BOSTON, MA.- The fashions of the 1850s — a decade of great industrial expansion, technical innovation, and exuberant fashions — are the focus of a new exhibition at the MFA entitled High Style and Hoop Skirts: 1850s Fashion. On view from November 6, 2004 through March 13, 2005, the exhibition is drawn from the MFA’s rich holdings of mid-19th-century dress. High Style and Hoop Skirts takes visitors back to an era of corsets and petticoats, when the steel hoop skirt was introduced to achieve the favored full-skirted silhouette without the weight of multiple layers. The exhibition features ten complete ensembles for women and men, including day wear and exquisite evening attire, as well as approximately thirty period accessories including caps and rare evening headdresses, gloves, shoes, and fans. Original hand-colored fashion plates, satirical illustrations, and examples of furniture from the period provide context for the objects on view.

“These magnificent ensembles paint a picture of the 1850s as a time when extravagant fashions and technological experiment went hand-in-hand,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “We hope that visitors will take delight in the high style of the era, the extraordinary richness of the materials, and the inventiveness of the designs.”

Clothing and accessories of the 1850s were an outward manifestation of prosperity, ingenuity, and innovation of the period. The Great Exhibition of 1851, held in London’s magnificent Crystal Palace, highlighted the new trends in fashion made using industrial processes and machinery, including the mechanized production of lace, knitwear, woven silks, and printed fabrics. Increased use of the sewing machine changed the way clothes were made. Women’s fashions began to require ever-increasing amounts of specialized fabrics in which the patterns were woven to shape. In addition, in 1856, W. H. Perkin invented Mauvine, the first of the synthetic dyes that had a tremendous impact on the textile industry within a few years.

“The exciting technical advancements of the era were paralleled by an exuberance in fashions of the time, which fused high style with innovative design” said Lauren Whitley, exhibition curator. “New developments — from the introduction of the hoop skirt to the invention of aniline dyes — changed the face of fashion for years to come.”

Day Wear - The fashionable look of the decade — a small waist, enormous skirts and flaring, pagoda sleeves — was achieved by the use of a set of understructures that included corsets, petticoats, and later crinolines. The most notorious innovation of the 1850s was the steel hoop skirt or artificial crinoline, which was formed of steel rings suspended by cotton tapes and was extremely lightweight and strong — a welcome alternative to bulky and constricting layers of petticoats. Although all classes of women quickly adopted the crinoline, it created new problems. The swinging action of the hoops challenged modesty by exposing women’s previously unseen legs, and made it more difficult to maneuver both indoors and out. The rules of dress became increasingly complex during the 1850s, often requiring that outfits be changed several times a day to suit the time and the occasion. Women’s morning dress, worn at home, was often made of cotton in a loose informal cut. Leaving the house for any occasion required a more formal day dress. Strong patterns and primary colors replaced the demure designs and soft colors of the previous decade. Day Dress (United States, about 1855) for instance, features V-shaped trim that spread outward from the waist to the shoulders — a look that when paired with a flounced skirt became a signature style of the decade.

For men, day fashions ranged from bold patterned suits in unmatched checks to sober, black-wool suits. The most significant change from the previous decade was in the cut, as the tightly fitted and padded silhouette took on a looser shape. By the end of the 1850s, the simple, black-wool suit emerged as the universal uniform for men. The waistcoat was one of the few areas where bold color and elaborate decoration could still be seen.

Evening Attire - Evening dress for women was distinguished from day wear by short sleeves and very low necklines. Nineteenth century etiquette required evening dress for all functions that took place at, or after dinner, and distinctions were made among dressing for at-home dinner, for dinner parties and receptions, and for more formal events such as operas, concerts, and balls. The most opulent and luxurious fabric, including frothy tulles and gauzes, were reserved for balls. Evening Dress (United States, about 1858), a confection in pink silk on view in High Style and Hoop Skirts, epitomizes the fanciful exuberance of 1850s ballgowns. Here, the five tiers of silk tulle are trimmed with brocaded ribbons and fitted over a silk taffeta skirt and bodice, representing an investment in luxury textiles. During the 1850s, dresses often had two bodices — one for day wear and another, low-cut version for evening. Wedding or evening dress (United States, about 1854), worn by Georgiana Welles at her marriage to John O. Sargent in 1854, is on view with its evening bodice.

In contrast to women’s extravagant evening attire, men’s evening dress strictly prohibited the use of patterned and colored fabrics. By the mid-nineteenth century, a gentleman’s evening attire was comprised of black-wool jacket and trousers, usually accompanied by a white waistcoat, along with a top hat, gloves, and cane.

Accessories - Accessories were as important as the garment itself. Hats, gloves, undersleeves, shawls, purses, parasols, and shoes served practical functions, and also helped to complete the proper look — fundamental for establishing one’s respectability in an etiquette-conscious society. Bonnets, for example, were the proper form of headdress when a woman traveled outside of her home. In the early 1850s, bonnets retained the deep, funnel shape popular in the late 1840s, but they soon evolved into more open, oval shapes. Made of silk taffetas, velvets or straw (for summer), bonnets were trimmed with laces, ribbons, and silk flowers to frame the face. At the end of the 1850s, bonnets became increasingly vertical in shape, anticipating the spoon-shape examples of the next decade. Other accessories on view in High Style and Hoop Skirts are parasols, which were indispensable for protection from the sun; and decorative stockings and shoes, which became more of a focal point as the adoption of the crinoline allowed unprecedented glimpses of feet and ankles.

Evening attire required extravagant accessories, including ornate headdresses, fans, gloves and jewelry. Young, unmarried women were encouraged to wear simple jewelry, such as pearls, while gemstones were reserved for older, married women. For occasions that included dancing, many women carried dance cards, on which they wrote the order of the evening’s dances, and who their partner would be for each one. While dancing, a woman wore, suspended from a finger ring, a silver bouquet holder in which a bouquet of fresh flowers was fixed with a pin. On view in the exhibition is a Dance Card made of ivory, mother of pearl, and gilt metal, and a silver Bouquet holder (both France, mid-19th century), as well as beautiful examples of earrings and bracelets. Fanciful headdresses (often with matching corsages) were made of feathers, artificial flowers, ribbons, and tinsel and were a standard part of a woman’s evening coiffure. Fashioned into wreaths or headbands, they were intended to trail over smooth, swept back hairstyles and down the nape of the neck. The MFA is fortunate to have a large collection of these precious accessories, several of which are on view.