The 1800s and Early 1900s

In the mid-late 1800s a number of significant and characteristic styles evolved. Prior to the 1850s, dresses in the 1830s had large elliptical "leg of mutton" sleeves that resembled exactly that - the leg from a mutton, otherwise known as a breed of sheep. The sleeves became less puffy and gave a more sloped shoulders silouhettes in the 1840s along with a more nipped waist and pointed midsection. Skirts increased in diameter as styles transitioned to the crinoline shaped skirts of the 1850s and 1860s.

The large skirts of the 1850s and 1860s eventually flattened in the front and the silouhette became a flat front with a large rear. This style was prominent throughout the promenading days of the 1870s and 1880s and became known as the bustle. The rear, have you, became the erogenous zone of the day and women as well as young children wore bustles to emphasize their posterior.

Eventually, the rule of excess came into play in that the bustle had become as large as possible and change was only necessary. The restraints of the corset brought up health concerns and eventually what was known as the "health corset," came to be in the 1890s into the early 1900s. This corset was less restraining from the corsets built from bone in earlier times. The new corset also gave the woman a new "s-shaped" silouhette with the torso curved outwards from the rest of the body. The girl who wore these styles from the 1890s to the early 1900s was known as the "Gibson girl." Leg of mutton sleeves once again came into fashion coupled with a new high boned collared look.