointed at the back, and sleeves were fuller at the top with puffs or slashes down their sides. Collars were also deeper and broader. Dress skirts were different too: they were plainer at front, fuller at back, and worn over small crinolines.

As for accessories, gloves were still be worn with grand toilettes and when worn for evening wear, “gloves [were]…buttoned at the side—not with ordinary pearl buttons, but with small pearls, gold studs, ruby buttons—in fact, all kinds of gems…[were] used to button gloves.” Hats were trimmed with feathers and white or black lace. Hats also remained large whereas bonnets were small and “trimmed richly with flowers of the brightest hue, fastened under the chin by ribbon or lace, or sometimes by a small garland of flowers.” Coils, frisettes, and plaits were fashionable for the hair, and the hair was ornamented with semicircular steel combs or steel stars, as “steel by candle-light look[ed] very brilliant.” Continue reading →