Fashion in the 1830s–1840s
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Fashion in the 1830s and 1840s in European and European-influenced clothing is characterized by an emphasis on breadth, initially at the shoulder and later in the hips, in contrast to the narrower silhouettes that had predominated between 1800 and the 1820s. In the 1830s, fashionable women's clothing had distinctive large leg-of-mutton or gigot sleeves above large full conical skirts.
Women's fashions
1830s
In the 1830s, fashionable women's clothing styles had distinctive large "leg of mutton" or "gigot" sleeves, above large full conical skirts, ideally with a narrow, low waist between (achieved through corseting). The bulkiness of women's garments both above and below the waist was intended to make the waist look smaller than it was this was the final repudiation of any last lingering aesthetic influences of the Empire silhouette of ca. 1795-1825. Heavy stiff fabrics such as brocades came back into style, and many 18th-century gowns were brought down from attics and cut up into new garments. The combination of sloping shoulders and sleeves which were very large over most of the arm (but narrowing to a small cuff at the wrist) is quite distinctive to the day dresses of the 1830s.
Evening dresses had short, puffed sleeves reaching to the elbow from a dropped shoulder and were worn with mid-length gloves.
Pelerines, or lace coverings draped over the shoulders, were popular (one of several devices, along with full upper-arm sleeves and wide necklines, to emphasize the shoulders and their width). Around 1835, the fashionable skirt-length for middle- and upper-class women's clothes dropped from ankle-length to floor-length.
This ca. 1835 fashion plate shows both male and female styles (note that it may not be obvious on first glance that the woman has a small waist, because of her large sleeves):
Hairstyles and Headgear
1830s hair fashions for evening featured elaborate loops and knots extended out to both sides and up frome the back of the head. Bonnets with wide semicircular brims framed the face for street wear, and were heavily decorated.
1840s
The fashions of the 1840s do not have any real single distinguishing characteristic (such as most other periods of 5-10 years within the Victorian era do), but skirts tended to change from a conical shape to a bell shape, aided by a new method of attaching the skirts to the bodice using organ or cartridge pleats which cause the skirt to spring out from the waist. Sleeves were full over only part of the arm, and the fullness was lower. There was less emphasis on the shoulders, and more emphasis on a narrow waist, which now became pointed.
During the 1830s and 1840s, full skirts were achieved mainly through layers of petticoats, as opposed to the crinoline of the second half of the 1850s.
Hairstyles and Headgear
Women's hairstyles were notable for having several isolated long curls dangling down towards the front (sometimes called "spaniel curls"), often without much relationship to the way that the rest of the hair was styled.
Bonnets for street wear were smaller than in the previous decade, and were less heavily decorated.
The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1830s_and_1840s_in_fashion 1/14/06
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Breadth as a Deliberate Illusion
The governing idea of the 1830s was contrast by exaggeration. Sleeves swelled to their largest over the upper arm, shoulders sloped, necklines widened, pelerines draped over the shoulders, and below the waist a full conical skirt flared out. Between those two fields of bulk sat a narrow, low waist achieved through corseting — and the bulk was the point, because it made the waist look smaller than it was. This was the final repudiation of the Empire silhouette of about 1795-1825: where Empire dress had hidden the natural waist entirely, Romantic-era dress of the 1830s surrounded it with volume so its smallness could be admired.
Old Fabrics, New Dresses
Material culture shifted with the silhouette. Heavy, stiff fabrics such as brocades came back into style because the new shapes needed cloth with body to hold them, and many 18th-century gowns were brought down from attics and cut up into new garments, recycling valuable brocade into fashionable dress. Length changed too: around 1835 the fashionable skirt for middle- and upper-class women dropped from ankle-length to floor-length, completing the move toward a fully covered, floor-sweeping lower half that would characterise the rest of the century. Evening dress kept its own rules, with short puffed sleeves to the elbow from a dropped shoulder, worn with mid-length gloves.
The Quieter 1840s
The 1840s have no single distinguishing feature to rival the gigot sleeve, and that restraint is itself the story. Fullness in the sleeve survived only over part of the arm and sat lower; emphasis moved from the shoulders to a narrow waist that now became pointed. Skirts turned from conical to bell-shaped, helped by organ or cartridge pleating at the waist, which let the skirt spring outward in controlled folds. Hair and bonnets calmed in parallel: smaller, plainer bonnets for the street and long spaniel curls in front replaced the wide-brimmed, heavily decorated bonnets and architectural evening coiffures of the previous decade.
Common Questions
What are gigot or leg-of-mutton sleeves?
Gigot, or leg-of-mutton, sleeves were the distinctive sleeves of 1830s day dresses: very large over most of the arm, combined with sloping shoulders, but narrowing to a small cuff at the wrist. Their bulk above the waist, matched by full skirts below it, was intended to make the corseted waist look smaller.
How were full skirts supported in the 1830s and 1840s?
During the 1830s and 1840s full skirts were achieved mainly through layers of petticoats, as opposed to the crinoline of the second half of the 1850s. In the 1840s skirts changed from conical to bell-shaped, aided by organ or cartridge pleats that made the skirt spring out from the waist.
How did hairstyles and bonnets change from the 1830s to the 1840s?
Evening hairstyles in the 1830s featured elaborate loops and knots extended out to both sides and up from the head, and bonnets had wide semicircular brims framing the face. In the 1840s bonnets were smaller and less heavily decorated, and hairstyles featured isolated long spaniel curls dangling toward the front.
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