Everyday Fashion in Found Photographs

Book excerpt: In the last half of the 19th century, the women of America were beginning to develop their own sense of style. Although influenced by European fashions and the social and economic changes of the time, they made clothing choices based upon their personal aspirations and their practical everyday needs. Providing an overview of fashion influences for each decade from the 1860s to the end of the century, Everyday Fashion in Found Photographs presents iconic garments, using sources from the period, to provide commentary and detailed description of the styles of the time. Previously unpublished vintage photographs show women across the social spectrum wearing items such as the Garibaldi shirt, the cuirass bodice, the Mother Hubbard, bicycle bloomers, and much more. Names, dates and functions of garments are examined in detail, and ties are established between social and historical contexts and the evolution of clothing styles. This illustrated book is for readers who want to identify and understand specific clothing items as well as gain insight into the mind-set of fashionable women from Victorian-era America. Dress history scholars, costume designers, curators of costume collections, social and cultural historians and those who appreciate vintage photographs can learn about elements of late 19th century women's dress and thereby develop an understanding of what was fashionable, and why.