1830s
In the 1830s, fashionable
women's clothing styles had
distinctive large "leg of
mutton" or "gigot"
sleeves, above
large full conical skirts,
ideally with a narrow, low
waist between (achieved
through
corseting). The
bulkiness of women's
garments both above and
below the waist was intended
to make the waist look
smaller than it was — this
was the final repudiation of
any last lingering aesthetic
influences of the
Empire
silhouette of ca.
1795-1825. Heavy stiff
fabrics such as
brocades came
back into style, and many
18th-century gowns were
brought down from attics and
cut up into new garments.
The combination of sloping
shoulders and sleeves which
were very large over most of
the arm (but narrowing to a
small cuff at the wrist) is
quite distinctive to the day
dresses of the 1830s.
Evening dresses had
short, puffed sleeves
reaching to the elbow from a
dropped shoulder and were
worn with mid-length
gloves.
Pelerines, or lace
coverings draped over the
shoulders, were popular (one
of several devices, along
with full upper-arm sleeves
and wide necklines, to
emphasize the shoulders and
their width). Around 1835,
the fashionable skirt-length
for middle- and upper-class
women's clothes dropped from
ankle-length to
floor-length.
This ca. 1835 fashion
plate shows both male and
female styles (note that it
may not be obvious on first
glance that the woman has a
small waist, because of her
large sleeves):
