American Victorian Costume in Early Photographs

by Priscilla Harris Dalrymple

Over 280 rare photographs document the clothing of ordinary men, women, and children from the 1840s through the 1890s, in what appears to be their Sunday best. Bustles, hoops, pantalets, shirtwaists, top hats, waistcoats, bowlers, other Victorian-era attire, as well as hairdressing and tonsorial styles. Introduction to fashions of each decade.

Genres: Fashion, History, Photography, Nonfiction, Costume History

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

Reviews

[Amber Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent photos and good information about the eras covered, but the text captions are poor. The descriptions tend to be things like “woman in a light colored dress with flowered hat”—they’re literally describing what is easily visible with not much information on types of dress, styles or fabrics.
Good text for me would be something like “lady in light colored visiting gown, 1865, x or y fabric, her hat is X style bonnet, middle class style/ material”.

Basically I want to know if something is day, evening, visiting gown, common clothes, ect. I just want more information than what’s obvious!

[Kate]

Excellent visual sources documenting American Victorian dress.