Structured Dress
1875-1879
The Women on the Far Left is Wearing the Black Dress
Black Structured Dress
Dresses like this black dress are examples of how women’s clothing were restrictive. The bodice of this dress is called a cuirass bodice, due to its long streamlined, tight fit. This black silk dress has long pieces of boning in its seams, both in the front and the back, giving it its form. The boning keeps the silhouette in the snug, stiff shape. This dress would be accompanied with a bustle. This dress has a train and like many trains of the time, it’s lined with lace. This piece of lace protects the train from the ground. It was easier and more economical to replace a piece of lace than it was to replace the entire train. This piece belonged to Mary Alden Wilder Loomis. Below is a photograph of Mary Alden Wilder Loomis wearing this very dress in the 1880s. This dress would be worn during the day and for public outings.
House Dress
1878-1880
Like the black dress, this cotton house dress was also worn by Mary Alden Loomis Wilder. Dresses designed for the home and work were often darker and with more patterns to help hide the dirt, which is demonstrated with its floral motif. This floral dress is fitted with princess seams, which are long vertical seams that run down the length of the dress. Due to princess seams, this dress does not have a waistband, making the dress more casual. Although this dress is more formal than a work dress, due to the bustle and the train, it is not acceptable to be worn out of the house.
Comparing The Structured Dress and The House Dress
Both of these dresses were worn by the same woman during the late 1870s, but they were worn for different purposes. The house dress was more casual than the black dress, even though they were both close fitted, and have trains. The black dress has considerably more boning than the house dress. Long pieces of boning are present in all of the seams around the bodice of the black dress, while the house dress only has short pieces of boning in the front. These differences gave the woman wearing the house dress more mobility than when she wore the black dress.
Structured Dress
House Dresss
Summer Dress
