Ensemble

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

By the late 1860s, this homage to the eighteenth century could only have been conceived and made with some intentionality and disposition to the historical. Eighteenth-century ruching flutters and balloons out the back of the overskirt to allow for the skirt's full volume. The striped taffeta with self-devices for decoration reinforces the presence of the eighteenth century. By the 1860s the sewing machine and other apparel technology offered extravagance in decoration for a newly modest cost. This dress seeks to include every flourish and luxury of the eighteenth century hitherto unaffordable in nineteenth-century bourgeois clothing. Ironically, new technology was first used to emulate old styles.

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