Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These two day dresses from the early 1840s epitomize the new idea of femininity which had emerged in reaction to the exaggerated excesses of the Romantic era. As sleeves collapsed, the waist attenuated, and the hemline plummeted to the floor, the ideal woman was transformed from spirited and animated to restrained and demure. In both instances, boning has been stitched to the lining of the bodices. Control of the body is therefore no longer limited to underpinnings, but migrates to and expresses itself in the outer garment, as well.

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