Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Caricaturists of the 1830s focused on the newly fashionable inflated forms that were such a contrast to the body-revealing styles of the previous three decades. The dilation of sleeves and skirts reached such an extreme that women were often satirically depicted as airborne, caught up by gusts of wind trapped under their skirts. In fact, they were weighed down by the sleeve pillows and multiple petticoats required to support their stylish volume.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art