#second bustle era

[lwrverum]

Silk Taffeta Day or Visiting Dress, 1885

Augusta Auctions

Updated from ca. 1870 original.

[orchidscript]

Thank you to all of y’all who have tagged me for Seven Sentence Sunday!

Unfortunately, I have no sentences for you this week. My brain is mush and I’ve been doing very little except sewing. I’ve made a lot of progress just this morning, so I hope you don’t mind if I share that instead?

Please ignore my messy living room. This is the only “sewing space” in my apartment large enough for my bullshit 😅

Again, special thanks to @sanjuwrites @bonheur-cafe @freneticfloetry @lemonlyman-dotcom @carlos-in-glasses @kiwichaeng @paperstorm @tintagel-or-cockleshells @kiwiana-writes @tailsbeth-writes @heybuddy-drabbles and @firenati0n for the tags!

I’m going to abstain from tagging this week because, well, I’m not adding much to the writing conversation 😅 I can’t wait to read everyone else’s stuff though! Just after I finish tacking down that lace!

[dresshistorynerd]

i hope this isnt too random and is something you can help me with--i'm needing a reference of someone around the 1870s-1880s running, like a dull on sprint, in a bustle dress. would that even be possible? would she just be lifting the dress part up and have the layers underneath be showing? would she pull up the crinoline (if those were worn at the time, i'm sorry i'm too lazy to research atm) as well? i hope the question isnt too broad or confusing. thank you so much!!!!

Hi! Not at all too broad or confusing question!

I'm assuming you mean the Second Bustle Era dress, since it's the more well known and iconic bustle style. The First Bustle Era was roungly the first half of 1870s, then there was Natural Form Era in the middle and the Second Bustle Era was most of 1880s. The two bustle eras were distinctive in style, but they mostly had similar layers. To illustrate the difference here's a fashion plate from the First Bustle Era and another from the second.

Yes you could run in a bustle dress. As you see especially in the Second Bustle Era dresses, the hem didn't quite reach the ground, which is really the the thing that will get in your way, if it would. As someone who has worn several different full length evening dresses (not very historical though but that's beside the point) and ran and danced in them, I can say the issues only really come when the hem reatches the ground. Then lifting the hem becomes necessary.

A type of cage crinoline was indeed used with the bustle dress, called bustle cage. Unlike the typical crinoline it was only in the back, shaped similarly as 18th century side panniers, because that's where all the volume was, so it wouldn't get in the way when running. There are though some examples of bustle cages that did go all around and simply were more volumous in the back, but I haven't seen any of them being dated into 1880s. The first bustle cage below is from 1887 and the second is from 1870-72.

A full crinoline though actually helps moving around and running. It was one of the reasons why it become so quickly so widely used in 1850s. It carries the fabric of the dresses keeping them away from the feet.

Even when lifting the hem isn't necessary, it's likely that while running the petticoat would show at least a bit. Shift hem wouldn't likely be seen as it was a bit shorter and the first layer. Petticoat was worn over the bustle cage and would help giving the fashionable silhouette, though some skirts would have a foundation skirt attached to them and then separate petticoat wasn't needed. It was most often white and had more volume in the back often in shape of ruffles. Here's couple of examples, first from 1883 and second from 1886.

I thought primary source references could be easiest to find regarding dancing and tennis. I thought it might give a nice range of different types of dresses. I didn't find useful painting of dancing in Second Bustle Era gowns, but this one from the First Bustle Era is close enough, I think.

I found two paintings depicting tennis in bustle gowns, one from the First and another from the Second Bustle Era.

Tennis was played in the typical summer day dress, which for tennis were traditionally white. So the outfit would have all of the layers like you'd normally have and the dress would be from light breethable materials, light cotton usually, and sometimes a little more loose fitting, so it does work as a good reference for how to move in an average day dress.

Lastly I'll link here a video from Prior Attire channel, where she dresses up in about 1885 dress for tennis and demostrates playing tennis in it. It shows really well how that type of dress moves and how you can pretty easily move and run in it without having to really do anything about it. The full demonstration starts around 23:37 mark, but the full video is useful in showing all the layers that goes into it.

Dressing up for a game of tennis, circa 1885

Next instalment in the series - and we are looking at Victorian tennis dress, second bustle style! enjoy! also experimenting a bit more wit

[junebugjo]

recent sketch studies of historical fashion plates

[artist-ellen]

And our final Cinderella look - The Wedding Dress!

This gown was surprisingly really fun to redesign... again. The first time I attempted these I really struggled with getting the silver/blue of her Ballgown to look different enough from her wedding gown... while this time the bustle era really came through with a long-sleeved wedding dress for the ages. What? I like long sleeves on wedding dresses. And I can so easily imagine how fantastic the drapery/fabric layers on this gown would look gliding down a red-carpet staircase okay?

And I know I know I don't quite have the second bustle era shelf-effect going hard enough... but you'll just have to forgive me bc of the angle of the pose and... my weakness for voluminous skirts.

I am the artist!!! Don’t repost without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: Instagram , Patreon

[fashionhistorycorner]

I absolutely love the first bustle era

But I absolutely cannot stand the second bustle era

I think it’s cause the second bustle era starts so far down on the back and sticks straight out like a shelf as opposed to the more soft and rounded shape of the first 🤷🏼‍♀️

[fiordespinadispagna]

Hot take: stays are more aesthetically pleasing than corsets.

Rip to the second bustle era but I'm different