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Hannah
Billingshurst, c.1875
Lot 1357 |
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History
of the 1857 Promenade Dress and Notes on Late 1850s Fashion
This
pattern was taken from a dress worn by Hannah Billingshurst of
Juneau, Wisconsin. Hannah was the wife of United States
Representative, Charles Billingshurst who served from 1854 to
1858. She probably wore this dress in her role as a congressman's
wife between 1857 and 1859.
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| An 1850s Wisconsin
woman in fashionable attire WHi(X3)50268
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As
would be expected of a congressman's wife, Hannah chose to
wear a fashionable but conservative gown. Hannah's dress has
all the necessary fashion elements of the late 1850s including
the full skirt worn over a hoop, and the fitted bodice with a
high, rounded neckline, long peplum, and full "pagoda"
sleeves.
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Left: The
"Esmeralda Gown," Godey's Lady's Book, August 1857
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The green
silk and black velvet ribbon trim and silk fringe from Hannah's
dress. |
Even Hannah's dress fabric is stylish for the late 1850s. Graham's
Magazine in October 1857 wrote that new fabric designs had a
large, bold, and striking character. Hannah's crisp silk dress
accomplished this with its wide vertical stripes of emerald
green moiré alternating with narrower stripes of gray shot with
green and bordered with bands of gray and dark green. The fabric
fits with the era's preference for geometric patterns such as
checks, blocks, ginghams, plaids, polka dots, and stripes. The
silk's crisp hand, usually found in taffetas, glacés, and
moirés, was another fashionable feature. Hannah could have also
chosen a soft wool, such as challis and cashmere, the other
preferred fabric type of this period. Stylish women considered
cotton a lesser material, only appropriate for utilitarian
dresses and summer day gowns.
Top: The emerald
green, black, and white silk fabric from Hannah's dress.
Left: Other
fabrics from the late 1850s: The red fabric is wool. The other
two are made of silk. |
Black was the most popular color in 1857-1858, either as a dress
color or trim. As Godey's Magazine noted, "The
admixture of black with everything is a rage. It is extremely
becoming in contrast with bright colors." In April 1857 Godey's
editors wrote that other favorite colors included "delicate
shades of purple, green, blue, stone color, brown, and lavender."
They also supported the wearing of subdued reds, but added that
"No lady with any pretensions to taste should ever wear a
dress of crimson, scarlet, or any of the violent plaids."
Hannah trimmed her dress with green silk and black velvet
ribbon above green and gold fringe. Every fashion magazine of
the late 1850s wrote that black velvet ribbon was the best trim,
though in 1857 and 1858 fringe was frequently mentioned. In
January 1857 Peterson's Magazine noted that "For the
trimming of [bodices] fringe is almost universally used."
Three months later Arthur's Magazine wrote that "Fringes
may be said to be the only trimming for a dress."
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Douglas &
Sherwood's "New Expansion Skirt with the Patent Adjustable
Bustle," Godey's Lady's Book, May 1858.
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The hoop skirt was the most distinctive feature of the late
1850s silhouette. Previous to 1856 women wore up to seven
petticoats to create the skirt's fashionable bell shape. In
1856 the "crinoline,"a stiff skirt of horsehair was
invented. It maintained the skirt's proper shape and was
considerably lighter than layers of petticoats. Hoop skirts,
underskirts with frameworks of steel rings, quickly replaced
crinolines. Women's magazines praised both articles for their
"great comfort and economy," and their aid in "avoiding
the necessity for many skirts." Despite being large and
cumbersome, they became necessary accessories for women of all
classes and ranks. In fact by November of 1856 Graham's
Magazine wrote:
"The
plainest ladies, with but slight pretension to fashion, have
given up their prejudices against [hoops] and adopted them.
Thus [hoops] have obtained a complete triumph, not
withstanding the fair wearers occupy two, or even three
times as much space as they did formerly. That only
increases their importance in the world."
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Not surprisingly, the awkwardness, unnatural size and shape of
hoops made them easy targets for cartoons and satires.
"Comparative
Sizes of Bell(e)s," from Harper's New Monthly Magazine,
December 1856.
Click on image
for larger version
Hannah
definitely wore a hoop with this dress, and the yoke at the back
of its skirt suggests she also wore a small pad or bustle. Women
from Hannah's time wanted their skirts to be bell-shaped.
Unfortunately the small of the back caused "a falling in at
the waist" that marred the silhouette they desired. The bustle's
purpose was to help fill out that area and keep the skirt
rounded at the top. |
