Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this transitional dress with corsetted waistline still established high on the rib cage, the proportion was derived from the arms: pushed-down shoulders created a sloping line until the torso became almost diamond shaped at the back. The "coat" sleeves of 1860s, with widened elbows falling at or below the waist, were a visual contrast to the high waist.

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