I just got a copy of the 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Company catalog; it’s very big, very interesting, and very difficult to find in bookstores, but easily ordered online. It illustrates some striking differences between the American way of life of the 1890s and that of the present day – not just the obvious things like cars and refrigerators, but little things like cutlery, pens, and shaving. The clothing section is rather large, and contains one of the most interesting contrasts: although men’s clothing in 1897 was much the same as men’s formal clothing is today, women’s fashion is utterly and entirely different.
One thing I noticed is that almost all the engravings of women’s clothing have very puffy, baggy shoulders. (Some of the more tightly corseted women – or at least those most idealized by the probably-male engraver – have more cloth around their shoulders than they do around their waists.) I know from another book that fashions in shirtwaists (the standard late 19th-century and early 20th-century blouse) changed dramatically from year to year; does anyone know if the puffy shoulders of 1897 were a short-lived fad or if they represented a more enduring trend? Did 1897’s balloon shoulders give way to tight form-fitting sleeves in 1898?
Also, I’d like to see some photographs of what these shirts looked like in real life, as I suspect the engravings are somewhat idealized.
I believe the sleeves-which are called mutton-choppers, or leg-of-mutton sleeves, were popular into the early 1900s, and considered part of the “Gibson Girl” look. It wasn’t until around, oh, maybe 1908 and that you got a more stream-lined look.
Thanks – knowing the term for it was all it took. Apparently puffy – erm, leg-of-mutton shoulders were huge in the 1830s and made a comeback in the 1890s, reaching their peak in 1895. The article I saw said that sleeves were beginning to become more practical by the late 1890’s and had become less popular by 1899. Apparently they really were quite puffy, and depended on linings sewn into the shoulders to keep them up.
None of the Gibson girls I saw had these sleeves, but they were Gibson’s later drawings, and it’s possible that his 1890s drawings had them. It’s also possible Gibson didn’t like them, as his drawings were of women a little less formal and rigorous and a little more active and liberated than most urban women of the time.
My theory is, that the huge puffed up sleeves were meant to make the waist appear smaller. During this time period, corsets really sucked in the waist, and the sleeves added to the illusion.
There is a definite and obvious (to me, anyway) difference between the puffy sleeves of the 1830s and the puffy sleeves of the 1890s. The 1830s sleeves were called “beret” sleeves and went out pretty much flat from the shoulder, with most of the weight falling on the upper arm. Since sloping shoulders were considered extremely attractive on women at the time (period fashion plates tend to have physically-impossible renderings of women with shoulders so very sloped that the upper body resembles a diamond), the beret sleeve helped to draw the eye downward and outward from the neck and thus helped foster that appearance. As the decade wore on they became lower and lower until they were really just long, wide sleeves with no real “puffiness” except that afforded by the tight forearms forcing the additional fabric up. On the other hand, 1890s gigot sleeves (it’s the french for mutton, if I recall correctly) were more vertical - more circular than elliptical. Instead of helping draw the eye out and down from the neck, they helped to draw the eye out and up from the waist, adding to the hourglass figure appearance preferred at the time.
I’m an idiot; I read the title as “Puffy shoulders in 1980’s women’s fashion.” I was all set to add my two cents’ worth about the large shoulder pads worn by my female friends 20 years ago.
Must get eyesight checked. :smack:
(I can also talk about my narrow leather ties of the same era if you like … OK, perhaps not.)
