Silk dress, ca. 1860
Item 11570 info
Brick Store Museum
Even though America was intent on breaking away from England politically, in matters of cultural refinement, America was still under the spell of the motherland.
England in turn received its inspiration in fashion from France.
Fashion styles spread throughout Europe during the 19th century at such a rapid rate as to be indistinguishable from one country to another.
Most of the ideas came from a romantic preoccupation with earlier times. Immediately following the French Revolution. French women adopted clothing with fluid classical lines as an expression of democratic ideals inspired by Greece and Rome, with men adopting the informal dress of the English country gentleman.
Then in an effort to revive French nationalism, sentiment turned toward medieval dress, Renaissance opulence, and the ruffs and puffs of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Historic styles merged and new romantic images from the literature of the time added to the rage for period dress.
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