Afternoon dress

Afternoon dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Like the 1830s corset, the 1840s style expanded with gussets at the hipline supporting a full-skirted silhouette. The torso, however, was visually attenuated by center-front vee extending below the waist into the abdomen. This deep dip of the torso re-created the effect of the pointed waist of the eighteenth century, but the corsetting is specifically nineteenth century, rounding to the chest cavity to create a cylinder.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Afternoon dressAfternoon dressAfternoon dressAfternoon dressAfternoon dress

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.