Dress

Unknown

1837–40 · silk · Costume Institute

This girl's dress is a very good example of the change in style that began in 1837, the year that Queen Victoria became queen. The exaggerated gigot sleeve collapsed in that year, and the sleeve became tight on the upper arm, gradually losing its fullness over the next several years. This dress shows that transition well and is exemplary of dresses worn by a young teenage girl of the highest style of the period.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1837–40

Medium

silk

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Russell S. Hume, 1968