The Victorian Era

What Did Victorian Women Wear in the 1850s?

Article · Fashion & Dress · The Victorian Era, 1837–1901

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The 1850s were the high point of the crinoline era, and the fashions of the decade were the most distinctive of the entire Victorian period. The Victorian woman of the 1850s wore a tightly fitted bodice with a pointed waist, a wide dome-shaped skirt supported by a cage crinoline, a fitted sleeve that flared into a deep cuff at the elbow, a high collar that came up to the jaw, and an elaborate bonnet that sat low on the forehead. The look was at once severe and elaborate, and it was the visual signature of the mid-Victorian period. The broader context of the fashions of the decade is set out in Women’s Victorian Fashion, and the parallel history of crinolines is examined in How did the crinoline evolve?.

The Silhouette of the 1850s

The silhouette of the 1850s was dominated by the crinoline. The crinoline, which had been a stiffened petticoat made of horsehair, became in the 1850s a separate garment of steel hoops joined by tapes, and it produced the great dome-shaped skirts of the decade. The skirts of the early 1850s were still supported by three to six petticoats topped by a stiffened petticoat of horsehair or corded cotton. By the mid-1850s the new cage crinoline had taken over, with steel hoops joined by tapes producing a far wider skirt. By the late 1850s the crinoline had reached its greatest extent in 1859, when a fashionable skirt might measure six or seven yards around the hem and need a correspondingly wide sweep of fabric.

The bodice of the 1850s was tightly fitted, with a pointed waist, a high neckline, and a pointed centre front. The bodice was usually boned, and it was often reinforced with a busk — a long flat piece of wood, bone, or metal that ran down the centre front and gave the figure its rigid, upright line. The bodice was generally made of silk, satin, moiré, grosgrain, taffeta, poplin, figured cotton, figured wool, or figured silk, and trimmed with braid, buttons, lace, embroidery, insertion, pin-tucks, or piping.

The Sleeves of the 1850s

The sleeves of the 1850s were a particular feature of the decade. The early 1850s saw the last of the gigot or leg-of-mutton sleeves, with their great width at the elbow, and the new fitted sleeves, with their narrow fit to the elbow and their deep cuff. The deep cuff, often finished with a frill of lace, a ruffle of ribbon, a band of embroidery, a band of insertion, or a band of pin-tucks, was a particular feature of the decade. The sleeve was often reinforced with a sleeve board, a small piece of wood or whalebone that ran down the inside, and supported by wire sleeve supports that held the sleeve in the correct position. The history of sleeves is examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion.

The Neckline and the Collar

The neckline of the 1850s was generally high, and the collar was a stand collar, a turnover collar, a shawl collar, or a bertha — a wide, deep collar that extended over the shoulders. The bertha was a particular feature of the decade, and it was often finished with a frill of lace, a ruffle of ribbon, a band of embroidery, a band of insertion, or a band of pin-tucks. The neckline of the evening dress was lower, with a wide décolletage that exposed the shoulders and the upper chest, finished with lace, ribbon, or embroidery. The history of evening dress is examined in What was Victorian evening dress like?.

The Materials

The materials of the 1850s were many and varied. The basic fabrics were cotton, linen, wool, and silk, joined by a growing range of new fabrics, including the machine-made lace of Nottingham, the Paisley shawl of Scotland, the silk of Macclesfield and Spitalfields, the wool of Yorkshire, and the cotton of Lancashire. The new industrial processes of the period — the spinning of fine cotton yarns, the weaving of figured silks, the printing of calicoes, the bleaching of linens, and the dyeing of woollens — made a wide range of fabrics available at prices the expanding middle class could afford.

The new aniline dyes of the period gave the Victorian palette its characteristic colours. William Henry Perkin’s mauveine, accidentally synthesised in 1856, gave its name to the colour mauve and the fashion of lilac, lavender, and pale purple. Magenta followed in 1859, viridian and ultramarine shortly after. The first silk dresses dyed with the new anilines appeared in the windows of the Regent Street shops in the late 1850s, and the colours carried the unmistakable tint of the synthetic. The history of textiles is examined in The Victorian Economy and Industrialization.

The New Technology

The introduction of the sewing machine transformed dressmaking in the late 1850s. Elias Howe’s lockstitch machine of 1846 had been refined through the decade, and by 1858 Isaac Merritt Singer’s improved model was on sale in Britain and the United States. The Singer company, founded in 1851, was selling tens of thousands of machines a year by 1860, and the new machine made it possible to sew seams and run up hems at many times the speed of hand work. The first ready-made garments appeared in the same years, and the price of clothing began its long fall.

The Accessories

The accessories of the 1850s were many and varied. The bonnet of the decade was small and close-fitting, in straw, silk, or satin, trimmed with ribbons, flowers, and feathers. The shawl was large, often a Paisley, Kashmir, or Norwich silk shawl, worn over the shoulders or about the figure. Parasols were small and light, with handles of carved wood, ivory, or mother-of-pearl and covers of silk or lace. The favoured jewellery was sentimental: brooches, lockets, bracelets, and rings, often set with the hair of a loved one or with a small portrait under glass. The history of the accessories is examined in Victorian Accessories and Jewelry.

The Hairstyle of the 1850s

The hairstyle of the 1850s was generally parted in the centre, drawn smoothly back over the ears, and gathered into a knot, chignon, or coil at the back of the head, sometimes enclosed in a net or snood. The hair was often augmented with switches, hair pads, and false braids, dressed with pomade or bandoline, and ornamented with flowers, ribbons, combs, and feathers. The history of hair is examined in Victorian Hair and Beauty.

The Shoes and the Boots

The shoes and the boots of the 1850s were generally small, narrow, and pointed, with a low heel and a square or round toe. They were made of polished calf, blackened calf, patent leather, kid, morocco, suede, silk, satin, brocade, or velvet, and often decorated with bows, rosettes, buckles, buttons, braid, lace, or embroidery. The boots of the 1850s were generally ankle boots, half boots, or tall boots, and they were often highly polished. The history of the boot is examined in Women’s Victorian Fashion.

The Paris and London Houses

The 1850s were the years in which the great Parisian and London houses laid down the conventions of the modern dressmaker. Charles Frederick Worth, an English-born draper who had settled in Paris, opened his own house in 1858 and soon became the dressmaker to the Empress Eugénie, the Princess of Wales, and a roll-call of European royalty. In London the firms of Redfern, of Howell & James, and of Liberty (then on Regent Street) were establishing themselves as the dressmakers and fabric merchants of the middle and upper classes. The rise of the great houses is examined in Victorian Fashion and Dress.