THE 19TH CENTURY

Styles of the late 18th century carried over into the early 19th century. Gradually, however, women’s clothing grew frillier and more voluminous, while men’s grew plainer. Developments toward the end of the 19th century resulted in more functional clothing for women.

Early 1800s

The neoclassical, or Empire, style dominated the decorative arts and clothing fashions of the early 19th century. It gradually evolved into what became known as the romantic style, named after a movement in literature and art known as romanticism. Romantic writers and artists favored other times and other places, and fashion also drew inspiration from the past and from distant locales. By the 1820s waistlines began to drop, skirts became wider, and sleeves, hats, and hairstyles became increasingly elaborate. England saw a revival of puffed sleeves from the 16th century. Shawls with paisley prints from distant Kashmīr, on the Indian subcontinent, also came into fashion. The corset once more became an integral component of dress, to emphasize a narrow waist and full bust.

After Napoleon became emperor in 1804 he revived the French textile and fashion industries, which had declined during the revolution. Aiding his efforts was the Jacquard loom, perfected in 1801 by its inventor, Joseph-Marie Jacquard. This device largely automated the process of weaving patterns in fabrics and made great variety possible. Soon white muslins gave way to colorful silks, and women's clothing became more heavily ornamented.
Mid-1800s 

Victoria ascended the British throne in 1837, and the remainder of the 19th century has been dubbed the Victorian Age. A widely believed misconception about Victorian fashion is that tight corsets and bustles virtually crippled Victorian women.

Although almost all women in Europe and North America wore corsets, these corsets were not nearly as tight as popular legend has it. The 17-inch (43-cm) waist that later authors attributed to Victorian women was so rare as to be essentially mythical. Corsets were advertised and sold in waist sizes ranging from 18 to 30 in (46 to 76 cm), and the laces usually provided another 1 to 2 in (2 to 5 cm) in back. Larger sizes with waists measuring up to 42 inches (107 cm) were also available. There is no evidence that corsets caused serious health problems, as is widely believed.

Women did wear a great deal of clothing during the Victorian Age, however. An average woman of 1850 wore a chemise (underslip), a corset, several petticoats, drawers (underpants), a two-piece dress (consisting of a matching skirt and bodice), stockings, shoes, gloves, a bonnet or hat, and any necessary outer garments, such as a shawl. The development of synthetic dyes led to the popularity of extremely bright colors, which replaced the pastel colors that were previously fashionable.

Industrialization and technology contributed to the ongoing democratization of style in the 19th century. The sewing machine, patented in 1846, and the improvements made to it by American inventor Isaac Singer, made it possible to produce several hundred stitches a minute, a vast improvement over the hand-sewing rate of 30 or 40 stitches a minute. Although most clothing continued to be sewn by hand for some time, the sewing machine contributed to the mass production of ready-made clothing—clothing that increasing prosperity made affordable to many. As a result, the middle class could wear the same styles as the wealthy.

The ready-to-wear industry began to be significant in menswear by the 1840s, before it had a noticeable impact on women's fashion. A system of sizes and patterns made it possible to fit the body, especially the male body, without resorting to custom-made clothing. In North America, entrepreneurs such as Ellen Curtis Demorest and Ebenezer Butterick created paper dress patterns that helped popularize the latest styles.

The growth of mass media also spread fashion information to the middle classes. Godey's Lady's Book, for example, a periodical first published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1830, brought sketches of French fashions to the United States. Developments in photography in the 1840s led to wide reproduction of photographs of elegant women. In 1860 Demorest brought out a magazine to promote her patterns. Mail-order catalogues spread recent styles to rural areas. In Canada the Toronto retailing firm Eaton’s issued its first catalogue in 1884.

At the same time, custom dressmaking, known as couture, also changed. Englishman Charles Worth moved to Paris from London in 1845 as a designer for a silk house and later became associated with Gagelin, one of the first firms to handle ready-to-wear coats and suits. Worth established his own atelier (studio) in Paris in 1858 and helped transform couture from a craft into high art and big business.

Men’s Fashions

The trend toward simplicity in menswear begun in the late 1700s continued into the 1800s, checked only briefly by the restoration of the monarchy in France in 1815 and the reintroduction of formal court dress. All classes accepted trousers extending to the ankles, and fashionable men known as dandies wore tight-fitting trousers, called pantaloons, and elaborate cravats.

 

In contrast to women’s fashions, dark, sober colors—especially black—triumphed in menswear. Gone were brightly colored men's suits, although a man might wear a colorful vest, or in the privacy of his home, a brilliantly colored dressing gown. A multitude of minute distinctions identified a man's position in the class structure. A gentleman wore a top hat, for example, whereas a worker wore a soft cap.

Beau Brummell, a trendsetter for English fashion, popularized the new English style of menswear in the early 1800s. He wore suits made of dark wool rather than of silk, and he promoted the idea that simplicity in dress could be elegant. He also stressed the importance of personal cleanliness as a fashionable virtue, insisting that a plain but clean white shirt was preferable to a fancy one that was dirty. Brummell was also responsible for introducing the fashion of wearing only black and white for eveningwear. Although himself of humble origins, Brummell became a close friend of the prince of Wales, whose style he influenced.

From the 19th century on, fashions in men's clothing changed more slowly and to a smaller degree than women’s fashions. One reason for this difference is that a man's wardrobe has been based on the suit. A suit constituted a kind of uniform that varied only in its details. By the late 18th century, fashionable suits were increasingly made of dark wool. They were unadorned but beautifully tailored. During the 19th century a knee-length jacket called a frock coat gradually replaced the short jacket with tails at the back, called a tailcoat, that had been worn earlier. The tailcoat became reserved for formal occasions.

As the suit grew plainer, the role of the cravat increased. By the mid-19th century the cravat had so expanded in size that it covered the entire shirt above the vest. This type of cravat was called an ascot. The bow tie and the four-in-hand necktie began to take shape in the 1880s and 1890s. The term four-in-hand originally referred to a vehicle having one driver for a team of four horses; the knot in the necktie resembled the knot that the driver used to tie the reins together.