A Look @ Womens Fashion 1810 to 1959

I am no fashion queen and my knowledge of fashion throughout the ages is limited at best. I can recognize the different names of certain articles of clothing and place them in a general time period but honestly, most of my knowledge comes from reading novels! I happened across an interesting website recently - Sense & Sensibility that features reproduction clothing. Jennie Chancey designs vintage clothing for her online shop and it's truly amazing and fine work. She has posted her collection of scanned images of art, fashion plates, patterns etc to share.

 It's not always easy to imagine what an author has in mind when he/she is describing an article a character is wearing when they have extensively researched fashion of a certain time period and we, the reader, have not. I often find myself looking up images to see what something looks likes.

A fashion plate from 1810

 

Ladies Home Journal Cover 1897

 

bolero dress from 1904 fashion circular

(bolero - a short tailored jacket)

 

cover Ladies Home Journal 1911

 

Ad in a catalog for corsets 1912

 

Cover of La Mode - March 1912

 

Ad for Shirts - 1916

 

Women's Dresses from a catalog - 1920

 

Red Book / Jc Pennys / McCalls - Shirley Temple Collection Patterns - 1930's

 

1938 day dress with a gored skirt, tailored bodice & puffed sleeves (pattern)

 

that 1940's tailored look

 

1950's evening dresses

 

1959 - flare or straight skirt

 

Fashion definitely changed and drastically in women's fashion during that brief glimpse spanning a short 149 years. Can you imagine one of the women stepping out of the 1810 fashion plate into our world and glimpsing a few of our fashions?

 

 



I adore these stockings but a woman from 1810 would probably think they belonged to a courtesan!

 

Quick someone fetch me my salts!

 

"Mischief Managed" ~Kelly