A

See also Raphael bodice

B

1829

Sometimes used synonymously with tournure.

Small cushions called bustle pads were also worn towards the end of the century when a more vestigial bump was required.

C

For a more comprehensive discussion of the corset, see The Corset by Valerie Steele.

crepe; closeup

D

See also Undress

The dress to the right is a very typical day dress for the late 50s and early 60s.   It has a fan bodice, pagoda sleeves, and prominent engageantes.  The high neckline and full, dome-shaped skirt are also very characterstic.  Because this is a day dress, the fabric, though pretty, is less flashy than half-dress and full-dress textiles.

In any case, this classification of dress appears to have emerged around the turn of the century.

EA Southern as Ld. Dundreary (ye gods!)

The example to the right comes with two bodices (making it a robe a transformation), the second for ball wear, presumably with shoulder straps instead of sleeves.

(see also Full Dress)

F

This example of a ball dress is by the incomparable house of Worth, Paris.  Note that although it is listed as a ball dress, it has elbow sleeves (ball gowns tended to be sleeveless, though not strapless).

G

The example to the right is modern.

See also balloon sleeves and victoria sleeves.

Gigot/Leg o' Mutton Sleeves

extreme sleeves from the from the 20s-30s

H

Presumably, Reception gowns and visiting dresses also fit into this category.

Presumably an unusually unpretentious day dress or perhaps a peignoir.

(see also Undress)

I

I'm not sure how/if this differs from a princess dress.

J

K

L

M

I think I have also heard these referred to as "Juliet sleeves"; may also be synonymous with Gabrielle sleeves, the point being, I think, that they were perceived as vaguely Latinate and Renaissancy in origin.

--The Met

The medici collar popular in the 1880s and 90s was a short, modest collar, like the example in red, not a tall,  dramatic, Maleficent-esque collar, like the line-drawing example of a much earlier model.

N

O

The 19c Norman example to the right contains both openwork and whitework (from http://www.rubylane.com/shops/trudystrunk)

P

Usually paired with a false white undersleeve, or engageante, prominent in this picture

The word usually seems to mean a kind of wrapper or robe--a very informal dress suitable for wearing around the house.  Non-family members, however, can see one in a peignor, so it is considerably more formal than our bathrobe.

an Edwardian petticoat

18c:
"The polonaise gown first came into fashion in the 1770s. It was a style of gown with a close-fitting bodice and the back of the skirt gathered up into three separate puffed sections to reveal the petticoat below. The method of suspending the fabric varied. Most often the dress had rows of little rings sewn inside the skirt through which a cord ran from hem to waist. Alternatively, ribbon ties would be used with the ribbons forming decorative bows. However, in some instances the skirt was held in place by simple cords sewn to the inner waist of the dress and looped over buttons attached to the outside waistline.

Fashions were often named after current affairs or public events, and it has been suggested that the term polonaise derives from the division of Poland between Prussia, Russia, and Austria in 1772."

--The Met

Q

To "quiz" was to make fun of; a quiz was anyone who was odd or socially unacceptable--a Victorian dork, more or less.  A quizzing glass, I suppose, must have gotten its name from the tendency (well-represented in movies, at any rate) of Mrs. Grundy types to look through them disapprovingly at anyone whose behavior was unattractively aberrant. 

R

(picture from marquise)

Introduced late in the century to give women a literal breather from their increasingly tight corsets.

will translate later

"In the eighteenth century, formal dress was so closely associated with Versailles and the French court that it was universally described as the robe à la française. As illustrated here, the robe à la française has a fitted overdress. It is open at the front, with a decorative bodice insert called a stomacher covering the corset and an underskirt, the petticoat, showing under the splayed drapery of the overskirt.

In its most formal configuration, the robe à la française presented a particularly wide and flattened profile accomplished by enlarged panniers. Constructed of supple bent wands of willow or whalebone and covered in linen, panniers took on broader or narrower silhouettes. The most remarkable held out the skirts like sandwich boards, barely wider than the body in side view, but as expansive as possible in front or rear view. As shown in the etching Les Adieux (33.22.1), a woman so garbed had to pass through a door sideways."

The Met

--The Met

S

--The Met

"Referred to as "stays" until the late nineteenth century, the corset was the basic garment of every woman's wardrobe. It was never worn next to the skin, but over a knee-length T-shaped garment known as a shift. The stays were most often laced up the back but could also have a laced opening down the center front, in which case there was usually a boned stomacher piece that slotted in behind the lacing. The bone running down the center front of the stays was known as a busk.

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the stays, which had come into fashion thirty years earlier, were worn long and pointed at the front, sitting over the front of the skirt, with the back of the stays cut much higher. The waistline often featured small tabs at the side and back, which splayed out over the hips and helped to keep the skirt in place.

While early examples of stays were covered in elaborate silks and often featured as a visible part of the dress, they gradually retreated to being mainly an underwear garment, with the outer layers comprised of plain silks or linen. By mid-century, stays featured less boning, and by the 1770s a new emphasis on the bust meant that several horizontal lines of boning, often metal, were introduced to give a more rounded form. The diarist Horace Walpole recorded the dangers of such garments in 1777: "There has been a young gentlewoman overturned and terribly bruised by her Vulcanian stays. They now wear a steel busk down their middle, and a rail of the same metal across their breasts." By the end of the century, stays had fallen out of favor. Fashion now looked to the ideal of the classical Greek figure and natural lines inspired by the vogue for the classical world. Rigid boned bodices were abandoned entirely or replaced by light canvas stays with cording for support.

The production of stays was a male industry due to the heavy-duty work involved. They were made from several layers of linen or canvas treated with a paste to stiffen them and then hand-stitched with vertical and diagonal channels into which strips of whalebone were inserted. The whalebone, also called baleen, was not actually bone but came from the roof of the whale's mouth; this would also have to be cut into strips by the staymaker. In France, trade restrictions meant that until 1776, only tailors were permitted to make stays; however, after this date couturieres (female dressmakers) were also allowed to produce these garments.

For less wealthy women, stays were still an essential item of clothing. In rural areas, stays were often made from scored leather and worn as an outer garment, offering support to those involved in manual labor. In urban areas, large secondhand markets offered a wide variety of garments for those who could not afford to have their stays specially made."

--The Met

T

modern example from http://hyenaproductions.com 

"shaping the skirt to overemphasize the backside - depending on the period a half-petticoat stiffened with steel or whalebone strips, a wire contraption that folded when the lady sat down, or a bag of cloth filled with horsehair tied round the waist. Worn mainly in the early/mid 1870s and early/mid 1880s" (marquise).  OR  "a French bustle used to replace petticoats; made with steel springs passed through shirring across the back with front secured by strings" (romance).

U

V

W

"The waistcoat first appeared in men's wardrobes toward the end of the 1660s. Initially referred to as a vest, it was intended as a practical garment to provide warmth and, along with a coat and breeches, it would become an essential component of the newly emerging three-piece suit. In England, King Charles II, known for his love of finery, popularized the suit, exploiting the waistcoat for its decorative possibilities. The garment soon became a focus of men's dress, often richly embellished and made from the finest materials worn with a plainer coat and breeches.

Expensive waistcoats such as the one pictured here were often woven or embroidered to shape. This involved the pattern being worked on a square of fabric into the shape of two waistcoat fronts and pocket flaps; these squares of fabric, known as patterns, were the form in which the waistcoat would be purchased. The design would then be cut out, lined, and made into the finished garment. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the parts of the waistcoat that were hidden beneath the coat were made from cheaper fabrics, such as linen, wool, or fustian, a mixture of cotton and linen.

By the 1720s, the waistcoat was evolving into a sleeveless garment and as the century wore on, it shrank in length from mid-thigh to waist level. In England, a matching waistcoat, coat, and breeches comprised the court suit, a very formal outfit worn for special occasions and attendance at the royal court, while in France it was more usual to wear a full matching suit for less formal occasions.

In 1739, the diarist Mrs. Delany recorded the dress of the male guests at the prince's birthday ball, noting "much finery, chiefly brown, with gold or silver embroidery, and rich waistcoats.""

--The Met