Fashion Plate, Dinner or Evening Dress, ca. 1829

In today’s age, it is crazy to think that people years ago were unable to get a wide array of information at the touch of a button. Fashion has always been a crucial part of society and has been incorporated into everyone's lifetime. Today to get fashion inspiration, we can subscribe to magazines such as Vogue, or we can get inspiration through social media. But how did women in the 19th century follow the latest fashion trends?

Fashion plates showed women and dressmakers what the fashionable society of London and Paris were wearing at that given time. So, what exactly were fashion plates? Fashion plates in the 18th century were produced by using copper engraving plates, which would then be colored by hand. The production of the copper fashion plates was expensive, so they were typically meant for people of a higher economic status. But as time went on, steel engraving plates replaced the copper, allowing more plates to be produced, therefore making the plates easier to afford for anyone (McCort, 2019). 

This fashion plate does not have a specific date, but based on the women’s dresses it appears to have been produced between 1825-30. The two women can be seen wearing what is identified as "dinner or evening" dresses. Their dresses have folding strips of satin on the bodice, and are trimmed with lace along the neckline and sleeves, which was very popular for the time. The dresses have a wide draped bodice, sloping shoulders, a V-shaped waist, and the short sleeves are puffed over the shoulder. Each dress incudes the belts, ribbons, and decorative cords and tassels also popular at this time. The woman on the right appears to be holding some type of shawl. During 1823, cashmere shawls from India became popular.

In the 1830s, hair was often arranged in high chignon of loops, braids, or curls, while the hair at the front was left in rows of small curls hanging by the women’s cheek, as seen in this fashion plate (Harper, FIT). Hairstyles became more elaborate in the evening and were often accessorized with ribbons and feathers. Married women often wore heavily trimmed turbans, as seen in this image. Turbans were popular from the 1790s through the early 1800s.

As seen in the plate, accessories include long white gloves and elaborate jewelry. Here both women are shown wearing a necklace and drop earrings. Footwear for women was often pointed shoes which consisted of colorful fabrics, or printed leathers. In the early 1800s women's shoes typically did not have heels and were tied with a ribbon around the ankles, as seen on the light pink shoes on the right.

References

Franklin, Harper. “1830-1839.” Fashion History Timeline, 3 Apr. 2020, fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1830-1839/.

McCort, Emily. “A Brief History of the Fashion Plate.” Maryland Center for History and Culture, 8 Jan. 2021, www.mdhistory.org/a-brief-history-of-the-fashion-plate/#:~:text=The%20first%20fashion%20plate%20can,descriptions%20of%20the%20current%20trends. 

National Portrait Gallery, “Fashion Plates Introduction.” London. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/research/new-research-on-the-collection/fashionplates/fashion-plates-introduction.