Keywords: 1850s fashion
Item 105494
Plaid silk day dress, ca. 1850
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1850 Media: Silk, cotton, brass, glass
Item 105495
Detachable sleeve crinoline dress, ca. 1855
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1855 Media: silk, cotton, baleen, wool
Exhibit
The mainspring of fashion is the process whereby members of one class imitate the styles of another, who in turn are driven to ever new expedients of fashionable change.
Exhibit
Northern Threads: Two centuries of dress at Maine Historical
Organized by themed vignettes, Northern Threads shares stories about Maine people, while exploring how the clothing they wore reveals social, economic, and environmental histories. This re-examination of Maine Historical Society's permanent collection is an opportunity to consider the relevance of historic clothing in museums, the ebb and flow of fashion styles, and the complexities of diverse representation spanning 200 years of collecting.
Site Page
Historic Clothing Collection - 1830-1850 - Page 3 of 3
"… collection—the attached densely gathered skirt would have filled out into the fashionable dome shape. Skirt circumferences expanded in the 1850s."
Site Page
Historic Clothing Collection - Outerwear 1830-1860
"A well worn men's black wool "country cape," not restricted by fashion and the survivor of long wear, features a large practical hood."
