Dress England 1832 Women Fashion England 1832

Individual Images of Gowns via Met Museum and V&A Museum.

The 1830s was another transformative decade in 19^th century fashion.  Similar the 1820s, information technology was a bridge of years which stood between the Regency era (1811-1820) and the Victorian era (1837-1901), providing a bridge from the oft extreme, gigot-sleeved confections of the 1820s to the tight-sleeved, form-fitting bodices of the 1840s.  The 1830s was besides the decade in which the pendulum of fashion swung from big, ornate sleeves to big skirts embellished with various pleats and trimmings.  Or, every bit manner historian C. Willett Cunnington describes it, the decade in which women's gowns moved from the "exuberantly romantic" to the "droopingly sentimental."

*Please note: These are primarily visual guides – style CliffsNotes, if you will.  For more in depth data, please consult the recommended links.

1830

Start the decade, sleeves were still en gigot.  Gowns were low in the waist and, if worn for solar day, were often adorned with a chugalug and buckle or a sash tie.  Skirts were ankle-length and scantily trimmed.  Below is a perfect case of this variety of gown.  It is a peacock blue British railroad vehicle dress with gigot sleeves, made of silk and trimmed with a belt and metallic buckle.

1830 British, Blue Silk Carriage Dress.
(Image via National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne)

Evening dresses of 1830 were typically cutting low off the shoulders.  Sleeves were short and full.  Skirts were generally ankle-length with trimmings and ornament beginning at the level of the knee, as illustrated by the silk evening gown below.

1830 British Silk Dress.
(Image via LACMA)

1831

According to C. Willett Cunnington, belts and "deep gilt buckles" were even so very popular in 1831, equally evidenced by this beautiful, printed cotton day dress.

1830-34 British, Printed Cotton Twenty-four hour period Wearing apparel.
(Image via Victoria and Albert Museum)

Evening dresses were "less square across the bosom" and tended to be drawn down the center or crossed with drapery or trimmings.  Sleeves in eveningwear were big even when short and were often in the "beret" or "double bouffante" style.  The below image of evening dresses from 1831 clearly shows the belted silhouette, total, short sleeves, and evidently skirts which were in fashion.  Note that the skirts are embellished with one line of trim at the knees and no more than.

Magasin för konst, nyheter och moder 1831, Sweden.

This aforementioned style tin be seen in the below paintings.  Both show belted waists, off the shoulder gigot sleeves, and obviously skirts.  The correct portrait is an instance of a short, puffed sleeve with a sheer net oversleeve.

Portrait of a Woman
by Miklós Barabás, 1831.

Portrait of Mrs. Winfield Scott
by Asher Dark-brown Durand, 1831.

1832

Day dresses for 1832 changed picayune from the previous year.  Sleeves en gigot were nonetheless quite pop in all their variations.  Meanwhile, skirts were gradually becoming longer and wider.  C. Willett Cunnington states that equally a result of the increase in textile, the hem of the skirts was stiffened with flannel or muslin to preserve the shape of the pleats.  The increase in the size of the skirts and the pleating is axiomatic in the below image of an 1832 printed cotton fiber day wearing apparel.

1832 American Cotton Day Dress.
(Image via Met Museum)

For evening, bodices were cut low and off the shoulders.  Double bouffant sleeves were still in mode as were "soufflet sleeves," which Cunnington describes as being "very short and full with separated puffs."  Short, puffed sleeves with sheer oversleeves connected to exist a favorite.  The below portrait by Friedrich von Amerling provides a lovely example of this style.

Countess Julie von Woyna by Friedrich von Amerling, 1832.

The below image of an 1832 evening gown highlights the manner in total skirts and short sleeves with separated puffs.  This gown also has a slightly pointed bodice – a feature which began to exist quite popular that year, peculiarly for evening dresses.

1832 British Silk Gown.
(Image via Met Museum)

1832 British Silk Gown.
(Epitome via Met Museum)

1833

Moving into 1833, Cunnington reports that "the skirts are now of the most improvident and ungraceful width; the pleats doubled and oftentimes trebled."  He likewise remarks on the sudden popularity of the "pelisse-robe."

The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée, 1833.

The 1833 edition of The Court Mag and Belle Assemblée gives an case of a pelisse robe, as illustrated by the lilac/blue wagon gown at far correct.  This paradigm is described in the mag equally follows:

"A pelisse robe of lilac gros des Indes, a plain loftier corsage, adorned down the centre of the front with white fancy silk trimming, a row of which descends from the waist downwardly each side of the front end of the skirt, in the form of a broken cone.  The centre of the skirt is ornamented with knots of satin riband to correspond, laid at regular distances on a satin rouleau.  Satin ceinture tied in a bow, and short ends before."

In other respects, gowns were relatively unchanged from the previous year.  Pointed bodices continued to be very much in favor for evening dress.  And belts and ribbon bows round the waist were withal all the rage, though occasionally a lady might supercede her belt with a decorative cord and tassel.

Portrait of Mme. Jules-Antoine Droz by Eugène Devéria, 1833.

Meanwhile, ball gowns were frequently trimmed with lace along the neckline and sleeves.  The 1833 issue of The Courtroom Magazine and Belle Assembléecontains many images of this pop style.  I take included two of them below.The Court Magazine describes the dresses on the left equally follows:

"Blue watered silk façonnée rayée with tulle and satin folds on the body, and blonde to fall all round, blonde sabots, chip hat with three blue feathers.  Yellow satin clothes with a black blond cap and bows of riband, black blonde sabots. — Head-dress of black blonde and riband."

The Courtroom Mag and Belle Assemblée, 1833.

The Courtroom Magazine and Belle Assemblée, 1833.

1834

Every bit we advance into 1834, Cunnington reports that bodices "are loftier and close to the shape."  Skirts were relatively patently and all the same quite total.  Waists were now primarily circular, merely could occasionally be pointed.  Meanwhile, the gigot sleeve continued its reign of popularity – though y'all will note that, in some styles of gowns in 1834, the sleeves were non reaching the enormous proportions of the late 1820s and early 1830s.  This is illustrated by the rather modest sleeved wool gown below.

1834-36 British Wool Dress.
(Image via Met Museum)

1835

Inbound 1835, bodices remained evidently for day dresses, with wrapped fronts popular for morning gowns.  Skirts continued to be total and were frequently heavily pleated.  You tin can observe several fashionable trends at work in the wool and silk afternoon dress beneath.  Information technology is set off the shoulders with a wrapped front end, pleated skirts, and gigot sleeves with a puff that ends at the elbow.  The remaining fabric on the sleeves is then pleated from elbow to wrist.

1835 American Wool and Silk Afternoon Apparel.
(Prototype via Met Museum)

The gradual changes in gigot sleeves continued throughout 1835.  According to Cunnington, the sleeves were now oft "set up in lower than formerly with narrow longitudinal pleats at the shoulder." The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée of 1835 too mentions that sleeves were "less puffed out than usual" and "non quite so large."  An example of these pleats, every bit well as of the reduction in the bulk of the sleeves, can been seen in the evening dress below.

1835 British Silk and Wool Evening Dress.
(Image via Met Museum)

1835 British Silk and Wool Evening Dress.
(Prototype via Met Museum)

1836

In 1836, the ever-controversial gigot sleeve shrank dramatically.  Information technology was so much reduced that, by the summertime, people were proclaiming that the era of the gigot sleeve was completely at an finish.  Cunnington quotes an unnamed nineteen^th century source who, upon the demise of the gigot sleeve, declared:

"The just absolute dominion is to flatten the sleeve on the shoulder and blackball forever the memory of those enormous artificial balloons which gave to the frail form of female beauty a breadth proportionate to Holbein'south Dutch women."

1835-36 American or European Cotton Apparel.
(Image via Met Museum)

Meanwhile, the skirts were still full and the length remained brusque enough to reveal the foot.  For daytime wear, pelisse-robes which fastened down one side in a series of ribbon knots were the pinnacle of fashion.  While for the summer, pelisse-robes with open skirts and one or two flounces became a favored style of gown.

For evening clothes, open robes over an under-clothes were also very popular.  The 1836 issue of The New Monthly Belle Assemblée printed a detailed description of an "open robe" way gown with a corresponding paradigm.  It reads as follows:

New Monthly Belle Assemblée, 1836.

"Evening Dress — Petticoat of Bharat muslin, trimmed with a single flounce, embroidered round the border and surmounted with embroidery.  Open up robe of the same material, low corsage, square behind, and descending in the demi coeur style in front; it is drawn in with a lilliputian fullness circular the waist, and is bordered by two folds, through which pale pinkish ribbon is ran; the space between the folds is beautifully embroidered in a lace pattern.  The aforementioned trimming descends downward the fronts of the apparel, and round the border.  Long sleeves, bouffanted at the meridian, tight in the centre, trimmed to a higher place the elbow with a double bouffant, which descends below information technology, and from thence to the wrist quite tight.  The sleeve is ornamented with embroidery, and a rosette of pink ribbon.

Bodices were still cutting low and off the shoulders in 1836.  Short sleeves were very brusk, frequently worn "close to the shoulder" and long sleeves were tight to the arm or, as Cunnington states, made with "a series of small bouffants."  Dresses were trimmed with blond lace, ribbon knots down the front, or ribbons on the sleeves.

1836 British Silk Dress.
(Paradigm via Met Museum)

1837

As 1837 commenced, gowns began to have longer skirts and much tighter sleeves.  Embellishment on the sleeves was still common with some having puffs or bouffants on the upper arms or knots of ribbon on the shoulders.  Curt sleeves were also tight to the arm, but they were oftentimes so heavily trimmed with tulle, lace, and ruffles that they appeared to exist much fuller than they really were.

1837 Silk Dress.
(Image via Philadelphia Museum of Art)

For daywear, bodices remained plain and tight to the shape and, as Cunnington reports, the bosom was sometimes partly open, revealing the chemisette below.  The pelisse-robe was however pop, particularly when trimmed downwards the front end with knots of ribbon.  And for morn dresses, many ladies wore a Fichu Corday – a slice of grenadine gauze worn like a shawl to cross over the bosom and then tie behind.

The 1837 edition of The Ladies' Chiffonier of Style illustrates the Fichu Corday in the prototype of a Visiting Apparel at right.  This ensemble is describes in the mag as follows:

Ladies Cabinet of Fashion, 1837.

"The robe is composed of i of the new mousselines Cachemires; the corsage is half high, square, fitting tight to the shape, and a little pointed at the bottom.  Long tight sleeves, fabricated to fit the arm; they are trimmed with manchettes of white grenadine gauze, disposed in a double bias fold, and assail simply above the elbow, being headed by a band and knot of pink ribbon; plain tight cuffs en suite, ornament the bottoms of the sleeves.  Rice-harbinger hat; a low crown without any drape, and a skirt of excessive depth, standing quite out from the face; a ring and knot of pink ribbon, and a sprig of white lilac, decorate the crown.  Fichu Corday of grenadine gauze; it is bordered by a broad hem, through which a pink ribbon is run, and the ends, tied at the bottom of the waist behind, fall depression over the brim."

Evening dresses changed little from the previous yr.  Bodices were still cut low and off the shoulders.  Skirts were long and full and sometimes trimmed with a flounce of lace.  Open robes remained very popular.  An example of an 1837 open robe manner evening dress is below.  Notation the autumn of lace on the short sleeves, the double flounce of lace on the hem of the petticoat, and the ribbon belt at the waist.

Die Style, Menschen und Way im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, 1837.

1838

Entering 1838, Cunnington reports that there was a preference for open necks in twenty-four hour period dresses.  Meanwhile, skirts remained full and pleated at the waist.

1838 British Cotton wool Twenty-four hours Apparel.
(Prototype via Met Museum)

Pelisse-robes were still in fashion for daywear, every bit were fichus, which were now worn with both 24-hour interval and "demi-evening" dresses.  Note the open necks on the day gowns beneath which reveal a glimpse of the underlying chemisette.

The World of Manner, 1838.

For evening wearing apparel, sleeves were tight and short, coming just to the elbow.  They were frequently trimmed with falls of fine lace.  Bodices were withal cut very low and off the shoulder with waistlines tapering down to a bespeak.  This particular style of pointed bodice is axiomatic in the 1838 Eduard Magnus portrait below.

Porträt einer Frau past Eduard Magnus, 1838.

1839

By the shut of the decade, Cunnington reports that the lines of ladies' gowns continued to slope downwards and then as to "accentuate the advent of drooping."  Bodices were longer, tighter, and came to a point at the waist.  Sleeves were set below the shoulders, which made it difficult for a lady to raise her artillery.  Cunnington states:

"The general result is to produce long pointed Gothic angles, emphasized by the acute points of shawls and mantles."

Fashion Costumes and Accessories for 1839.

For evening wearing apparel, the 1839 upshot of Godey'southward Magazine describes a fashionable ball gown of the season as having a pointed waist, both back and front end, with very brusk sleeves in 2 modest puffs, trimmed with frills of blonde lace.  As was mutual in 1839, the bodice was also trimmed with lace, going round the "bosom of the dress" and "deep in the shoulders and at the back." Godey's describes the open up robe skirts of this ball gown every bit being trimmed with bouquets of "full blown roses" and "wide white ribbon."

Alas, Godey'due south did not include an accompanying image.  Fortunately, the below portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter provides a cute example of the sloping silhouette and excessive lace trimming which was and so prevalent in the evening gowns of 1839.

Portrait of Helena of Mecklemburg-Schwerin, Duchess of Orleans with her son the Count of Paris
past Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1839.

And so many subtle changes over the course of a decade tin be a bit difficult to take in.  With that in mind, I present you with a side-by-side comparison of an 1830 gown and an 1840 gown to meliorate illustrate the fashion journey we have been on together throughout this decade.

1830 British Cotton fiber Walking Dress.
(Image via Met Museum)

1840 British Cotton Dress.
(Image via Met Museum)

In closing…

I promise you have found the higher up overview to be helpful in navigating your manner through the fashionable gowns of the 1830s.  Again, I remind you lot that this is just a brief, primarily visual guide.  If yous would like to know more than about the changes in fashion during the 1830s, I encourage yous to consult a reliable reference book.  The following links may provide a starting bespeak:

Nineteenth Century Style in Detail by Lucy Johnston

English Women'southward Clothing in the Nineteenth Century by C. Willett Cunnington

I leave you with this 1834 caricature by César Hipólito Bacle which satirizes the balloon-like backdrop of many gowns of the early 1830s.

Peinetones en el paseo by César Hipólito Bacle, lithograph, 1834.

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Sources

The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée.  Vol. II.  London: Edward Bull, 1833.

The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée. Vol. Half dozen.  London: Edward Bull, 1835.

Cunnington, C. Willett.English Women's Habiliment in the Nineteenth Century.  London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1939.

Godey's Magazine. Vol. 18 – nineteen.  Philadelphia: Louis Godey, 1839.

Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion. Vol. XI.  London: K. Henderson, 1837.

New Monthly Belle Assemblée. Vol. Five.  London: Old Boswell Court, 1836.

Nigh Mimi Matthews

USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews writes both historical nonfiction and laurels-winning proper Victorian romances. Her novels have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Shelf Awareness, and her articles have been featured on the Victorian Web, the Journal of Victorian Civilisation, and in syndication at Bosom Magazine. In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage equus caballus, a Sheltie, and two Siamese cats.

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