1890s in fashion
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Fashion in the 1890s in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by long elegant lines, tall collars, and the rise of sportswear.
Women's fashions
Fashionable women's clothing styles shed some of the extravagances of previous decades (so that skirts were neither crinolined as in the 1850s, nor protrudingly bustled in back as in the late 1860s and mid-1880s, nor tight as in the late 1870s), but corseting continued unmitigated, or even slightly increased in severity. Early 1890s dresses consisted of a tight bodice with the skirt gathered at the waist and falling more naturally over the hips and undergarments than in previous years.The mid 1890s introduced leg o' mutton sleeves, which grew in size each year until they disappeared in about 1896. During the same period of the mid '90s, skirts took on an A-line silhouette that was almost bell-like. The late 1890s returned to the tighter sleeves often with small puffs or ruffles capping the shoulder but fitted to the wrist. Skirts took on a trumpet shape, fitting more closely over the hip and flaring just above the knee. Corsets in the 1890s helped define the hourglass figure as immortalized by artist Charles Dana Gibson. In the very late 1890s the corset elongated, giving the women a slight S-curve silhouette that would be popular well into the Edwardian era.
Sportswear and tailored fashions
Changing attitudes about acceptable activities for women also made sportswear popular for women, with such notable examples as the bicycling dress and the tennis dress.Unfussy, tailored clothes were worn for outdoor activities and traveling. The shirtwaist, a costume with a bodice or waist tailored like a man's shirt with a high collar, was adopted for informal daywear and became the uniform of working women. Walking suits featured ankle-length skirts with matching jackets.
Influence of aesthetic dress
The 1890s in both Europe and America saw growing acceptance of artistic or aesthetic dress as mainstream fashion, especially in the adoption of the uncorseted tea gown for at-home wear. In America in this period, Dress, the Jenness Miller Magazine (1887-1898) [link], reported that tea gowns were being worn outside the home for the first time in fashionable summer resorts.Style Gallery
- [Day dresses] of 1892 have low waists and high necklines. Sleeves have a high, gathered sleeve-head and are fitted to the lower arm.
- [Evening gowns] of 1892-3 feature short or elbow-length full, puffed sleeves and floral trimmings.
- [Walking suits] of 1894 show shorter skirts and matching jackets with leg o' mutton sleeves.
- [Punch Cartoon] of 1895 shows a fashionable bicycle suit.
- [1897 fashion plate] shows an idealized form of the fashionable figure. The jacket has an asymetrical closure and smaller sleeve puff.
- [Madame Faydou] wears her hair in a knot on top of her head. Her black gown and her daughter's grey dress (probably mourning attire) have fashionable leg o' mutton sleeves, 1897.
- [Bathing costumes] of 1898 have nautical details such as sailor collars.
- [1899 fashion plate] shows the narrow, gored skirt and more natural shoulder of the turn of the century (as well as the results of "S-bend" corseting).
Men's fashion
The overall silhouette of the 1890s was long, lean, and athletic. Hair was generally worn short, often with a pointed beard and generous moustache.
Coats, jackets, and trousers
By the 1890s, the sack coat (U.K. lounge coat) was fast replacing the frock coat for most informal and semi-formal occasions. Three-piece suits consisting of a sack coat with matching waistcoat (U.S. vest) and trousers were worn, as were matching coat and waistcoat with contrasting trousers.
Contrasting waiscoats were popular, and could be made with or without collars and lapels. The ususal style was single-breasted.
The blazer, a navy blue or brightly-colored or striped flannel coat cut like a sack coat with patch pockets and brass buttons, was worn for sports, sailing, and other casual activities.
The Norfolk jacket remained fashionable for shooting and rugged outdoor pursuits. It was made of sturdy tweed or similar fabric and featured paired box pleats over the chest and back, with a fabric belt. Worn with matching breeches or (U.S. knickerbockers, it became the Norfolk suit, suitable for bicycling or golf with knee-length stockings and low shoes, or for hunting with sturdy boots or shoes with leather gaiters.
The cutaway morning coat was still worn for formal day occasions in Europe and major cities elsewhere.
The most formal evening dress remained a dark tail coat and trousers with a dark or light waistcoat. Evening wear was worn with a white bow tie and a shirt with a winged collar.
The less formal dinner jacket or tuxedo, which featured a shawl collar with silk or satin facings, now generally had a single button. Dinner jackets were appropriate formal wear when "dressing for dinner" at home or at a men's club. The dinner jacket was worn with a white shirt and a dark tie.
Knee-length topcoats, often with contrasting velvet or fur collars, and calf-length overcoats were worn in winter.
Shirts and neckties
Shirt collars were turned over or pressed into "wings", and became taller through the decade. Dress shirts had stiff fronts, sometimes decorated with shirt studs and buttoned up the back. Striped shirts were popular for informal occasions.
The usual necktie was a four-in-hand or an Ascot tie, made up as a neckband with wide wings attached and worn with a stickpin, but the 1890s also saw the return of the bow tie (in various proportions) for day dress.
Accessories
As earlier in the century, top hats remained a requirement for upper class formal wear; bowlers and soft felt hats in a variety of shapes were worn for more casual occasions, and flat straw boaters were worn for yachting and at the seashore.
Style gallery
- [Painter John Singer Sargent] in formal evening dress, c. 1890.
- [Another portrait of Sargent], in day dress: dark coat and waiscoat, dark red ascot, and tall collar, c. 1890. This picture shows the long, lean silhouette in fashion at this time.
- [Frank Hird] wears a light blue tie and a striped shirt, 1894.
- [George du Maurier] wears a double-breasted waistcoat with a shawl collar under his sack coat, with grey trousers. He wears sqaure-toed shoes with spats, 1896.
- [Józef Mehoffer] wears a wing collar and a loosely knotted dark tie, 1897.
- [Country clothes] James Tissot wears breeches and high boots with a reddish collared waistcoat and a brown coat. Even with this casual outdoor costume, he wears a tie, 1898.
Notes
References
- Arnold, Janet: Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction C.1860-1940, Wace 1966, Macmillan 1972. Revised metric edition, Drama Books 1977. ISBN 0896760278
- Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500-1914, Abrams, 1996. ISBN 0810963175
- Nunn, Joan: Fashion in Costume, 1200-2000, 2nd edition, A & C Black (Publishers) Ltd; Chicago: New Amsterdam Books, 2000. (Excerpts online at [The Victorian Web])
- Payne, Blanche: History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century, Harper & Row, 1965. No ISBN for this edition; ASIN B0006BMNFS
External links
- [Fashion-era]
- [La Couturière Parisienne]
- *[Dress with Leg o' Mutton sleeves]
- *[1890's Dress]
- *[Fitted Sleeves]
- *[Trumpet-shaped skirts]
- *[Bell-shaped skirt]
- *[Tennis Dress]
- *[Hourglass Corset]
- [Corsets and Crinolines]
- *[S Bend Corset]
- [What Victorians Wore: An Overview of Victorian Costume]
| Preceded by: 1880s | History of Western Fashion 1890s | Followed by: 1900-1915 |
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