The new Princess line was a gown cut in one piece with a number of panels fitted and gored from shoulder to hem.  It shaped the figure through seaming.  The early and mid Victorian style was changing quickly into late/mid Victorian style. There was no clear line to separate the …

.. in 1860 the crinoline domed skirt silhouette had a flatter front than in the ’50’s and began to show a dramatic leaning towards the back.  This silhouette is the easiest to define the change of fashion era.

… moved the organs up and down inside the body, and pushed the breasts high.  The improved metals of the busks and grommets made very tight cinching possible to intentionally shape the body, aiming for the smallest waistline possible. (Photo and sketch:  Early 1860’s corset and 1863 corset patent sketches)

.. and flounces of the prior decade, but not quite the huge skirt with hoop that would come in the next 3 years under the influence of Parisian designer Charles Worth with Empress Eugenie and Victoria embracing it.  There were a few years of transition where the huge Renaissance like …

… rounded at the bust, with the waist even more tightly cinched than in the late 1840’s and early 1850’s.  The extreme lacing fully supported the breasts, but to get the desired silhouette, the internal organs had to go either up or down from their natural place.

… smooth lumps and bumps much as early Regency corsets had at the turn of the century, and as had those of early Victorian.  By 1853, it reached lower over the natural hips to smooth those too, but did not attempt to cinch in the hips.  The flare at the …

1850’s corsets had been waist cinching and because of the improving steel boning, metal grommets, and metal busks, had by that time become restrictive and shaped and formed the body. (Photo: 1851 fashion ideal sketch and a real 1851 corset.  Waist cinching, it did not constrict hips or force the …

… new types of undergarments were major factors that changed fashion from Early to Mid Victorian fashion eras. Empress Eugenie of France had shown her friend Queen Victoria the crinoline as we discussed before.  That of course was a blatant change from wearing multiple petticoats to adding a hoop which …

.. that changed.  The diminuitive and demure woman of the 1840’s and ’50’s who was covered from head to toe including her hair “as if controlling passion”, started to bare her shoulders and show her shape in more fitted garments as the ’60’s approached.  The ruching, gathers, flounces, and trim …

.. mid Victorian as the sleeves worked in combination with the elongated front and back torso, overlapping flounced skirts, and wide sleeves (with engageantes – see February posts).  Ornamentation on the sleeves always brought the silhouette wide at shoulder and hip to emphasize the small waist. (Photos: late 1840’s bodices …