Historic Clothing Collection

Between 1860 and 1890, the transitions of skirt style provides a recognizable example of evolving fashions. Early examples include a blueish purple 1860s highly trimmed walking dress with a short basque (a fitted jacket-like bodice) and flat fronted skirt flaring out at the back. An early 1870s short gray-green basque dress also features a flat front skirt, with an overdress creating a heavy double layered skirt at the back, which could be gathered into a polonaise (looped bustle effect.) Some period dresses featured a front ‘apron’ style overdress and a double skirt at the back. For the next twenty years, 1870-1890, fashionable dress comprised basques--fitted bodices, some short and some extending well over the hips--and skirts with various forms of back interest, known as bustles.