Out-of-Style by Betty Kreisel Shubert

Author:Betty Kreisel Shubert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2018-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

Women’s Sleeve Variations 1890–1900s

NOTE: To time-date this decade, one must understand the sequential changes in sleeve cap styles that defined The Gay Nineties. Be aware that some styles overlapped time frames.

ILLUSTRATION #1: The vertical, high-top sleeve cap that had begun in the late 1880s lasted through 1892.

ILLUSTRATION #2: The early 1890s saw the sleeve puff grow horizontally wider and W-I-D-E-R. It was called a gigot (French for “leg of mutton”). At first modest in size, by 1893–1895, it had grown to enormous proportions: The bigger the sleeve, the closer inward to the neck was the shoulder seam. (This was needed for balance.)

ILLUSTRATION #3: The popular Bishop Sleeve also grew from modest to huge; then, it too deflated. When the Bishop was huge and ended at the elbow, it was called a Balloon Sleeve.

ILLUSTRATION #4: The enormous Leg-o’-mutton Sleeve that defined The Gay Nineties is shown here on the universally popular shirtwaist blouse. After 1898, exaggerated sleeves deflated in size, reverting to their original modest proportion (as in ILLUSTRATION #7).

ILLUSTRATION #5: The fashionable Hour Glass Silhouette still needed a broad shoulder; so, starting in 1897, a prophetic new style appeared. It had a long tight sleeve, topped by a small, ball-shaped puff, sewn on separately . . . like a “lollipop-on-a-stick.” This mutation is a primary style clue to the late 1890s.

ILLUSTRATION #6: Variations of this new shape also emphasized broad shoulders with ruffles, large double-ball puffs, epaulettes or other fanciful creations that topped narrow sleeves on late-decade suits and dresses.

ILLUSTRATION #7: Tailor-made suits were universally worn by newly active and busy women. Shirtwaist blouses, now available ready-made, varied from tailored to dressy. Blousy fronts signaled the beginning of interest in the droopy mono-bosom that would appear after 1900, when newly redesigned corsets changed women’s bodies to the S-curve silhouette of the Edwardian Era. (See Chapter 6, How Undergarments Affected the Posture and Shape of Women’s Bodies.)

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