Cartoons
Caricatures and cartoons, although intentionally extreme with exaggerated poses and styles of dress, draw attention to how the body could be distorted by the controversial fashion trends at the time they were drawn. In the eighteenth century they highlighted the perils and dangers of wearing tightly laced corsets, satirizing the lengths to which women would go in order to achieve the then fashionable tiny waist (see figure 2. 7). In the mid-nineteenth century, a favourite subject for cartoonists was the exaggerated hooped petticoats women wore to enhance the wide skirts seen in fashions c. 1855.
Figure 2. 7 ‘Tight Lacing or Hold Fast Behind’. Hand-coloured etching and engraving March 1771. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund.
Fashion plates
Fashion illustrations including the early costume books of the sixteenth century and fashion plates from the late seventeenth century onwards depict the changing silhouettes of garments and highlight the most stylish features of a given date. These fashions are idealized, inspirational and often exaggerated but they show how fashionable women of the time might wish to dress. In the 1820s garment bodices were very short and skirts were triangular with the whole foot visible below the hem (see figure 2. 8). Further examples of the use of fashion plates is discussed in Chapter 3.
Figure 2. 8 Evening dress c. 1820. © The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, England.
Photographs
By the 1850s advances in photographic techniques made photographs very popular and they were widely available to Victorian society. However, care is needed when using carte de visite or cabinet card photographs as the demeanour of the sitters can seem rather rigid. It took a long time to take a photograph and required the sitter to remain still throughout the process, giving them a stiff upright pose (see figures 2. 9a and b). Whatever the status of the sitter, the clothing they chose for their photograph would usually be their most fashionable garments, and the resulting photograph, how they wanted to be recorded for posterity
Clockwise from above left:
Figure 2. 9a Small Carte de Visite, photograph, c. 1860, showing how tiny a waist could be in comparison to the wide hem of a crinoline skirt in the 1860s. © Author.
Figure 2. 9b Larger Cabinet Card, photograph showing the exaggerated ‘leg-o-mutton’ sleeves worn c. 1895. © Author.
Figure 2. 9c Studio portrait photograph 1920s. By the 1920s the pose in this studio portrait is more relaxed in tune with fashion at the time. As a portrait photograph of a known person taken on a known date it could be used as a date reference for garments in the 1920s see figure 3. 89. Image courtesy of the Manley Family Archive.
Figure 2. 10 Perambulation Eton and Harrow c. 1910, Lord’s Cricket Archive. © Marylebone Cricket Club.
When technical advances made outdoor photography possible, photographs of street scenes, sporting events, fairs and the seaside captured people in natural, relaxed poses taking part in everyday activities. They also show how clothes moved when worn and what was and was not possible to do when wearing them. They are a good source for assessing important considerations, like the acceptable skirt length for normal daily activities as well as for formal occasions. All the women in figure 2. 10 are wearing elegant long skirts that sweep the ground. These may not have been very practical but they were what fashion dictated for spectators at this sporting occasion. In this photograph, the women’s long skirts mean that not one pair of female shoes is visible.
The First World War changed the status and expectations of women and hemlines rose as their lives became more active. In the photograph in figure 2. 11, the women are dressed for the Races at Ascot. Although a formal occasion demanding the height of fashion, the shorter skirts definitely present a more relaxed approach to dressing
Figure 2. 11 4 May 1928: Outfits to be seen in for the racing season, exhibited by Louonda. Photo by E. Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.
Wedding photographs can also be a good reference as they can be accurately dated (see figure 2. 12). Although two years after the Second World War, with clothing coupons still in operation, a fashionable wedding dress was an important acquisition for a bride. Even if a wedding dress references a bygone era, guests will usually be wearing fashionable dresses of the time.
Figure 2. 12 Family wedding March 1947. Author’s collection.
Newspapers, magazines and other literary sources
If the date of the garment is known, searching newspaper archives can be helpful. In The Illustrated London News (see figure 2. 13), Court and social records often mention in great detail the clothing of people attending celebratory balls and social occasions. Reports of sporting events like the races at Ascot and birthday balls not only describe in detail what was being worn by whom but also show sketches or photographs of acceptable styles of dress. Every month women’s magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The Lady show the most fashionable garments worn at the time and magazine archives trace stylistic trends back through many decades
Figure 2. 13 The Illustrated London News has catalogued life not only in London but around the world, commenting on and recording important events. © Getty Images.
Figure 2. 14 Vogue magazine cover March 1956. © Alamy K14CX0.
Books
Books including letters and diaries, and other works of non-fiction describe not only styles of dress but also attitudes towards their purchase and how they were worn. Jane Austen, for example, describes in detail in her letters the fashionable fabrics and trimmings purchased by her characters. Hilary Davidson, in her book, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen, Regency Fashion, 1 gives fascinating insight into the life and times of Austen’s women. Similarly, Jane Ashelford’s The Art of Dress, Clothes and Society 1500–1914, 2 discusses not only what was worn but also what was happening in society and how political and social events affected attitudes, choices and manufacturing possibilities. This background information can be very useful when trying to establish the possible date a garment was made or worn. Books on historical pattern cutting give invaluable information into the developments in the cut and construction of garments over the years. Norah Waugh, The Cut of Women’s Clothes 1600–1930, and Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion are excellent resources. The Patterns of Fashion series is now being updated with coloured diagrams and patterns by Jenny Tiramani and colleagues at the School of Historical Dress (see figures 2. 15a and b).
Figure 2. 15a and b Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion 2, revised by the School of Historical Dress, showing the cover and page 129 with a detailed pattern and construction information for a day dress in pink linen from c. 1908. © The School of Historical Dress. For other volumes in the series see the Bibliography at the end of the book.
Modern books on pattern cutting are also useful for understanding the cut and construction of twentieth and twenty-first-century clothing. Diagrams in cutting manuals for different decades reflect the contemporary trends in garment fit at the time. See the Bibliography for examples of these.