1830s in Western fashion
1830s fashion in European and
European-influenced clothing is characterized by an emphasis on breadth,
initially at the shoulder and later in the hips, in contrast to the narrower
silhouettes that had predominated between 1800-1820.
Women's
costume featured larger sleeves than were worn in any period before or since,
which were accompanied by elaborate hairstyles and large hats.
The final
months of the 1830s saw the proliferation of a revolutionary new
technology—photography. Hence, the infant industry of photographic portraiture
preserved for history a few rare, but invaluable, first images of human
beings—and therefore also preserved our earliest, live peek into "fashion in action"—and its impact
on everyday life and society as a whole.
In the
1830s, men wore dark coats, light trousers, and dark cravats for daywear. Women's sleeves reached their ultimate
width in the gigot sleeve. Here, the boys (on holiday in the mountains) wear
buff-colored belted knee-length tunics with yokes and full sleeves over
trousers. The girls wear white dresses with colored aprons. The Family of Dr.
Josef August Eltz, Austria, 1835.
General trends
Innovations
in roller printing on textiles introduced new dress fabrics. Rich colors such
as the Turkey red of the 1820s were still found, but delicate floral prints on
light backgrounds were increasingly popular. More precise printing eliminated
the need for dark outlines on printed designs, and new green dyes appeared in
patterns of grasses, ferns, and unusual florals. Combinations of florals and
stripes were fashionable.
Overall,
both men's and women's fashion showed width at the shoulder above a tiny waist.
Men's coats were padded in the shoulders and across the chest, while women's
shoulders sloped to huge sleeves.
Women's fashions
Overview
In the
1830s, fashionable women's clothing styles had distinctive large "leg of
mutton" or "gigot" sleeves, above large full conical skirts,
ideally with a narrow, low waist between (achieved through corseting). The
bulkiness of women's garments both above and below the waist was intended to
make the waist look smaller than it was — this was the final repudiation of any
last lingering aesthetic influences of the Empire silhouette of ca. 1795–1825.
Heavy stiff fabrics such as brocades came back into style, and many
18th-century gowns were brought down from attics and cut up into new garments.
The combination of sloping shoulders and sleeves which were very large over
most of the arm (but narrowing to a small cuff at the wrist) is quite
distinctive to the day dresses of the 1830s.
Pelerines,
or lace coverings draped over the shoulders, were popular (one of several
devices, along with full upper-arm sleeves and wide necklines, to emphasize the
shoulders and their width).
Gowns
The
fashionable feminine figure, with its sloping shoulders, rounded bust, narrow
waist and full hips, was emphasized in various ways with the cut and trim of
gowns. To about 1835, the small waist was accentuated with a wide belt (a
fashion continuing from the 1820s). Later the waist and midriff were unbelted
but cut close to the body, and the bodice began to taper to a small point at
the front waist. The fashionable corset now had gores to individually cup the
breasts, and the bodice was styled to emphasize this shape.
Evening
gowns had very wide necklines and short, puffed sleeves reaching to the elbow
from a dropped shoulder, and were worn with mid-length gloves. The width at the
shoulder was often emphasized by gathered or pleated panels of fabric arranged
horizontally over the bust and around the shoulders.
Morning
dresses generally had high necklines, and shoulder width was emphasized with
tippets or wide collars that rested on the gigot sleeves. Summer afternoon
dresses might have wide, low necklines similar to evening gowns, but with long
sleeves. Skirts were pleated into the waistband of the bodice, and held out
with starched petticoats of linen or cotton.
Around 1835,
the fashionable skirt-length for middle- and upper-class women's clothes
dropped from ankle-length to floor-length.
Hairstyles and Headgear
Early 1830s
hair was parted in the center and dressed in elaborate curls, loops and knots
extending out to both sides and up from the crown of the head. Braids were
fashionable, and were likewise looped over either ear and gathered into a
topknot.
Bonnets with
wide semicircular brims framed the face for street wear, and were heavily
decorated with trim, ribbons, and feathers.
Married
women wore a linen or cotton cap for daywear, trimmed with lace, ribbon, and
frills, and tied under the chin. The cap was worn alone indoors and under the
bonnet for street wear.
For evening
wear, hair ornaments including combs, ribbons, flowers, and jewels were worn;
other options included berets and turbans.
Outerwear
Riding
habits consisted of a high-necked, tight-waisted jacket with the fashionable
dropped shoulder and huge gigot sleeves, worn over a tall-collared shirt or
chemisette, with a long matching petticoat or skirt. Tall top hats with veils
were worn.
Shawls were
worn with short-sleeved evening gowns early in the decade, but they were not
suited to the wide gigot sleeves of the mid-1830s.
Full-length
mantles were worn to about 1836, when mantles became shorter. A mantlet or
shawl-mantlet was a shaped garment like a cross between a shawl and a mantle,
with points hanging down in front. The burnous was a three-quarter length
mantle with a hood, named after the similar garment of Arabia. The paletot was
knee-length, with three cape-collars and slits for the arms, and the pardessus
was half or three-quarter length coat with a defined waist and sleeves.
For evening,
voluminous mantles of velvet or satin, with fur trim or fur linings in cold
climates, were worn with the evening gown.
Footwear
Low,
square-toed slippers were made of fabric or leather for daytime and of satin
for evening wear. Low boots with elastic insets appeared in this decade.
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hygu
Great!
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