After the Civil War the upper middle class in America expanded and became increasingly style-conscious. Visiting European royalty as well as American women returning from the International Exhibition in Paris in 1867 stimulated fashion awareness — and it was in this climate that the magazine Harper's Bazar flowered. Dedicated to being "A repository of Fashion, Pleasure, and Instruction," it brought to American women inside glimpses of the very latest European and American fashions, all in carefully detailed engravings. It was much the finest source for high fashion for this period.This book consists of the finest illustrations from Harper's Bazar between the years 1867 and 1898, the period of its peak importance. These illustrations not only show you what apparel appealed to our Victorian ancestors, but give you an idea of the evolutionary nature of fashion as well. You will see bustles come and go, natural forms become the vogue only to be superseded by the constricting hourglass figure. Each look is illustrated with a number of different garments. There are gowns for the morning hours, dinner dresses, sporting costumes, traveling clothes and apparel for special occasions: weddi... [Read More]

Imported custom-made clothes were usually beyond the financial reach of the average middle-class American woman of a century ago; and store-bought garments were often of inferior quality. This left many women with the options of making their own clothes or hiring a seamstress.While a number of economy-minded women did sew simple housedresses, and clothing for their children, many took favorite fashion plates to a dressmaker who would often consult patterns in a magazine such as The Voice of Fashion. This book, compiled by costume authority Kristina Harris, painstakingly reprints a rich selection of scaled dressmakers' patterns of the 1890s, taken from rare issues of that popular, late-19th century dressmaker's journal. Featuring such fashion elements as leg-o'-mutton sleeves, high-collared necklines, long skirts, and pinched waistlines, the collection includes nearly 500 patterns and illustrations detailing 50 garments for women. Every wardrobe necessity for the Victorian lady is covered — from nightgowns and wrappers for boudoir and breakfast, a riding habit and tennis outfit, to walking dresses for town and visiting, elegant dinner dresses, and elaborate evening gowns.An introd... [Read More]

Women's fashions during the second half of the nineteenth century offered a delightful display of styles reflecting English, French, and American tastes. This comprehensive treasury of more than 900 crisp black-and-white illustrations ― arranged chronologically and dated by year ― provides a rich pictorial record of clothing styles from that period. Suitable for a wide variety of graphic projects, these cuts will especially appeal to artists and illustrators in search of finely rendered images of authentic Victorian fashions. Selected by graphic artist Carol Belanger Grafton from such vintage sources as Harper's Bazar, La Mode Illustrée, Peterson's Magazine, Godey's Salon de la Mode and Frank Leslie's Ladies' Magazine, the cuts brim with clear detail and old-time flavor as they record a wealth of evolving styles ― from ornate gowns of the mid-1800s, widened by hoop skirts and elaborately enhanced with ribbons, ruffles, laces, and bows, to turn-of-the-century fashions that produced leg-o'-mutton sleeves, narrowed skirts, diminished bustles, and high-necked bodices (except for evening wear, which exhibited a more daring neckline).Here, for copyright-free use, are hundreds of e... [Read More]

Since the invention of photography there has not been a history of fashion completely illustrated by photographs — until this one. Photography historian Alison Gernsheim first studied Victorian and Edwardian fashion in order to be able to date photographs in her collection. Of course the photos soon proved to be the best of all fashion plates — authentic, detailed, as decorative and charming as top fashion illustration. When united with identifications and descriptions of the chief costume articles, and a commentary that includes childhood memories of the period, the resulting history is doubly indispensable — equally useful and delightful to serious and casual readers.The invention of photography preceded that of the crinoline by about a decade. Pre-crinoline bonnets, stovepipe hats, and deep décolletage are featured in the first of these 235 illustrations — including a beautiful 1840 daguerreotype portrait of a lady that is the earliest study of its kind extant. From 1855 to the 1870s the crinoline gave shape (whether barrel, bell, teapot, or otherwise) to English women, and their shapes fill many of these full and half-page photos. English men went beardless in top hats... [Read More]

At the turn of the century, ladies of privilege could easily afford their own dressmakers, and even middle-class housewives occasionally employed competent seamstresses. But many women did their own sewing, often relying on Dressmaking, Up to Date, a how-to book published by the Butterick Publishing Company. First published in 1905 and widely considered the first modern American sewing book, this extremely rare volume is published here complete and unabridged.This Butterick manual provides clear and concise instructions for altering patterns, hand-sewing stitches, and creating shirt-blouses, skirts, wedding and evening gowns, coats, jackets, maternity wear, undergarments, bathrobes, children's clothing, and many other articles of apparel. Today's costume historians and sewing enthusiasts will find fascinating instruction in such long-lost arts as boning a bodice perfectly, creating skirt sweepers and bust enhancers, concealing hooks and eyes, and other vintage dressmaking techniques.An indispensable archive of information on late-Victorian and turn-of-the-century clothing, this volume will be of immense interest to anyone fascinated by the fashion and costume of the period. It will... [Read More]

Assembled from vintage issues of Peterson's Magazine, a popular nineteenth-century "ladies" periodical that premiered in 1842, here is an authentic gallery of Civil War-era clothing patterns for women, children, and men. The author of many books on historic fashion, Seleshanko has compiled this new, original volume of wonderfully usable antique garment designs to delight costume designers, historians, Civil War reconstructionists, and antiques collectors alike!During the 1860s, the Civil War left Americans with shortages of all kinds — including clothing resources. Peterson's pattern diagrams were of enormous help to women who no longer had the opportunity to purchase their clothing abroad or visit their local dressmaker. This one-of-a-kind collection showcases sixty historically accurate nineteenth-century garment designs. Included are a Chemise, the Madeline Wrapper, and a Polonaise Dinner Dress for ladies...a Knickerbocker Suit and Loose Jacket and Waistcoat for boys...and a Tunic and Cape and Basquine Dress for girls...and, for men, a handsome Smoking Cap. 60 patterns. Over 300 diagrams and illustrations.

Over 1,000 illustrations, meticulously reproduced from rare issues of renowned fashion magazine, present a striking array of women’s fashions from 1860 to 1914: elegant evening and dinner gowns, stylish daywear, wedding ensembles, bathing costumes, mourning clothes, cycling outfits and much more; plus detailed renderings of shoes, hats, parasols, and other accessories.

Compelling pictorial archive of 264 vintage photographs, selected from rare tintypes and other authentic materials (1850s–1910), depict little girls in their mothers' hats and clothes, sisters wearing identical plaid dresses and button boots, a young man in an everyday suit and bowler hat, a boy dressed in Little Lord Fauntleroy style, and scores of others.

Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Dress is an authoritative visual guide to women's fashion across five centuries.Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments. Readers will learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history – as well as how dresses have varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer.This lavishly illustrated book is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their cartridge pleats from their Récamier ruffles. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' a dress, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.

From hoop skirts to bustles: a practical book that's also fun to colorAn era that saw women's fashions go from hoop skirts to softly draped bustles, the late Victorian and Edwardian periods also provided well-to-do ladies with elegant day dresses featuring leg-o'-mutton sleeves and lavish evening wear with plunging necklines. Twenty-nine colorable illustrations of fashionable apparel from the 1860s through 1910 depict — among other outfits — opera capes, frock coats, top hats, and knitted swimwear for men; and for the ladies, walking suits with narrow skirts, bathing outfits that completely cover the figure, and billowing bloomers for bicycling. A dazzling collection for theatrical designers, fashion historians, and style mavens; delightful entertainment for colorists of all ages.

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