Category: 1860-1869
Overview
All Entries
1869 – Red Silk Dress
This red silk dress embodies the late 1860s transition in fashion towards the bustle and the period’s taste for bold colors and intricate detailing.
Read More
1860 – Cream silk evening dress
This light pinky peach dress covered in ruched bows and with full crinoline-supported skirt epitomizes the early 1860s ball gown. With delicate detailing and a simple color palette this garment is sophisticated yet effortless–perfectly in line with the fashions of the day.
Read More
1862 – Elizabeth Keckley, Green plaid day dress
This striking plaid ensemble designed by Elizabeth Keckley for Mary Todd Lincoln was on the cutting edge of fashion, but also in good taste – embracing the latest French trends while relying on a distinctively American plaid and minimal trimmings in light of the ongoing Civil War.
Read More
1818-1907 – Elizabeth Keckley
Elizabeth Keckley, a remarkably successful dressmaker, built her career upon exacting technical standards, graceful clean lines, and an understanding of Parisian fashionable trends. She is well known for her work for the political elite of Washington DC, particularly for Mary Todd Lincoln. Keckley was one of the first African American women to publish a book and was an impassioned activist who created a relief organization for newly freed enslaved persons.
Read More
1861 – Elizabeth Keckley, Purple velvet day and evening dress
This lush purple velvet dress designed by Elizabeth Keckley for Mary Todd Lincoln features both an evening and day bodice paired with a wide crinoline skirt. The ensemble, worn in 1861-62 while Lincoln was First Lady, reflects fashionable dress trends of the time.
Read More
1863 – Elizabeth Keckley, Striped evening dress for Mary Todd Lincoln
This 1863 gown, worn by Mary Todd Lincoln, is an exquisite example of fashionable dress from the early 1860s. With its elegant fabric and thoughtful details, it reveals more about the wearer and the creator, Elizabeth Keckley, an accomplished seamstress who is integral to the history of African-American fashion.
Read More
1868-1869 – Edouard Manet, Le balcon (The Balcony)
The Balcony is one Édouard Manet’s most popular paintings, but when it debuted it was the subject of much controversy. It is a study in contrasts: shadow and light, color, and types of fashionable dress in the late 1860s.
Read More
1866 – Silk afternoon dress with a trompe l’oeil bolero jacket
This gold-colored silk afternoon dress with its green bows and ruffles that help to emphasize the back of the silhouette was on trend in 1866, but its coordinating trompe l’oeil jacket was very fashion-forward.
Read More
1865 – Cream silk taffeta evening dress
This charming 1865 cream silk taffeta dress features many design details of fashionable evening looks of the time, like a defined waist and passementerie.
Read More
1865 – Franz Xaver Winterhalter, The Empress Elisabeth of Austria
In Winterhalter’s 1865 portrait, Empress Elizabeth of Austria (known as Sissi) wears a white satin evening dress covered with thousands of silver foil stars shimmering under the layer of tulle. The dress, thought to be designed by Worth, follows fashionable trends of the era, but also has singular touches, like the stars, befitting her status as Empress.
Read More
Recent Essays
15th century – Late Byzantine Silk Damask Dress and Taffeta TunicIn 15th century, Byzantine, garment analysis
The Fez and the Ottoman Path to ModernityIn 19th century, 20th century, thematic essays
1869 – Red Silk DressIn 1860-1869, 19th century, garment analysis
katazome (stencil printing)In 18th century, 19th century, ancient, Asia, K, P, S, term definition
1905 – André Derain, Lucien GilbertIn 1900-1909, 20th century, artwork analysis