Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This American dress, probably originally made in about 1858, but augmented and altered a decade or so later, shows the emerging influence of the eighteenth century. Superfluous overdrapes on the skirt were added in about 1870 to resemble the effect of the open robe pulled back. If anything, it is a perfect example of nineteenth-century excess trying to look like eighteenth-century excess.

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