Afternoon dress

Unknown

ca. 1866 · silk · Costume Institute

A trompe l'oeil bolero jacket cropped and defined the bust, while the waist rose into the ribcage, genuinely above the zone of the waist. The devices of bolero and apron differentiated sectors within the dress and emphasized the high placement of the waist, while the crinoline hoop shifted to the back to make the great shape of the skirt mountainously prominent. Such monumental dress captured what French poet Charles Baudelaire called the "pomp and circumstance" of modern urban life.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1866

Medium

silk

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Mary Chippendale, 1948