#bustles

[ghw-archive]

Dress, circa 1865

[on-whereabouts-lane]

"Bustles, while permitting an elegant drape of fabric from the front of the figure to the back, were a ridiculous invention. I had scant use for them, largely because they were so utterly pointless. I might have tolerated them better if one could carry things about. A selection of weaponry or a nice picnic lunch, for example."

An Impossible Imposter, Deanna Raybourn

Not Emma Lion, but could be Emma Lion

[curiouscatalog]

Fashions of 1870.

From: Godey’s Lady’s Book (Philadelphia, Pa. : 1840). Philadelphia, Pa: L.A. Godey, 1840-1892. Issues from 1870.

AP2 .G56

[realhistoricalpatterns]

Illustrierte Frauenzeitung, 1884, Court Train.

[chic-a-gigot]

La Mode illustrée, no. 48, 30 novembre 1873, Paris. Toilettes de Mme Bréant-Castel, rue du 4 Septembre 19. Ville de Paris / Bibliothèque Forney  

Description de toilette:

Costume en drap Tudor, bleu indigo. Tablier couvert de volants et encadré de trois plis perpendiculaires. Par derrière grand volant plissé. Polonaise formant par devant une veste courte. Pouff derrière. Les lés sont retenus en arrière par des doubles boutons en métal argenté. La polonaise est garnie d'une frange en fourrure.

Tudor broadcloth suit, indigo blue. Apron covered with flounces and framed by three perpendicular pleats. From behind large pleated flounce. Polonaise forming a short jacket in front. Puff behind. The strips are held at the back by double silver metal buttons. The polonaise is trimmed with a fur fringe.

—

Jupon long en velours marron. Le tablier est couvert de bouillonnés en même velours. Quilles en faye de nuance plus claire que le velours, couvertes de rubans en velours marron et encadrées d'une bande de même faye à courbes rondes. Corsage avec devants pareils aux quilles. Manches pareilles aux quilles. Grands nœuds en ruban de faye avec boucles de nacre de perles blanches. Nœuds sur l'épaule. Les nœuds de côté de la jupe se continuent en écharpe nouée.

Long brown velvet petticoat. The apron is covered with bubbles in the same velvet. Faye quilles of a shade lighter than velvet, covered with brown velvet ribbons and framed with a band of the same faye with round curves. Bodice with quilles-like fronts. Quilles-like sleeves. Large faye ribbon bows with mother-of-pearl loops of white pearls. Bows on the shoulder. The side bows of the skirt are continued in a tied scarf.

[clove-pinks]

'Unpleasant Occurrences': satirical fashion print by William Heath, dated circa 1830 by the Victoria & Albert Museum.

A dustman (sanitation worker) exclaims, "You dropp'd this here thingumbob marm." And the lady replies, "Oh daer it's my bustle."

Although clothing serving the function of a bustle has existed for centuries, dress historian Valerie Cumming dates the word "bustle" to the 1830s:

The term “bustle” was not used until ca. 1830; this is now a usual description for a device for thrusting out the skirt at the back of the waist. Innumerable forms and materials have been adopted through the centuries, from foxes’ tails (1343) to kitchen dusters (1834, Mrs Carlyle), from down cushions to wire cages. Until the 19th century, padded rolls were the usual form.

— Valerie Cumming, The Dictionary of Fashion History

Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century by Phillis Cunnington and C. Willett Cunnington describes the bustle of the 1830s as "either a crescentic cushion or a tier of stiff frills with tapes by which it was tied on round the waist."

The tape ties can be seen in the print:

The lady's enormous hat is a late 1820s-early 1830s style. Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century dates these hats to after 1827, and observes that during the 1830s women's hats "tended to diminish in size from the middle of the decade, becoming increasingly demure."

An 1828 caricature reproduced in Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century. The Cunningtons caption it: "Woman in costume caricaturing tight lacing, shortening of skirts, gigot sleeves and wide shoulder line; enormous hat with excessive ribbons. The man caricaturing the dandy's tight riding coat and high stock."

[sartorialadventure]

Women's silhouettes of the 19th century by Alfred Roller

[hoopskirtsociety]

Relaxing Admidst The Autumn Foliage Of A Garden ca.1888

Exploring Historical Fashion Detail in Japan

From the cultural enlightenment era of the Meiji Period (1868-1912)