hats and laces

American ball gown, 1860

Costume Institute at Met

defunctfashion:

Seaside Ensemble | c. 1864

I can just hear the gulls and the waves crashing against the pier.

This. Me. Next summer.

Evening dress, 1865

Day dress, ca. 1857

Detail of a Massachusetts wedding dress, 1867.

Godey’s fashions for January 1866.

I love love love the first dress on the right! If it were an extant example it would totally get a thousand notes.

Afternoon dress, 1865.

I will start with the year the Civil War ended, 1865.

This fashion plate appeared in Godey’s Lady’s Book. Of course, don’t imagine the dresses beautifully drawn here were worn by the large majority of American women. Most families were still affected by the war. I suppose there were some, perhaps Yankee women, who afforded to follow the (usually Parisian) trends. So look at fashion plates as you look at today’s Vogue.

Dress, 1851

If Scarlett O’Hara wore her curtains, why wouldn’t other 1860s girl sport her table-cloth? It looks fabulous!

Evening dress, 1857-1860

The Arranged Marriage by V.V.Pukirev, 1862

The Empress Eugenie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting, Franz Winterhalter, 1855

A very Romantic dress from 1872.

1860-1863

This makes me think of Scarlett O’Hara and the belles of the South.

The Empress Eugénie by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. 1854

Metropolitan Museum of Art