1880–1890
As the bodice continued to lengthen, eventually joining with the skirt, the bustle gradually disappeared and by the end of the 1870s, fashionable garments were tightly fitted and slim-line, with narrow skirts often with a low train at the back. This style with no waist seam is known as the ‘princess dress’ (see figure 3. 58) and a similar long bodice, very tightly fitted but separate from the skirt was known as a ‘cuirasse’ bodice. 8 The princess line continued until 1883–85.
By the mid-1880s corsets reached their maximum length from waist to hips while retaining the spoon busk (see figure 3. 59). Cage petticoats and bustles were abandoned in favour of fabric petticoats with frills or flounces at the back and around the hem. Sometimes these extended into a short train. When additional support was needed over the buttocks, flounced fabric or horsehair pads were used.
To achieve the tightly tailored, elongated profile of the princess line, long pattern pieces extending from the shoulder to the hem were needed. Additional darts in the front bodice enhance the fit through the waist and long, curved seams controlled the fit over the bust and hips (see figure 3. 60).
Managing the narrow skirts with trains was cumbersome and difficult and by the mid-1880s the bustle had reappeared. The skirt silhouette was severe, flat at the front and thrusting out horizontally at the back waist like a shelf, giving the impression of the hindquarters and tail of a horse. As the back of the skirt lifted, once more trains disappeared and skirt hemlines levelled. This was particularly true for daywear (see figures 3. 63 and 3. 64). Bodices were shorter but still extended below the waist to the top of the hips. To lift the bodice over the high bustle, fabric was added into the hip section at the back in the form of flared seams, godet or pleats. A smooth, slim fit through the waist and over the abdomen at the front remained the height of fashion. The returning bustles were smaller but higher, often lifting the skirt above the level of the waist at the back (see figure 3. 61). As the decade progressed, many ingenious construction methods were invented, including spiral wires, small cages, horsehair pads, and frills (see figure 3. 62). These small bustles were usually attached by a waistband or by tapes tied around the waist.
By the mid-1880s, garment bodice patterns were once again short but continued to have many imaginatively placed darts and seams to create the fashionable fit.
Figure 3. 57 The bustle has disappeared in this fashion plate from 1880–83. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York Costume Institute Fashion Plate 025. Gift of Jo Copeland.
Figure 3. 58 Princess-line day dress of worsted wool and figured silk satin, showing the narrower skirt cut in one panel with the bodice, c. 1879–81. © Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum. Photo by John Chase Photography.
Figure 3. 59 Spoon busk corset by Y&N c. 1885–95. Spoon busks continued to be used in corsets until the mid-1890s. © The Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum. Photo by John Chase Photography.
Figure 3. 61 ‘Chimneytype’ bustle of brown cotton c. 1882–95. © Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum. Photo by John Chase Photography.
Figure 3. 62 Wire and cotton tape bustle, stamped THE KEELAPSO, S&S, 1880s. © Fashion Museum, Bath.
Figure 3. 60 The pattern diagram shows the dramatically different construction of a ‘princess line’ dress from 1878 with no waist seam and long intricate panels extending from the shoulder to the hem of dresses. © Author.
Figure 3. 63 Fashion plate, Revue de la Mode, Dimanche 22 mars 1885. © Rijksmuseum.
Figure 3. 64 Biscuit and rose-coloured silk day dress by Nicholson and Wordley, c. 1886, showing the very exaggerated and high bustle at the back. © Fashion Museum, Bath.
Figure 3. 65 The beautifully fitted bodice in this Cabinet Card from 1886 to 1887 shows just how tightly fitting the bodice on dresses at this time could be. © Manchester Art Gallery/Bridgeman Images.
1890–1900
The silhouette of dresses in the 1890s changed from the gathered skirts and festooned draperies seen in the previous five years to simpler A-line styles. As bustles fell out of fashion, the back of the hips became softer and skirt profiles less exaggerated. Although a small bustle pad was sometimes still worn, without the high bustle the hem of skirts again fell to the ground (see figure 3. 66). Bodices were shorter, ending at the natural waistline, occasionally with a small point below the waist at the centre front. In 1890 sleeves were simple and followed the natural shape of the arm, but as the decade progressed the top of the sleeve became wider, culminating in the new ‘leg-o-mutton’ sleeves9 in 1895 (see figure 3. 67). Leg-o-mutton sleeves increased the visual width of the shoulder line and this, with the increase in skirt hem widths and the fashionable tiny waist, again created an hour-glass profile. Spoon busks continued to be used in corsets into the early 1890s (see figure 3. 70) but by the middle of the decade they were replaced by a straight metal busk (see figure 3. 71). As skirts became wider and more A-line the need to control the hips was less important so corsets became shorter again, but remained tightly laced through the waist.
Figure 3. 66 Fashion plate 1892, showing the introduction of ‘leg-o-mutton’ sleeves and a softer skirt profile with a train at the back. Image courtesy of the Manley Family Archive.
Figure 3. 67 Black patterned silk dress in abstract design, c. 1890–95, showing a refined silhouette and the beginnings of leg-omutton sleeves. © Fashion Museum Bath.
Figure 3. 68 ‘The Grand Prix Day’, fashion plate showing Fashion in Paris, 1895. © The British Library Board.
Figure 3. 69 Pink and black stripe silk satin dress, by Duboys Paris, c. 1893 with large puff-sleeves and a wide gored skirt, longer at the back. © Fashion Museum Bath.
Figure 3. 70 W. H. Symington and W. Anderson black cotton corset 1891 retaining the spoon busk and showing a shorter hip section worn under the wide gored skirts. © Museum of London.
Figure 3. 71 A lightweight corset with straight busk at the front, c. 1900. This corset shows the beginnings of the change in fashion to the straight front, or ‘Health Corsets’, of the early 1900s. The Symington Collection © Leicestershire County Council Museums.