1860s in Western fashion

thumb|right|300px|Fashions of the 1860s include square paisley shawls folded on the diagonal and full skirts held out by crinolines. [[Auguste Toulmouche's Reluctant Bride of 1866 wears white satin, and her friend tries on her bridal wreath of orange blossoms.]]

1860s fashion in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by extremely full-skirted women's fashions relying on crinolines and hoops and the emergence of "alternative fashions" under the influence of the Artistic Dress movement.

In men's fashion, the three-piece ditto suit of sack coat, waistcoat, and trousers in the same fabric emerged as a novelty.

Women's fashions

Colors

thumb|upright|A blue silk [[wedding dress from ]]

Mauveine Aniline dyes (first chemical dyes) were discovered in 1856 and were quickly utilized to make use of fashionable colors to fabrics. The first ones were mauve and bright purple. In 1860, two fashionable brilliant pink aniline dyes were named after battles in Italy's fight for independence: magenta, named after the Italian town of Magenta, Lombardy, and the similar solferino, named after Solferino. Magenta was popularized in England by the Duchess of Sutherland after she was appealed to by the Spitalfields silk weavers.

Gowns

By the early 1860s, skirts had reached their ultimate width. After about 1862 the silhouette of the crinoline changed and rather than being bell-shaped it was now flatter at the front and projected out more behind. This large area was largely occupied by all manner of decoration. Puffs and strips could cover much of the skirt. There could be so many flounces that the material of the skirt itself was hardly visible. Lace again became popular and was used all over the dress. Any part of the dress could also be embroidered in silver or gold. This massive construct of a dress required gauze lining to stiffen it, as well as multiple starched petticoats. Even the clothes women would ride horses in received these sorts of embellishments.

left|thumb|250px|[[Croquet players of 1864 loop their skirts up from floor-length over hooped petticoats. Small hats with ribbon streamers were very popular for young women in the mid-1860s.]]

Day dresses featured wide pagoda sleeves worn over undersleeves or engageantes. High necklines with lace or tatted collars or chemisettes completed the demure daytime look.

Gowns had low necklines and short sleeves, and were worn with short gloves or lace or crocheted fingerless mitts. The voluminous skirts were supported by hoops, petticoats, and or crinolines. The use of hoops was not as common until 1856, prior supporting the skirts with layers of starched petticoats. Large crinolines were probably reserved for special occasions.

Skirts were now assembled of shaped panels, since gathering a straight length of fabric could not provide the width required at the hem without unwanted bulk at the waist; this spelled the end of the brief fashion for border-printed dress fabrics.

thumb|upright|A cotton dress from

Heavy silks in solid colors became fashionable for both day and evening wear, and a skirt might be made with two bodices, one long-sleeved and high necked for afternoon wear and one short-sleeved and low-necked for evening. The bodices themselves were often triangular, and featured a two-piece front with a closure and a three-piece back construction.

As the decade progressed, sleeves narrowed, and the circular hoops of the 1850s decreased in size at the front and sides and increased at the back. Looped up overskirts revealed matching or contrasting underskirts, a look that would reach its ultimate expression the next two decades with the rise of the bustle. Waistlines rose briefly at the end of the decade.

Fashions were adopted more slowly in America than in Europe. It was not uncommon for fashion plates to appear in American women's magazines a year or more after they appeared in Paris or London.

Long coats were impractical with the very full skirts, and the common outer garments were square shawls folded on the diagonal to make a triangle and fitted or unfitted hip-length or knee-length jackets.

Three-quarter-length capes (with or without sleeves) were also worn.

For walking, jackets were accompanied by floor-length skirts that could be looped or drawn up by means of tapes over a shorter petticoat.

Undergarments

thumb|upright|Feminine undergarments, including a linen [[chemise with cotton broderie anglaise and lace (); a bustle cage crinoline made of wool twill, cotton plain weave with stamped grid pattern, cotton twill tape, cotton-braid-covered steel, and metal (); and a cotton corset with cotton lace trim ()]]

As skirts became narrower and flatter in front, more emphasis was placed on the waist and hips. A corset was therefore used to help mold the body to the desired shape. This was achieved by making the corsets longer than before, and by constructing them from separate shaped pieces of fabric. To increase rigidity, they were reinforced with many strips of whalebone, cording, or pieces of leather. As well as making corsets more constricting, this heavy structure helped prevent them from riding up, or from wrinkling at the waist. Steam-molding also helped create a curvaceous contour. Developed by Edwin Izod in the late 1860s, the procedure involved placing a corset, wet with starch, on a steam heated copper torso form until it dried into shape. While tight lacing continued to be a hotly debated topic among moralists and physicians, most extreme descriptions came from male sexual fantasies.

The crinoline or hooped petticoat had grown to its maximum dimensions by 1860. As huge skirts began to fall from favor, around 1864, the shape of the crinoline began to change. Rather than being dome-shaped, the front and sides began to contract, leaving volume only at the back. The "American" cage, a hooped petticoat partially covered in fabric, came in bright colors made possible by the new aniline dyes. Under the corset, a chemise was worn. A chemise is typically short sleeve and knee length made of linen or cotton. The chemise and stockings worn were meant to soak up any perspiration and protecting the outer clothing. Due to the many layers of dress, the women of the southern elite would take short naps to rest from wearing their large dress and escape the harsh southern heat and the constraining whalebone corsets.

Military and political influences

The Garibaldi shirt or "Garibaldi jacket" was popularized by Empress Eugénie of France in 1860.

Full-length trousers were worn, generally of a contrasting fabric. Costumes consisting of a coat, waistcoat and trousers of the same fabric (called a "ditto suit") remained a novelty at this time. In domestic settings, the sack coat or a lounge jacket could be worn with a waistcoat and trousers of the same fabric. This form of ditto suit, referred to as a lounge suit in the United Kingdom was generally made of wool, with baggy tailoring. However, the lounge suit was not considered appropriate for public settings until the 1870s.

Overcoats had wide lapels and deep cuffs, and often featured contrasting velvet collars.

Top hats briefly became the very tall "stovepipe" shape, but a variety of other hat shapes were popular. During this time, the bowler hat gained popularity as an informal hat. This new type of hat was normally made of felt, black for most of the year or brown for the summer months.

In 1865 hatmaker John B. Stetson invented the Boss of the Plains hat. It gained immediate success in the Old West among cowboys and settlers, due to its practicality. It had a vaguely round ribbon-lined crown and a wide brim, originally straight but soon becoming stylized into the iconic rim of the typical cowboy hat. Its dense felt could be rugged enough to carry water.

Style gallery

File:Eduard de Stoeckl.jpg|1 – 1855–1865

File:Edouard Manet Portrait of a Man.jpg|2 – 1860

File:George Augustus Henry Sala.jpg|3 – 1860–1865

File:W Curtis Noyes.jpg|4 – 1855–1865

File:John Tyler.jpg|5 – 1860–1862

File:Eduard Magnus Bildnis Wilhelm Taubert.jpg|6 – 1862

File:ThomasDArcyMcGee.jpg|7 – 1868

File:Robert_E_Lee_with_his_Generals,_1869.jpg|9 – 1869|link=File:Robert_E_Lee_with_his_Generals,_1869.jpg

</gallery>

Eduard de Stoeckl wears a frock coat over a waistcoat with a low front and lapels. He wears a patterned tie. 1855–1865.
Manet's unidentified man wears a tie secured with a jewel at the neck, a shawl-collared waistcoat, and a contrasting coat, 1860.
George Augustus Sala wears an overcoat with black velvet collar, wide lapels, and deep cuffs over a frock coat, waistcoat, and tweed trousers. He wears leather gloves and carries a top hat. c. 1860–1865.
William Curtis Noyes wears an overcoat with very wide lapels, wide cuffs, a contrasting (probably velvet) collar, and braid trim over a frock coat, waistcoat, and trousers which appear to be made of matching fabric. The ends of his large necktie are loosely looped and secured with a stickpin, and then tucked into his waistcoat. 1855–1865.
John Tyler wears a cravat tied in a floppy bow. His coat has wide lapels and contrasting waistcoat have wide lapels, 1860–1862.
Wilhelm Taubert wears a dark necktie tied in a bow and slightly winged collar. German, 1862.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee wears a dark double-breasted frock coat over a high-buttoned single-breasted waistcoat and trousers., 1868.
Robert E. Lee (center) wears a jacket with matching trousers and waistcoat. He wears a four-in-hand knot black necktie and holds a boss-of-the-plains style straw hat in his hand. August 1869.

::Note: Photographs from the Library of Congress's Brady-Handy collection are collectively dated 1855–1865. Where possible, tighter dates have been applied based on known facts about the sitters. See Mathew Brady.

Children's fashion

Both boys and girls wore skirts from the time they could walk until they reached age 5 or 6.

Very small girls wore their skirts just below knee-length over pantalettes. Skirts became very gradually longer as girls grew up until they reached ankle length at coming-out (in their later teens, usually 16–18). Older girls wore hoops to hold out their skirts. Young girls wore washable pinafores over their dresses for work and play to keep them clean, as typified by the eponymous heroine of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel, and her Alice in Wonderland dress.

Boys wore simple jackets and trousers.

File:Alice Liddell.jpg|Alice Liddell, 1860

File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 049.jpg|Girls in pinafores, 1860–1862

File:Joseph Nitschner Portrait Francisca Keban.jpg|Germany, 1861

File:Fotografiporträtt på barnen Elma, Charlotte, Seth och Bertha Kempe, 1860-tal - Hallwylska museet - 107827.tif|Sweden, 1860s

File:MHG 1929,483 Julia u. Olga Merck Foto.jpg|German girls, 1866

File:Edouard Manet 084.jpg|Boy, 1867

File:Benjamin Franklin Rawson - Retrato de Eduardo Lahitte Uribelarrea - Google Art Project.jpg|Boy, 1868

File:Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson by Lowes Cato Dickinson.jpg|English boy, 1869

File:Alice par John Tenniel 04.png|A girl's dress with a pinafore, 1865