Afternoon dress

Unknown

1840s · silk · Costume Institute

Like the 1830s corset, the 1840s style expanded with gussets at the hipline supporting a full-skirted silhouette. The torso, however, was visually attenuated by center-front vee extending below the waist into the abdomen. This deep dip of the torso re-created the effect of the pointed waist of the eighteenth century, but the corsetting is specifically nineteenth century, rounding to the chest cavity to create a cylinder.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1840s

Medium

silk

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Professor Talbot Hamlin, 1954